The Trouble with Family
by BigIve
Summary: It is after the Battle and the search for Hermione's parents uncovers some unexpected branches on a previously well known family tree. New discoveries about the nature of 'magic' are also made, Curses cut both ways and the most dangerous enemies are within. Canon Relationships (where known). Some Mature/Adult Themes and Language. Warning: OC's play a major role in the story.
1. Introductions

_A/N: Hi all, this is just a quick not to say I have made a slight adjustment to the introduction below. This was to correct some grammatical errors that were only noticed during a recent retelling of this story to my two little boys (the ones I originally wrote this collection of stories for). I also made a slight adjustment to allow for some non family members to contribute to those chapters that cover some of the Auror related 'events'._

 _I also need to say thank you for those of you who have been reading my story. I do hope you are enjoying it as much as my little boys have. I am working as hard as I can to get all the rest of the story(s) written out as well. Please review if you are enjoying this story as it is always great to hear feedback on it (well apart from the endless list of ideas from my two little ones that is.)._

 _Once more I do hope that you all enjoy this story and thanks for reading it and sharing this journey with us._

* * *

 _ **It is often said that Friends are Merlin's apology for your family. But sometimes you're the family that needs apologising for.**_

Family. It is a strange word with as many different meanings as there are people on this planet. To some it only means a group of people related by Blood or connected by Marriage. To yet others it is a group of people who will love and support each other through both the very best and worst that life has to offer.

To a very lucky few it is both of these.

Family can also have a way of sneaking up on you, in both time and place. Sometimes it even pops up at your front door without either of you knowing it.

We are all born into some sort of family. For some it is very large, for others it can be quite small. As we grow up with our family we share a belief in ourselves. That we know our family and that we are a good family. However we often don't know our family (or families) as well as we like.

This journal is my attempt to record for the family (both the one I know and the one I didn't) how we came to learn about each other. Most of that initial interaction between our two families was centred on one particular young man. So many of these early stories will be around him and his interactions with us all. To answer the (incessant) questions from certain members of this family, yes the 'fashion' related incidents that you have heard about over the years will be discussed in this journal. But please don't skip direct to those particular chapters. Leave the poor young man in question his dignity for just a little while longer while you read the earlier chapters. After all the story of the 'Paris Incident' has now been recorded for posterity and enough copies have been made to ensure that he can't destroy them all.

I will be joined on this journey by various members of my family (old and new) as well as some dear friends as well. As they all share their experiences of this remarkable episode in our lives.

While the journey was equal parts, wild, frightening, exciting, joyful and sorrowful I don't think any of us would have changed it given the result we are now enjoying.

It is my hope to have this journal completed in time to present it to the newest family pair within our family on their special day.

I hope you enjoy this attempt to bring together all the different stories from the family into one (hopefully) cohesive tale of the discovery of a lifetime.

Molly Weasley


	2. First meetings (Molly's POV)

14th May 1998 (Thursday)

When knowingly meeting family for the first time, there is usually a set protocol or custom to be followed. You observe and try your best to learn about each other, as you know that you are likely to share certain traits. If those traits are a talent for temper and stubbornness, then there is usually a slight wariness, a desire to tread carefully 'for the sake of the family'.

However that assumes that you know you are meeting new family members. What happens when you meet new family unknowingly, who happen to share ALL of your famous traits (and a willingness to use them)?

I still remember that eventful day (and the ones immediately following it). One thing I can certainly say, they were not dull days for our family. Not by a long shot…

It was only our 4th day back at the Burrow after about a week spent at Hogwarts after the Battle. We were all still reeling from the loss of Fred, as well as coming to terms with the loss and then return of our Harry. Harry, Ron and Hermione had also explained to us all their 'adventures' of the past 9 months. It was still a lot to process. As a consequence the family was finding great comfort in just being around one another. None of my children (or their partners) have ever needed a reason to visit us here at the Burrow. They are always welcome. But in the days after our returning to our home the number of unannounced and extended visits was way up. I must add that I loved having everyone around.

Often just being in the same room together was enough. Smiles, hugs, pats on the back, these all seemed to be enough to convince ourselves that we really were still here with each other.

Unfortunately for two of our number this wasn't possible.

Harry's family were all dead, and while he had been adopted by the Weasley clan (especially our little Ginny) I could see that he was really missing that he couldn't share his victory with his real parents. He was also keenly feeling the loss of his godfather Sirius as well as his friends Remus and Tonks.

We all did our best to fill this void in his life by making sure that he felt included (and loved) in our family. While there were some rough moments back at Hogwarts in the immediate aftermath of the Battle when everyone was at their most raw and vulnerable things had greatly improved. The misunderstanding between him and Ginny had been sorted out (exhaustion and high emotion are not a good combination). Although it did involve another (thankfully short) stay in the Hogwarts Hospital wing for him.

His fears about being blamed and rejected by us because of Fred's death had also been quashed by George's tearful reunion with him in the hospital wing. George had shown true courage and compassion by tearfully telling Harry that he wasn't responsible for Fred's death. That nothing could have kept Fed away from a Battle over something he so deeply believed in. Freedom.

For Hermione the situation was different. Her parents were alive (as best as she knew), but were on the other side of the globe. They also had at that point in time no memory of her and different names.

In an attempt to protect her parents she had modified their memories so that they believed that they were Wendell and Monica Wilkins. A couple who didn't have a daughter but did have a desire to move to Australia to live.

Her worry about her parents had been growing on a daily basis, almost beginning directly after the defeat of Tom Riddle Jr. Well at least after she woke up from a very well deserved rest after the defeat of Tom Riddle Jr.

It was an attempt to quiet this growing worry that my loving husband Arthur had gone to see the newly appointed interim Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt. In the hope that the Ministry could help locate her parents.

It is here that this story really beings…..

Arthur and Percy had left straight after a very early breakfast to head off to the Ministry. Arthur to enlist the aid of Kingsley and Percy to check and see if he still had a job at the ministry. As he had given the then Minster Thicknesse his resignation during the Battle. Seeing as minister Thicknesse was a sea urchin at the time of his resignation he wasn't quite sure if it was binding or not.

By mid-morning Arthur had sent word vis his Patronus that he would be arriving home shortly from the Ministry with the Minister himself and a representative from the Australian Auror Service.

Sure enough in short order a series of pops was heard outside the Burrow's wards. Three men then began to approach the Burrow. Two were instantly recognisable, while the third wasn't. Given recent events the whole family was a little nervous around new people. So they were all (at least the ones present) very quickly up on their feet and watching with interest the approach of these men.

While their wands may not have been drawn they were certainly within easy reach should the occasion call for it.

The third man towered over both Arthur and Kingsley, he must have been 6 and a half feet tall at least. He also had a very solid build. Despite this he carried himself with an almost fluid grace. The next most noticeable things about him was his easy smile and boisterous laugh which were both very much on display.

Indeed the three men seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves as the made the short trip from the Apparition point to the Burrow.

Bill and Charlie were both visibly put at ease by the humorous interactions between the three men as they approached. To the point that they moved to the Kitchen table to try and 'rescue' some of the scones and biscuits from the ravenous attention of my youngest son Ron.

Upon their entry into the Burrow I greeted Arthur with the customary kiss and Kingsley with one of my well known hugs. After releasing Kingsley he turned and introduced our new guest in his customary deep voice.

"My dearest Molly, I would like to introduce to you Chief Auror Stephen Williams of the Australian Auror Service."

"Chief Auror Williams, this lovely young lady here is Mrs Molly Weasley, Arthur's wife. She is the best cook and one of the finest people you are every likely to meet."

Displaying a typical Weasley / Prewett blush at Kingsley's compliment I extended my hand to Chief Auror Williams and welcome him into my home with a very traditional if a little flustered.

"Very pleased to meet you Chief Auror Williams. Please do come in and join us for spot of morning tea".

Chief Auror Williams responded with a smile and an enthusiastic (but gentle) handshake and replied, "G'day Mrs Weasley. Very pleased to meet you as well. Please call me Steve, and I would love to join you for a cuppa."

His reply had once again brought the attention of all the gathered family members. As it was obvious by his unique accent that he was most definitely not a local. His voice was a deep and gravelly, it almost seemed to spill out and run across the floor.

Arthur ushered Chief Auror Williams inside and introduced him to those members of the family who were present, being Bill and his wife Fleur, Fleur's younger sister Gabrielle (she had supposedly been worried about her older sister and was visiting for a time), Charlie, George, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

Harry and Percy being the only ones not currently not home. Percy was at the Ministry and Harry at St Mungo's for a check up on his various wounds.

Harry was still very reluctant to have people see the full extent of his wounds and had insisted on going alone to the hospital. Although it was generally accepted that this desire to be alone was more to escape from the minor hero worship from Fleur's younger sister Gabrielle. As a willingness on his part to take anyone with him would have most certainly been met with an insistence on Gabrielle's part to tag along.

Ginny in particular was not pleased with this situation, but wasn't prepared (at this point anyway) to argue with Harry about it. Although she was not showing any hesitation in displaying her displeasure about current arrangements with Gabrielle.

The family all greeted Chief Auror Williams politely but enthusiastically as Australian's were something of a novelty to them all (back then anyway).

Eventually the introductions made their way to Hermione. Arthur remarked, "Chief Williams this young lady is Hermione Granger. A friend of my youngest son Ron."

"Friend?" exclaimed George. Ever the one for tact and diplomacy.

"Is that how our little Hermione is introduced these days? No wonder she hasn't been her usual cheerful self, if Ron isn't introducing her correctly."

His ears turning almost the same colour as his hair Ron fixed George with a look that could have killed.

"Harry at least has stepped up and taken responsibility for our little Ginny Ron. When are you going to do the same?" asked George.

Both Ron and Ginny tried to respond at the same time with almost identical looks of indignation on their faces. However Ron was the first one out with a coherent reply.

"I don't need to take responsibility for Ginny, that's mums and dads job." Stated Ron. "I will also have you know that our relationship is none of your business George and we were going to tell everyone when we were ready."

"Or when Hermione was willing to admit to it in Public, eh Ron?" came George's reply with a smirk on his face.

Hermione just stared at George and with nothing more than a glance let him know that she would deal with him later. From the look on Ginny's face it was plain that she agreed with Hermione.

"Prat!" replied Ginny looking now at George.

"Git!" Hermione added also looking directly at George.

"As I was saying." Said Arthur trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Before our little interruption. This young lady is Hermione Granger. A very close friend"

"Girlfriend you mean!" interrupted George again.

"Of our son Ron. And a unofficially adopted daughter to our family"

Hermione blushed (almost as well as a Weasley) at this comment.

"She is the reason I approached Kingsley for assistance. And Kingsley reached out to you."

"More like ran into you mean." Replied Kingsley with a chuckle.

Seeing the looks directed to him Kingsley added "I see I need to explain that comment."

"As usual Arthur you seem to be blessed with good timing or luck. Take your pick which one it is."

"Chief Williams here was visiting with me to finalise arrangements for the visit of the Australian Minister of Magic."

"Since the recent successful conclusion of our recent troubles I have been trying to re-establish our connections to the International Magic community. Many of these ties were badly strained under the previous Minster. While many more were broken."

"Unfortunately or as the case may well turn out for us fortunately, our ties with the Australians were almost completely broken by the previous administration."

This comment brought many surprised and a few worried looks around the room. Chief Williams however had a smile on his face. This lead to even more concerned looks.

Continuing Kingsley added,

"The Australian Magical Parliament and their Minister were very vocal in their opposition to certain laws that were brought in by Minister Thicknesse. Especially the ones to do with 'Blood purity' and registration of Muggle-Borns."

"As a direct result of this the High Commission of Australia in London, which houses both the Muggle and Magical Embassies was one of the first attacked. Along with the Magical Embassies for numerous other countries as well. However, the Australians seemed to have copped the brunt of the displeasure."

"Probably something to do with the Howlers that our Minister sent to yours." Chuckled Chief Williams.

"Howlers?" asked Kingsley. "How did they get through screening?"

"Personal letters between Ministers cannot be interfered with." Replied Chief Williams. "Our current Minister for Magic tends to be rather plain speaking and not afraid to get direct to the point."

"When he sees what he regards as a gross violation of international Magical Law, his rather 'limited grasp' of diplomacy has been known to slip, a bit. In our neck of the woods this direct approach is mostly interpreted favourably".

"Your Minister Thicknesse, however took a different view. Although from what you were explaining earlier it was more likely this Tom Riddle Jr character who didn't appreciate the Ministers approach."

"Ahh… That explains a few things from our end" said Kingsley with a slight smile.

Hermione had a slightly confused look on her face at this. So being Hermione she just had to make sense of the situation.

"Excuse me Minster Kingsley. How does the previously bad relations with the Australians help us now?"

"It helps us Miss Granger, in a few ways. When the Australian Minister of Magic heard of the change in situation here he dispatched people to assess the situation on the ground. They were also to evaluate the possibility of re-establishing contact between our Governments. People like Chief Williams here. I'm sure you will agree that having direct access to a person such as Chief Williams will prove to be very beneficial to a request like yours."

Hermione seemed to agree with this statement as she had begun to smile.

"Actually Minister we already had a team operating here during 'your troubles'. I was on my way to a meeting with the leader of that team when I received the Ministers request to pay you a visit."

Showing some signs of surprise and irritation Kingsley asked "How long did you have people operating here? As we were not aware of any formal request for joint operations on British soil."

Chief Williams responded with a slightly embarrassed expression, "Nearly 18 months."

"What! 18 Months!" Kingsley exclaimed. This had the effect of startling just about everyone in the room. Chief Williams must have been expecting it however as he appeared to be completely unfazed by the near explosion.

"I would certainly like to know why your Minister thinks he has the right to send people here without our knowledge for that length of time."

Choosing his words rather carefully Chief Williams stated, "We had reported a few of our Magical Citizens going missing here. They were reported to both the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as well as direct to the Minister. Most of the missing were Muggle-Borns."

"The response from your Ministry was to say unhelpful at best. This was before the relations turned really bad as well."

"Then we had a whole family disappear right in the middle of London. They were known to our Minister and on friendly terms. Shortly after that a Wizarding family from New Zealand also went missing. This time one of them was a senior Ministry official in the New Zealand Magical Parliament."

When neither we nor the Kiwi's got, anything approaching a helpful response the decision was made to send a small highly specialised group from the Australasian Auror Service to investigate what was going on."

Kingsley was no longer appearing angry, it was still plain that he certainly wasn't happy at this news.

"I'm sure your aware of the rules and requirements that need to be met before that particular group is dispatched unannounced into a country?" Chief Williams questioned.

"There were from the S.O.C?" Kingsley questioned.

"Correct." Was the reply.

Looking almost defeated Kingsley nodded his head.

"I'm more than aware of the requirements. As I have worked with that group several times in the past. They are not sent out lightly."

"You are right on that" said Chief Williams with a laugh.

"When their reports came in their mission was very quickly changed from one of investigation to one of extraction and rescue."

"All nationals from countries that are signatories to the service were tracked down and contacted. If they wished to leave the country assistance was provided."

"A short way into this mission the attacks on the Magical and Muggle Embassies began. The teams operating here at the time were utilised to extract the diplomatic personal and their families from numerous embassies also."

"International relations would be in a much direr state right now if not for that Team of Aurors" Chief Williams explained.

An almost stunned silence greeted this news.

Kingsley was in a thoughtful silence for quite a while before he spoke again, "Do you know which countries embassies they assisted?"

"Just every member country of the service was assisted. That would equate to just about every country that borders the South Pacific. In addition to that I'm aware of their direct involvement in assisting the embassies of the Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Mexican, Indian, French, German, Swiss, Spanish, Italian and Turkish governments."

"I have also seen reports which showed that many other countries made use of the 'pipelines' that they setup to get their own people out. Those pipelines all ran through France where this team had its forwarding operating bases."

"Several European governments also provided assistance or support staff and occasionally Aurors to assist in the processing and support of the people who were brought out of the UK."

"The other governments were reluctant to send Aurors into the UK for fear of violating various treaties with the UK government. But I have 'unofficially' heard that there were several Aurors from the French and German Auror Services 'on vacation' in the UK conveniently when particularly large raids or extractions were scheduled to take place." Chief Williams said with a sly smile.

This news seemed to both worry and calm Kingsley at the same time. He seemed to take a few moments to process all that information.

"Please ensure that I pass along my own thanks and that of my Government to both your Minister and the New Zealand Minister of Magic when I meet them."

"I will also need to get messages of thanks to the other Magical Governments that lent assistance, either officially or unofficially as well."

"I had wondered why there were so few missing and casualties amongst the various foreign diplomatic Missions here. Now I know. Now I know."

"Did these teams assist the staff of just the diplomatic missions?"

"Based on the information I have seen I believe that they assisted anyone connected to the embassies, both staff and their families that they could safely contact. As well as a good number of those that couldn't be safely contacted."

"I would like to meet them if it is possible. Could that be arranged?" asked Kingsley.

"I'm have no authority over the Aurors from that team Minister. As they officially report directly to the current serving Australian Minister of Magic. However, I'm sure it could be arranged Minister once I pass your request along."

Kingsley nodded his thanks and turned his attention back to Hermione once more.

"Please forgive the detour in our conversation Hermione. But it has now filled in a great many blanks for quite a lot of things that have happened here recently."

"Going back to my earlier comments Hermione. Another benefit we got out of the poor relations between our countries was that the Australians had placed a very close watch on ANYONE, Muggle or Magical traveling from the UK to Australia."

Hermione was now beginning to smile as she began to understand what Minister Kingsley was getting at.

"Chief Williams, Miss Granger here was one of the three main individuals who lead the fight against Tom Riddle Jr."

"Because of this she took certain, shall we say steps, to ensure the safety of her parents."

"These steps apparently involved altering her Parents memories. To both remove any knowledge of their daughter as well as convincing them that their names were also different."

"On top of this she instilled in them a deep desire to move to Australia to live."

"Impressive determination there young lady, to protect your parents. However, I do see a few potential problems with this scenario. But please continue as I get the feeling that there is more to this story." Replied Chief Williams.

"Yes sir", replied Hermione looking suddenly a little worried.

"I would like to try and find my parents Chief Williams so that I can try to remove the memory charms I placed on them. The problem is I don't know where in Australia that they might be living. I'm also worried that the memory charms might be starting to fail as we never intended for things to go on this long."

"Can you help me Chief Williams?" Hermione almost pleaded.

Chief Williams fixed Hermione with a rather penetrating look for several moments before answering.

"Before I answer your question I would like to ask some of my own if you don't mind. Is that ok?"

"Certainly" came the reply.

Chief Williams took out what looked like a pile of flimsy parchment that was bound together and a shiny metal rod that he clicked the end of and began to write on the pad.

Noticing the questioning looks he said, "My daughters recently convinced me that muggle pens" he held up the metal rod "and notepads" he held up the pad "are more practical than quills for quick note taking when in the field."

"So Miss Granger let us begin, shall we?" He asked looking over at Hermione who nodded.

"Do you know the names that your parents are going to be living under in Australia?" he asked.

"Yes I do. They will be calling themselves Wendell and Monica Wilkins"

"That's is a good start."

"Did you change your parents' appearance in anyway? Do you have any RECENT photographs of them in the state that they were in when they travelled to Australia?" he questioned.

"I didn't alter their appearance sir. I didn't want to cause them any unnecessary distress."

"You mean apart from taking away their most important memories from them? I do hope you at least spoke with them about what you were going to do before you went through with this plan?"

Hermione was beginning to look a little worried after these latest questions. She replied,

"No sir I did not discuss this with the beforehand. I wish I did but we had no idea how much time we had before the death eaters were going to be coming for us." She almost sobbed.

"I don't mean to cause you any extra distress Miss Granger, but these questions are indeed necessary."

"I understand sir"

"As asked earlier do you have any recent photos of your parents that could be used to help identify them?"

"Yes sir I do. I took some just 2 weeks before they left."

"Excellent news. Can you also provide a written description of your parents including their particulars such as Height, Weight, Age distinguishing marks etc."

"Yes I can and will."

"How long ago was this memory charm applied to your parents? And how specific is it?"

"I would be close to 10 Months ago."

"10 Months? Are you sure of that Miss Granger?" Questioned Chief Williams.

"Yes"

"Are you aware then that memory charms which have been applied that long have a good chance of permanently altering a person's memory. Even once the correct counter charm has been applied?"

"Yes I am sir"

"Very well" he replied.

"Can you tell me how specific the charm was?"

"Excuse me Sir but what do you mean by 'how specific'?"

"I mean can it be reversed by anyone who knows that counter charm? Or must it be done by a specific person?"

"The counter charm will require me to cast it sir. I chose this option so that if we didn't make it out alive my parents wouldn't have to be reminded of their lost daughter."

At this Hermione broke down in tears and Ron moved to comfort her.

He fixed Chief Williams with a rather angry glare and exclaimed rather angrily "Are you finished with your questions yet? Or do you want to try and cause her some more grief?"

With a rather neutral expression on his face Chief Williams moved his focus from Hermione to Ron.

"It was not my intention to cause grief to anyone. These questions are necessary to establish if we will have enough information to use for a search and the likely state the subjects maybe in when they are located."

"To answer your question however. Yes, I am done with my questions. At this point in time. I do believe that we have enough information to go on for now."

Looking at Hermione with a much more sympathetic expression Chief Williams continued.

"Miss Granger. In response to your earlier question. Yes. I do believe that we can be of assistance to you in your search for your parents. Provided you can supply the information you indicated."

Hermione was elated. And was now happily hugging Ron followed by a rather surprised Chief Williams.

"Let's see if I can contact one of our Aurors who has a bit of a reputation as a 'miracle worker' and check if he is available."

"He is currently assigned to duties outside of our service but I should be able to borrow him for a short while."

Chief Williams began to pat himself down as he checked his pockets while mumbling something that sounded like 'new-fangled devices'.

Eventually he pulled out what looked like a pocket mirror. It was slightly thicker than a mirror would need to be and appeared to have a metal back that partially wrapped up and over the mirror slightly to protect the edges.

Noticing everyone's questioning looks Chief Williams explained.

"This is a new device recently issued by our technical division as a more secure and reliable form of communication. Faster than Owls (or other birds) and unlike a Patronus it allows two was communication."

I noticed that Kingsley seemed particularly interested in the device. However, it was Hermione who asked the first question.

"Do you mean that it is like a Muggle Mobile Phone?"

"That is a very good comparison Miss Granger. A very good one indeed."

Ginny quickly asked, "What's a Mobile Fone?"

"If I can remember how to use this thing I will show you young lady." Was his response.

"The younger Aurors in our department have taken to these devices very happily. Us older members in the service are still catching up."

At this point Chief Williams began pressing several of the squares that appeared on his mirror. This was soon followed by a strange chirping noise that was coming from the device itself.

There was a click and a rather deep sounding voice spoke up saying "Syd."

To the best of my knowledge that was the first time I ever heard the voice of the young man who would change my family's life for ever.


	3. Special Operations

Holding his mirror in front of him Chief Williams spoke into it, "Syd, it is Chief Williams here. How are you?"

"G'day Boss." Came the rather cheerful reply. The voice on the other end quickly spoke again before Chief Williams could respond however.

"Ah Boss, that Bow tie you are wearing. Did you lose a bet or were you just not paying attention when you got dressed this morning?"

You could almost hear the smile emanating from the voice that was issuing from the Mirror.

Chief Williams momentarily looked a little confused, but a quick glance into the mirror in the kitchen was obviously required to remind him of the rather unique bow tie that he happened to be wearing.

My boys were also trying to hide their smiles at the offending article of clothing. I must admit it did look a bit like it was involved somehow in a paint explosion.

"Syd, I would like to remind you that this is the tie my daughters brought me for my last birthday. She tells me it is a very fashionable article of clothing from one of those Muggle Designer labels."

"That is so sweet." Came the reply.

"I glad you think so Syd."

"Please let me finish Boss. I was trying to say. That is so sweet that you believed her."

This time a few muffled chuckles could be heard from the other end. Chief Williams himself also started to chuckle at that comment. Then he suddenly stopped and thought.

"Syd. How did you know what Bow Tie I'm wearing right now?"

"Well, Boss. I could tell you that I'm an omnipresent entity that is like a God among the mortals of this world."

This comment brought a few strange looks from all of us gathered in the kitchen listening to this rather interesting conversation.

"But I'm not sure you would buy that explanation. So, I will instead go with the one where you are a silly 'Banana Bender' who made a Video call instead of a voice call." The voice laughed.

This time there was several sets of laughter at this end of the conversation. Chief Williams among them.

"Ah Boss, going from the laughter I just heard I'm guessing you're not alone there?" questioned the voice.

"Correct Syd. But before I explain where I am I have a question for you."

"The camera can actually be turned on and off on this thing?" questioned Chief Williams.

"Of course it can. One day very soon you will be very glad of that fact."

This was followed by some clicking noises.

"What was that sound Syd?"

"Sorry, was just recording some photos of your tie to show your misses and daughters as proof that you were indeed brave enough to voluntarily wear it in public."

"Once I'm finished getting dressed I will pop out and show your misses the pics. As I'm sure she will thoroughly enjoy them."

"Where are you Syd? Why aren't you dressed and why is my Wife there?" came the rapid fire questions.

"Gee Boss you sounded almost worried for a moment there"

"SYD!"

"Ok Boss, ok."

"To answer your questions. We are at a safe facility near Perth, I'm sure you're aware of the one I mean. Your Wife is here (along with mum) as they heard that I and some of my team just got back in country. Thus, they felt an overwhelming desire to pop over here and thoroughly mother all of us while they had a chance. Although they do seem to be more interested in mothering the Kids we brought in with us."

"Lastly I'm not dressed as I have just gotten out of the shower after washing off the blood and debris from meeting with that Pommy Mob we got the alert about 2 days ago."

"Bet you're very happy now, that I know how to turn off the camera on my Mirror Phone, aren't you." Once again the smile could be clearly heard coming from the other end.

"It wouldn't do to unduly frighten your guests there would it Boss." He said with a chuckle.

Chief Williams couldn't help but smile.

George also found the comment rather humorous.

Chief Williams was however all business again very quickly.

"Are all our people ok Syd?"

"Yes Boss, all of OUR people are ok. The others, not so much."

"Tell me more about this Pommy mob you mentioned. How many were there?" Chief Williams asked.

"So far it seems to be all the ones listed on the notice that was issued two days back. Drunkmouse is double checking identities as we speak. We are getting a lot of interest from the Minister on this one. As these Poms seem to be people of interest back in 'Old Blighty.' I must admit that a few of them do ring some bells from my own travels over there recently."

"However they also had some others with them with them that had been Imperialised and forced to help. It is these others that are slowing down the identification process."

"They appear to be a mixture of people from India, Thailand and here."

Both Kingsley and Chief Williams visibly reacted to this set of news.

Kingsley raised an eyebrow and had a very questioning expression on his face. He was about to speak when Chief Williams spoke again.

"Syd, I understand you're still currently assigned to the Australasian Team, not our local ones. Is that correct?"

"Yes Boss that's correct."

"Thought so. As the only time you call me that is when you are reporting to someone else."

"Got to enjoy it while I can Sir. Err Boss." Was the chuckled reply.

"What are your movements for the next few days Syd?"

"Well nothing is locked in at this point as the Minster is going to cut us all some downtime while current priorities and assignments were looked at and reshuffled."

"My immediate plans were to assist Rowdy, Fireball, Cassy and Jono in escorting most of these kids back to their parents."

"Shelly, Guz and Goose were going to take the others to a more appropriate and comfortable location here while Drunkmouse and his team try and track down their parents."

"Where are you, Rowdy, Fireball, Cassy and Jono taking the kids Syd?"

"To one of our locations in Southern France that we are using as a staging and sorting facility. It is a good family friendly site and we keep a lot of the 'free families' there."

"After that I was going to continue on to London and meet up with one of my main agents and take him and his misses out to dinner tonight. They both deserve one of those 'Order of Merlin' medals that the Poms are so fond of. But knowing how that process works they will probably be long since buried before anything actually happens on that score."

"So the best I can do for them in the short term is take them out for a good meal. Merlin knows that they have more than earned it."

At this latest set of statements several voices spoke up all at once.

"'Free families' what does zat mean?" said a voice that sounded like Fleur.

"Why are those kids separated from their families in the first place?" Bill almost shouted.

However it was Kingsley's question that got the first reply. "Who is your Agent that you are going to meet here?"

Kingsley's question was answered with another question. "Who's asking?"

"Syd, it is the British Minister of Magic, Mr Kingsley Shacklebolt who is asking about the identity of your agent here."

"Ah I see." Replied Syd.

"Shacklebolt? Isn't he the joker that we are supposed to be arresting tomorrow and turning over to the International Confederation of Wizards?" Syd asked.

Kingsley started to look furious at this statement. Chief Williams quickly moved to calm him down and replied to Syd.

"Sorry Syd, I think you may be a bit behind with your mail there mate."

"The Minster has recently amended that international arrest warrant to specifically name Pius Thicknesse as the subject of the warrant. As he was the British Minster of Magic that was working for Tom Riddle Jr here."

"The only complication with serving the warrant is that he is currently existing as a sea urchin".

Roaring laughter came over the Mirror Phone.

"I would love to shake the hand of the individual responsible for that brilliant piece of transfiguration. Think that they would also deserve to be taken out to dinner as well."

"Please accept my apologies Minster Shacklebolt, for getting you mixed up with a Sea Urchin" chuckled Syd.

"No need for any apologies there Syd. I would have had to apologise to you if you had tried to arrest me. I'm sure Chief Williams would also be unhappy to be missing one of his Aurors for an extended period of time" Kingsley said in his quiet deep voice with a slight smile.

Chief Williams started to look worried at this statement and tried to jump in with a reply. But before he could get any words out there came the reply that he was obviously trying to avoid.

"That sounds like a fun challenge there Minster, and I would be honoured to accept" was the enthusiastic reply.

Chief Williams who was now looking very worried jumped in with a reply while Kingsley looked more very startled.

"Syd, you know the rules. Especially since that last incident with the Iranian Minister of Magic. No more challenging heads of foreign Governments to duals."

"Boss, I didn't challenge him. He offered the challenge and it would have been rather rude of me not to accept don't you think?"

At this statement, Chief Williams sank into his chair and lowered his head into his hands.

Kingsley put his hand on Chief Williams shoulder and quietly asked, "Is he serious? And what happened in Iran?"

Everyone in the Kitchen was also wondering the same thing if their expressions were anything to go by.

Chief Williams uttered a single word, "Yes he is serious."

No one seemed to know what to say.

"As to what happened in Iran I can't rightly say as the full set of details are classified." Chief Williams answered.

"Iran wasn't my fault Boss. I was only defending myself, after a slight disagreement with their Minister of magic."

"What sort of disagreement Syd?" Chief Williams asked with a slightly worried expression.

"The Minister refused our request to establish some 'safe houses' in his country. As he expressed his full support for the international slave trade. As long as they paid their share of local taxes that is."

"I told him he was a bloody wanker and turned to leave. The chief of his personal guard at that point decided to try and stun me from behind."

"Needless to say there was an energetic exchange of ideas after that point." Syd explained.

"What happened after that?" Chief Williams asked.

"After things quietened down I left Sir." Was Syd's evasive answer.

"I meant to the Minister and his guard, Syd. What happened to them?"

"Ahh… Well you see the Minister hurt himself trying to make his escape. It looked like his door slaves forgot to open the door for him in time." Syd chuckled.

"And the Ministers guard?"

"They are currently interviewing for replacements." Was the reply. You could hear him struggle on the other end to not smile.

"How many replacements?" said Chief Williams almost cringing in anticipation.

"Last I heard they were looking for 15 replacements and 4 door slaves." Syd answered.

"15 replacements?" Kingsley said quietly in alarm.

"What happened to the door slaves? I certainly hope you didn't hurt them." Chief Williams asked while keeping a close watch on Kingsley.

"Of course not Boss. Once I realised their status I offered to get them out of the country. As none of them had friends or family there it was a simple extraction. They are now working for us supporting various safe houses we have set up. They are doing very well also from the last reports I had Boss."

Chief Williams seemed a bit less worried after that.

"It certainly explains somethings about recent happenings in the Middle East at least." He remarked to no one in particular.

Chief Williams after a moment's remarked, "Syd, getting back to discussions here."

"Minster Shacklebolt was not offering a formal Challenge to you. He was merely expressing his confidence in his own abilities. There will be no formal dual between the two of you and if needed I will get the Minster to make that an order."

"Is that clear!"

"Yes Sir" same an obviously disappointed reply.

Kingsley turned back to face the Mirror Phone and as about to reply when Chief Williams spoke quietly saying.

"Please don't encourage him Minister"

Kingsley thought for a moment before saying.

"Syd, in the interest of fostering better international relations between our countries I would be happy to take part in a training dual with you if you so desire."

"Minster that is very generous of you Sir. I would be honoured to partake in a training dual with you. Loser takes the winner out for lunch."

Kingsley was grinning ear to ear at this statement.

"Your terms are acceptable to me Syd."

"Great to hear Minister. There is a lovely fish and chip place not far from the main entrance to your ministry. If you make reservations there for the day after our dual that should give you enough time to recover before you buy me lunch."

The excitement and enthusiasm in the voice were unmistakeable. Kingsley was looking slightly worried, while also appearing amused.

"I did ask you not to encourage him Minister, did I not?" Chief Williams was finding it difficult trying to not smile at Kingsley's predicament.

"Syd, while the Minister takes a moment to compose himself. Can you answer the questions that were asked before you and the Minister started to get carried away" Chief Williams asked.

"I can try Boss. But no one wants to seem to believe what has been happening until they see the cold hard truth with their own eyes." Syd replied.

"The term 'Free Families' relates to those families who were kicked out of the UK (or escaped) without being sold into slavery by the British Ministry of Magic"

"WHAT!" Just about every voice in the room screamed at the same time. Even Chief Williams looked surprised at this statement.

Everyone immediately started trying to talk at the same time. No one could understand what anyone else was trying to say. Eventually Kingsley put his wand to his throat and cast the Sonorous Charm and exclaimed

"QUIET please"

He cast the counter charm and the room became deathly quiet.

Kingsley then spoke to Chief Williams.

"May I ask some questions of your Auror Chef Williams?"

"Certainly Minister. However, Syd is not his actual name. It is more of a nick name. His real name is David Webb"

"Thank you Chief Williams"

"Auror Webb, Chief Williams has given me permission to ask you some questions. Is that ok with you?"

"Yes Minister it is. I will answer your questions to the best of my ability. I must say however that certain details about our operations are still classified and can't be disclosed without written approval of our Minster. Is that ok with you Sir?"

"For the time being Auror Webb it will do. I get the feeling that I will be submitting a formal request to your Minister for more information on this very shortly."

"Very good Minister. In that case, what would you like to know?"

Everyone in the room gathered around the kitchen table with looks of intense curiosity on their faces.

"You made mention of 'free families' before. From that statement, I take it that you have been dealing with families that are not free?"

"Yes Minister you are 100% correct on that"

"How did these families come to lose their freedom?"

"It is not only families that have lost their freedom Minister. The British Ministry of Magic has been selling into slavery Men, Women and Children as well as whole families. They have been carrying this out on an almost industrial scale."

Kingsley was looking horrified at this statement. I must admit I was feeling sick to my stomach about it as well.

"Auror Webb, do you know what their crimes were to receive such unjust punishment?"

"Most certainly Sir. The majority of them were sold into Slavery for being Muggle-Born. Or trying to assist Muggle-Borns."

"Do you have records of these unfortunate people Auror Webb?"

"That we do Minister. Although I dare say that your Ministry of Magic would have the most complete set of records on this topic. Most of the records we have are the paper work that the newly made slaves must carry with them."

"The 'free families' and individuals that escape being sold are the ones who are sometimes harder to record. As they have often left everything behind and are too frightened to answer any questions we put to them."

"I see" replied Kingsley.

"You mentioned before that it was on an almost industrial scale. Do you have any idea of the exact number of people we are talking about here Auror Webb?"

"Sir the exact number is known only to our Minister and the head of the team who is co-ordinating our 'safe houses' around the globe."

"Can you make a guess Auror Webb? As we have a good number of people who have been reported as missing here and I would like to get an idea as to how many might have been gathered up by your teams."

"Minister it would only be a Quidditch Pitch figure sir. To be honest it has kept us so busy I gave up counting about a year ago"

"A year? Auror Webb how long have you been involved with this operation?"

"Minister I first arrived in the UK with my team almost 18 months ago. I think it was about 6 weeks before the attack on our Embassy in London. 9 months ago after the team leader was double crossed and murdered I was appointed to run the operations here"

"That is a long time Auror Webb for a mission that takes you so far away from home."

"It is Sir, but we have occasions to get back home for all too brief visits. But once our team members see what we have been working on here their drive becomes such that we almost have to order them home for rest."

"From what I know of your people I can believe that Auror Webb. Can you give me your guess on the numbers?"

"Yes Minister. I would guess around 2,000"

"2,000 People" Kingsley almost cried.

"No Minister. 2,000 family groups. Both Magical and Muggle. With probably another 1,600 single men, women and children as well."

"But Minister I fear that these numbers are on the low side of the actual true number"

Kingsley totally stunned collapsed into a chair with tears openly streaming down his face.

Chief Williams was also shocked into silence.

Everyone else seemed to be too horrified or shocked to say anything.

Eventually Arthur spoke up in a broken voice that was struggling to hold back tears. I couldn't tell if they were tears of rage or horror.

"Auror Webb, the children you mentioned earlier that you had recently returned with. Were they also slaves?"

"Unfortunately some of them were indeed slaves Sir. Can I ask who is speaking?"

With tears now freely falling down his face, Arthur replied,

"My name is Arthur Weasley, I have been appointed temporary Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Pleasure to speak to you Mr Weasley. Wish it had been under better circumstances Sir."

"Me too Auror Webb. Me too."

"Mr Weasley Sir, may I be so bold to ask a personal question of you Sir?"

With a look of curiosity on his face Arthur replied cautiously,

"You may ask Auror Webb. I will answer depending on the question."

"Fair enough Sir. Are you related to one Mr Septimus Weasley at all Sir?"

"Indeed I am Auror Webb. Indeed, I am. Septimus Weasley was my father. May I ask why you wished to know this Auror Webb?"

"Yes Sir you may. My reasons for asking is that my Grandfather always spoke very highly of a Mr Septimus Weasley who worked in the Wizengamot. Mr Septimus Weasley proved to be a very faithful friend to my Grandfather during a very dark time in his life. He also helped my Grandfather avoid a fate similar to the unfortunate people we were just discussing."

Arthur and indeed everyone listening was stunned to say the least. They were also listening to the conversation with rapt attention.

"That is most definitely my Father you are speaking of Auror Webb. As he did indeed work for the Wizengamot, for most of his life in fact."

"In that case I'm even more pleased to have made your acquaintance Sir."

"My Grandfather before he passed away made all of us in the family promise him, that if we ever encountered any descendants of Mr Septimus Weasley to pass onto them his whole-hearted gratitude to them for what he did. And to let them know that their ancestor was one of the finest and bravest people he ever had the pleasure of meeting."

Arthur was by now beaming with pride at the glowing description of his father being given by this Auror from the other side of the world. The rest of the Weasley family (including Fleur, Hermione and Gabrielle) were also smiling quite happily at this news and the expression on Arthurs' face.

I must admit I could feel pride for my father in-law swelling in my own chest as well.

"He also wanted us to let them know that he kept the promise that he made to your father later in his life."

"Promise? Do you know what this promise was Auror Webb?"

"No Sir I'm sorry I do not. I was hoping that you might be able to shed some more light on it. As the whole family, would dearly love to know what it was."

"Grandpa Webb loved to tell stories, and was very good at it. But he never mentioned any promise that he had made to Mr Weasley to us."

"How interesting. Did your Grandfather and my Father stay in touch at all?"

"Yes Sir I do believe that they did. As I do recall him receiving at least a few letters from your father. He treasured the letters that he received and I'm very sure that my Dad still has them. Although I have never seen them."

"However I do recall Grandpa having a chuckle at something that was written in one of the letters I mentioned before. Apparently one of Mr Septimus Weasley Grandsons wanted to become a Dragon Keeper or something along those lines. Instead of becoming a professional Quidditch player."

At this comment Arthur, Charlie and the rest broke out into laughter.

"From Grandpa Webb's comments I gather your father was all in favour of the Professional Quidditch career for his Grandson. Although Grandpa Webb thought that Dragons would be much more 'interesting' career, but that the main thing was to encourage his Grandson to find a job that he loved, and wrote back to him saying that."

"I don't recall any letters saying if the Grandson in question ever did become a Dragon Keeper or not as the letters stopped not long after that."

"He did!" Charlie exclaimed with a big smile on his face.

"I always wondered what caused Grandfather Weasley to change his mind about my intended career. Maybe I have your Grandfather to thank for it." Said Charlie with an amused expression.

"If that is indeed the case Mr Dragon Keeper, I do know that my Grandfather would have been over joyed about it." Auror Webb replied.

"The names Charlie, Auror Webb. But there's nothing wrong with Mr Dragon Keeper" he added with a laugh.

"Pleased to meet you Charlie. I'll have to let my cousin know that I spoke with a real live Dragon Keeper she will be over the moon. As she is only slightly obsessed with them."

Kingsley and Chief Williams had a rather hurried and whispered conversation. After which Chief Williams spoke up.

"Syd, how quickly can you get yourself to the British Ministry of Magic for a meeting?"

"Boss, if you want a meeting on what I think it is you want to discuss, then the British Ministry is the last place on earth that meeting should be held."

"Why is that Auror Webb?" asked Kingsley.

"Minister, it's because your Ministry leaks information like a strainer leaks water sir."

"Auror Webb I can assure you the Ministry is quite secure." Kingsley replied quite stiffly.

A set of rather amused laughter greeted this comment.

"You don't agree Auror Webb?"

"No Minister I whole heartily don't. My team and I have been directly extracting information out of your Ministry for almost as long as we have been in country sir."

"I can also assure you that we are not the only group doing so. The only way I would willing discuss sensitive matters within your Ministry sir would be IF I wanted the information to be leaked to the wrong people."

I could see Kingsley getting visibly angry and offended at these remarks.

"Auror Webb, I find those comments to be highly offensive and I believe wildly in-accurate."

"Boss, do you know how to open files on your Mirror phone yet?"

"I do Syd, the Minister himself showed me."

"Really? Didn't think he knew how to do it."

"From what I understand someone from Drunkmouse's team spent some time with him."

"Ah ok, that makes sense then."

"I'm sending you a copy of Minister Shacklebolt's personal and confidential schedule for the next month. Please show it to him and ask him if it is correct."

There was a ping sound from Chief Williams Mirror phone. He tapped his phone a few times then showed it to Kingsley.

None of us could see what it showed, but from the way the colour drained from Kingsley face I can only assume that it was what Auror Webb claimed it to be.

Struggling to control himself Kingsley asked,

"Auror Webb how on earth did you get that information?"

"Sorry Minster I cannot give out that information without written approval from our Minister."

"Rest assured that I will be making that request Auror Webb."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't Minister. However, if the Minster does give his ok it will need to be discussed at a location other than your Ministry sir."

"I'm beginning to see why Auror Webb." Kingsley replied in defeat.

At this point Arthur spoke up with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Kingsley, I would be happy to offer The Burrow as a secure location to continue this discussion. We have held meetings of the Order here many times with none of them being overheard by the wrong ears."

"Arthur that is a great idea."

"Auror Webb, do you have any objections to meeting here at The Burrow?"

"Not that I'm aware of Minster. But as mentioned before there are somethings I can't discuss without the written approval of our Minster sir."

"Understood Auror Webb."

"Syd, get a move on and get here ASAP."

"Yes Boss. Just let me finish up here, change into 'John Citizen' get dressed, deliver Fireball and her team and the Children then I will be there."

"How long will you be at the Safe House is France Syd?"

"Not long sir, given recent misunderstandings I have limited my time there until I get a chance to properly sort things out with the French."

"What misunderstandings Syd? I hope it was nothing like the incident with the Iranian Minister?"

"No Sir nothing like that. I think it was more along the lines of 'crimes against Fashion and the French Language'. At least they were the terms Jean-Luc Devereaux used to describe it."

Chief Williams laughed at this statement. While Fleur and Gabrielle had, questioning looks on their face.

"The fashion crimes I can believe Syd, as I have seen your personal wardrobe." Chief Williams laughed.

"But the language crimes? Let me guess you forgot to have someone cast the translation charm for you before you went over?"

"No sir the charm was cast, unfortunately it was done by Pretty Boy."

"I wasn't made aware at the time of the fact that he doesn't speak French at all. Until he can cast the counter charm I'm stuck with it. Given that he is currently undercover in S.E. Asia that could take a while."

Still laughing Chief Williams replied, "Understood Syd. Get here as fast as you can, but get those kids back to their families first."

"Will do Boss. Moving now."

With a click the line Mirror Phone went silent.

Kingsley was looking at the Mirror phone with intense interest.

"That was a remarkable conversation, and a truly remarkable device as well Chief Williams."

"Can you tell me more about it?" Kingsley asked.

"I'm afraid Minister I'm the wrong person to ask about it. Syd would be a better person to ask as he was one of the team working on the idea."

"Auror Webb also works with your technical group? That's a little unusual, isn't it?"

"Minister, 'Normal' isn't a word that is applied to Auror Webb very often." Chief Williams said with a chuckle.

"How so?"

"I'm afraid a good deal about Auror Webb is classified. Without approval from the Minister there isn't a great deal I can say."

"But I can say he is one of our most talented Aurors with a very unique skill set and abilities."

"When you meet with the Minister he will be able to provide you with more information than I can."

"I see. Well it seems that my meeting with your Minister is going to be very interesting in more ways than one Chief Williams."

Turning his attention to Hermione Chief Williams continued.

"Miss Granger, this is most beneficial for you. With Auror Webb on his way here you will be able to show him personally the information on your parents. I don't doubt that he will have some extra questions for you as well."

Hermione smiled at this statement.

"I must give you fair warning however Miss Granger, that while Auror Webb is one of our finest Aurors, he does spend most of his time around the worst of the worst. As well on a large number of undercover operations as 'other people'. Because of this he has more than a few shall we say 'rough edges' and some odd tendances."

Hermione was beginning to look a little worried at this news.

"I don't mean to alarm you Miss Granger, just to prepare you. He most definitely will be 'different' to just about anyone else you have met. But everything he does and asks has a purpose to it."

"If anyone can quickly find our parents it will be Auror Webb. It's just that he has his own unique approach however."

"I understand Chief Williams, and thank you for your assistance."

"You are most welcome Miss Granger. I would suggest that you go and gather what information you have readily to hand on your parents, as I can guarantee that Auror Webb will ask to see it. Especially any photographs that you have of them. He is particularly interested in photos showing a close up of people's faces. As he places great store in being able to see 'the whites of their eyes' as he puts it."

"I will go and get them now Chief Williams."

"There is no rush Hermione" I told her.

"Finish off your tea and cake first. There is no point in letting them go cold dear."

"That's a brilliant suggestion mom." Replied Ron to no one's surprise while reaching for another selection of cake and scones.


	4. Bombshell

It was a rather interesting morning tea while we awaited the arrival of Auror Webb.

There were several sets of disjointed but animated conversations going on around the kitchen table.

Hermione was obviously very excited about the prospect of getting the search started for her parents. She was discussing with Ron all that she could remember of the memory charm that she had placed on them. As well as her thoughts, as to where she thought that they would have gone once they arrived in Australia.

Ron to his credit was actually trying to pay attention and listen to Hermione. Morning tea was however applying a powerful pull to Ron's attention as well. It was rather fascinating watching the battle between two powerful but primal forces that was playing out within my youngest son.

Arthur was excitedly talking to Bill, Charlie and George about the latest information on his father. My two eldest boys were doing a much better job at looking interested with their fathers' conversation than Ron was with Hermione's. Although Charlie did seem to have a smattering of genuine interest, although to be fair he was mentioned (if not by name at least by deed) in the conversation.

Fleur, Gabrielle and surprising Ginny were discussing how someone could be in trouble for 'Crimes against Fashion and the French Language'. As their conversation was the quietest of the lot I couldn't follow it readily.

Most of my attention was on the conversation between Kingsley and Chief Williams. They seemed to be deep in the midst of discussing the current situation facing the depleted Auror department. The subject of an 'Assistance Mission' was just being raised when there were two disturbances.

The first was an odd chirping from Chief Williams Mirror Phone (as he called it). The other was a call from my eldest son Bill.

Bill was a little alarmed by the appearance of a 'disturbance' in the yard of The Burrow. At his cry, we all got up and went to the kitchen window to look at what he had pointed out.

A 'disturbance' was just about the only description that could be given to it. As it looked just like someone had grabbed the air of the yard and twisted it to make it look like a scrunched-up table cloth.

On seeing this Chief Williams smiled and looked down at his Mirror Phone which was still issuing the odd chirping. He broke the silence by saying,

"Ah. That must be Syd." After which he tapped his Mirror Phone which made the chirping stop.

"What do you mean 'That must be Syd' Chief Williams?" Bill questioned.

"It's his way of asking if it ok to appear. A bit like ringing a door bell. He usually only does it when he is going somewhere new for the first time."

"I have just replied to his message to let him know it is ok to arrive at that spot" Chief Williams replied.

Looking alarmed Bill called out, "Tell him No, not there. That is inside the wards he will never make it."

However, before he finished the warning there was a small pop in the yard. The disturbance was gone and in its place stood what appeared to be the most unremarkable man I have ever met.

In astonishment Bill turned to Arthur and exclaimed "How did he make it past the wards Dad?"

"I don't know son. But he is an Auror so he might know somethings about wards that we don't. Remind me to ask him later"

Bill nodded in agreement.

I turned my attention back to our latest visitor and continued my observations.

He appeared to be about 6ft tall with a slim but solid built. His stance indicated that he was relaxed but at the same time it appeared that he was ready to spring into action at any moment.

His clothing seemed a little out of place given that it was summer now. But remembering an earlier comment from Hermione about it being winter in Australia his clothing made a bit more sense.

He appeared to be wearing, boots of some sort, jeans, a dark blue shirt and what appeared to be a dragon skin jacket. He also appeared to be wearing some sort of wide brimmed hat (I was later to find out it was called an Akubra) and some muggle style Sunglasses.

He was also carrying a tray with a clear cover that appeared to be containing scones of some sort.

He appeared to be looking at us with as much interest as we were all looking at him. He then changed his focus and gazed at The Burrow itself, looking around as though to fully absorb every detail.

His first words however were a bit of a surprise.

"What a ripper. Now that's what I call an excellent looking house."

I'm not sure if this comment was intended to be overheard or not. But Arthur certainly beamed with pride upon hearing it.

As he started forward to the porch Chief Williams was the first one out the door. He met our visitor at the foot of the porch steps.

Chief Williams appeared to approach the visitor a little cautiously, which seemed odd.

"Syd?" he questioned?

This caused a small amount of disquiet amongst those of us still inside the house.

"G'day Boss." Was the reply.

"Yes it's me. Didn't you recognise me?" he said with a smile.

"Obviously not, Syd." Chief Williams replied with a bit of a chuckle.

"What do you call this particular monstrosity that you're wearing?"

"Told you on the 'dog and bone' Boss. This is 'John Citizen'" he said turning in a slow circle.

"What do you think? Drunkmouse and Q both helped me come up with it. It's supposed to be the most uninteresting and average White Caucasian European Male possible. Most people should have forgotten me before they have even finished meeting me." He added somewhat proudly.

"I have been using 'John Citizen' since Christmas and so far, he is doing very well. Unless I have a significant interaction with someone I'm forgotten very quickly. No need for memory charms at all. Which is just as well."

"Fair enough" was Chief Williams reply.

With this he stepped forwards and the two shook hands and gave each other a quick but solid hug.

"Good to see you again Syd. It has been a while since we last caught up."

"What's with the tray?"

Displaying a somewhat vicious smile Auror Webb replied,

"Well Boss, after our phone call I got changed and dressed and went out to see the rest of the team. Your missus and mum were both still there, but getting ready to head off home. So I showed them the photo I took of you while we were talking." At this the smile on Auror Webb got larger.

"Needless to say they were both horrified at what you were wearing. Your missus stated that she thought that you had known that your own daughters brought that bow tie for you as a practical joke."

"So when I told her where you were wearing it, she was completely mortified. Although mum saw the funny side of it." Auror Webb was now laughing as the story was unfolding.

"After calming your missus down, mum handed me this tray along with instructions to give it to you, so that you could pass it along to our hosts by way of an apology for inflicting that hideous article of clothing on them."

"So Boss here you go" he said as he handed the tray over and almost collapsed with laughter at the expression on Chief Williams face.

"Your missus also said that she was going to have a 'talk' with you about appropriate attire to wear when in the field." He added with a Cheshire Grin.

Chief Williams to his eternal credit, turned away from the still laughing Auror Webb and with a perfectly straight face brought the tray of scones up to the house and presented them to myself and Arthur saying.

"On behalf of my lovely sister-in-law I present to you some of her famous date scones as an act of contrition for my recent fashion related crimes."

Struggling to hide his smile at this turn of events Arthur replied,

"I didn't think that your Bow Tie was that bad, Chief Williams. But many thanks to your sister-in-law for these lovely scones. They smell great."

Arthur passed the scones along to me and I moved to place them on the kitchen table. Ron was already to pounce on them, I had to slap his hands away and tell him to wait for our guests.

By this time Auror Webb was on the porch his hat and glasses removed he was being introduced by Chief Williams.

"Mr Arthur Weasley, I would like to introduce Auror David Webb", the two men shook hands.

"It is a very great pleasure to meet you Mr Weasley. A very great pleasure indeed. I had a very quick conversation with dad before I left to come here and he also asked me to pass along his gratitude to you from the family for the efforts of your father in helping his dad."

"He also asked me to pass along to you and your family an open invitation to dinner and to visit if you are ever in Australia. As he would dearly love to meet you and your family himself."

Poor Arthur seemed more than a little surprised at this. But he quickly recovered and replied,

"He does me a great honour Auror Webb. But I must confess I'm at a complete loss as to what it was that my father did to earn so much admiration and praise from your family."

"I have a copy of my Grandfathers documents with me Mr Weasley as they will be relevant to the continuation of our earlier conversation. They will also show you in part what it was that your father actually did to get such admiration and loyalty from my Grandpa." Replied Auror Webb as he shook hands with Arthur.

After returning to the crowd at the kitchen door it was my turn to be introduced. While considering Auror Webb's face I thought I noticed something not unlike recognition flicker in his eyes. It was very brief (if indeed that was what it was) but he also didn't react to it so I decided not to mention it to him. At least not yet.

I told him that I was very pleased to meet him and he expressed the same. His big brown eyes were what I noticed the most. They seemed alive with an insatiable curiosity about all that was happening. It did seem to me that it was almost like that they were recording everything that they saw for later analysis. But he was an Auror so I thought at the time that it would make sense for him to be paying attention.

Arthur next introduced Charlie.

"I believe you know this man as Mr Dragon Keeper, Auror Webb?"

Both Charlie and Auror Webb were grinning at this statement and shook hands enthusiastically.

Next in line for introductions was Bill. When he turned to look at Bill, Auror Webb again had that strange expression on his face, almost like recognition. His eyes flickered to that hideous earing that Bill always insisted on wearing.

Upon Arthur's introduction of our eldest son Auror Webb's eyes lit up and a lopsided grin that appeared strangely familiar played across his face.

It was plain that both men wanted to say something but it was Auror Webb who got in first.

"Pleasure to meet you Bill." He quickly followed up with.

"Did you used to work for Gringotts in Egypt as a Curse-Breaker by any chance?"

Caught off guard by the question Bill replied.

"Yes I do work for Gringotts as a Curse-Breaker and I was in Egypt for quite a few years. Why do you ask? Have we met before Auror Webb?"

"No I don't think you and I have meet Bill. But I do believe that you might know one of my sisters, possibility quite well in fact. As she too was in Egypt working alongside the Gringotts Curse-Breakers."

At this Bill had a slightly worried and puzzled expression on his face. Fleur was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and Charlie was starting to display a rather evil looking smile while staring at his older brothers growing discomfort.

"No need to look so worried Bill." Auror Webb continued clearly noticing Bill's growing unease.

"It's just that if you are indeed the same Bill Weasley that 'dropped in' on a very intimate moment that my sister was sharing with someone at the time, I would love to hear your side of the story to see if it aligns with hers. As she has been known to embellish her stories from time to time."

Bill was now looking really worried. As both Fleur's and Charlie's interest had greatly increased at the mention of 'intimate moment'.

Even Arthur was struggling to hide his interest in this particular story.

Clearly enjoying the moment Charlie began to ask some questions of Auror Webb.

"My elder brother seems to be having some difficulty with his memory at the moment. Do you think you could provide him and the rest of us with some more details Auror Webb?"

"If you think that they will be of assistance I will most happily do so Charlie" came the reply. Openly grinning at Charlie, Auror Webb continued.

"The situation under discussion, involved a rather romantic (or so I'm told) dinner for two at a recently discovered tomb. Which was hidden away out of sight at the base of a set of scaffolding (the dinner not the tomb). As well as a partial collapse of said scaffolding by a certain individual from a group of drunken Curse-Breakers who were celebrating the recent discovery."

Bill by now had begun to blush to the extent that his face almost matched his hair.

Grinning like a mad man Charlie exclaimed,

"It seems that Bill has remembered something. Please Bill do tell your side of the story."

Charlie's enthusiasm for the uncovering of the story seems to have been picked up by the rest of the family. As they were all now pestering Bill for details of the event.

Auror Webb seemed to be also very interested and was showing no signs of letting Bill off the hook.

"There isn't much to tell" Bill quietly said.

"As I don't remember much of it at all. Just fragments. I remember the party, falling, a woman yelling at me and then waking up the next morning with a set of rather spectacular bruises. None of my fellow Cruse-Breakers however seemed too keen on giving me all the details. All they would say was it was a memorable evening."

"Spoil sport" muttered Charlie.

Disappointment obvious in his voice Auror Webb asked,

"Are you certain that you don't remember anything else?"

"Please Bill, try and remember" chimed in Charlie with a hopeful glint in his eye.

"No sorry I don't. I can't seem to remember any women on the Gringotts team in Egypt with the name of Webb either." Bill explained.

"My sister never worked for Gringotts. She worked with them as a consultant specialising in what I believe are called 'adaptive' or 'active curses'. She and her (at the time) fiancée were making a study of them."

This seemed to bring up some more memories of Bill's time in Egypt as you could almost see his eyes light up.

"Don't tell me your sister is Natalie? Natalie Hood? Married to Craig Hood and together they are considered to be the foremost experts on 'active curses' in the world?" Bill said almost breathlessly.

"That she is."

"Oh my." Bill said with a smile beginning to form on his face.

"This certainly explains some very odd comments I hear from them at times."

Now it was Auror Webb's turn to look a little confused.

"I still see them both from time to time. As Gringotts brings them in on specialist jobs." Bill replied.

"They have never mentioned the incident you describe. But they both frequently make reference to 'Bombshell' in my presence."

Auror Webb was by now happily chuckling at this revelation. For Bill's benefit he explained.

"'Bombshell', is the nickname that she christened you with in our family. The story behind the name is one of my sisters' favourite ones to tell. The whole family knows the story and it is frequently requested to be retold at family gatherings." Auror Webb smiled as he finished his explanation.

"Bill, are you certain you don't remember any more of that incident?" Auror Webb asked hopefully?

"Bombshell?" both Charlie and George asked in unison. Twin smiles forming as they struggled to contain their ever-growing amusement.

"I was mildly curious before but now I absolutely must know the story behind that name. If my rather befuddled brother can't remember the story, perhaps you would care to enlighten us Auror Webb?" George asked with an almost childlike glee.

By this point Arthur must have begun to take pity on his first born son. As he stepped in to continue the introductions. Must to the obvious disappointment of both Charlie, George and myself I must say.

"Auror Webb, this curious young man here is my son George."

"We have met before Arthur. Although I don't think George will remember it as I was dressed as someone else."

This garnered a questioning look from Arthur and George as to the statement. Auror Webb continued,

"Between us I think my team has just about bought your entire stock of your 'Patented Daydream Charms' as well as a good proportion of your decoy detonators. Before you closed up shop one of us was in there almost every day."

"We were very upset to find that you had closed up shop. Until we realised that we could still order from you by your wonderful Owl post service."

George had a very self-satisfied expression upon his face at this news.

"Really? I can understand how a team of Aurors could make use of our decoy detonators. But what on earth were you doing with all those 'Patented Daydream Charms' you bought from us?" George asked his eyes afire with curiosity.

"Making life a living nightmare for the Death Eaters and their supporters." Was the reply.

George's face assumed an almost beautific expression of pure joy at this announcement. It was the happiest I had seen him in quite some time.

"Purely from a standpoint of professional curiosity, may I ask how you used our humble 'Patented Daydream Charms' to such an end?" George enquired.

"We discovered that with a slight modification they were perfect to use to spike the water supply of locations where Death Eaters were operating certain shall we say 'facilities'" Auror Webb replied with an almost nervous glance at the youngest member of his attentive audience.

"When used in the water supply (in sufficient quantity) we found that we could cause the vast majority of the operators and customers at these 'facilities' to become so inattentive that we could walk right in and disarm them. Then walk right out with either their prisoners or records or even both, as the case may be. In some cases, we were not even challenged, while in others we were met with only slight resistance that could be easily managed."

"It proved to be so effective that it was our preferred method of operation for quite some time."

"The list of people who owe their freedom and in quite a good number of cases their very lives to your little invention is a very significant number."

"The head of our Technical Department was very impressed with your work on these 'Patented Daydream Charms'. To the point that he would like to meet with you and discuss several ideas he has for other items that could well prove useful to us in the future."

To say that George was stunned would have been an understatement. We all were.

In an attempt to finally finish the introductions Arthur continued on.

"Auror Webb, this is my youngest son, Ron."

Ron and Auror Webb shook hands.

With a rather cheeky smile on his face Ron asked, "You haven't met me before have you Auror Webb?"

"Only through what I have read in your 'lovely' papers Ron. Although I willing to hazard a guess that most of that is bull… I mean rubbish. Am I, right?"

"Pretty close" Ron replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Unless you have been into the Ministry recently I don't think we would have crossed paths. And from what I have heard of you Ron you've been rather busy of late."

Ron looked up with a spark in his eye.

"I was in the Ministry recently. The three of us caused a bit of a stir in the 'Muggle-Born Registration Commission' offices."

Now it was Auror Webb's turn to look a little surprised. He fixed Ron with a rather intense look and asked,

"Would this have been in early September by any chance?"

With a quick glance at Hermione Ron nodded in confirmation.

"You three you say? Did one of you stun 'The Toad' down in the court rooms and cause a 'minor' stampede of Muggle-Borns and their families?" Auror Webb asked?

Grinning Ron replied, "Yeah that was us"

Returning the grin Auror Webb replied, "That was an inspired piece of work that was. I only wish that you had asked for our help. If it was your intention to break those Muggle-Borns out of the Ministry we would have assisted however we could."

"You were there at the Ministry that day Auror Webb?" Hermione enquired.

Nodding Auror Webb explained, "Fireball and I were there that day on a scouting operation. We were just discussing our options for getting into the court rooms undetected when there came a rather large commotion. The next thing we knew Muggle-Borns were running all over the place."

"That Yaxley nit wit came barrelling down the corridor trying to grab some poor bloke in a blue robe. Naturally I tripped the blond idiot up. I never missed a chance to ruin his day."

"Some court functionary knocked Fireball right onto her ass and kept on running after the bloke in the blue robes. I was then knocked over by someone else running down the corridor they had on a large leather coat but I didn't see their face. I ended up on top of that Yaxley who 'unfortunately' got the wind knocked out of him."

"Trying to make the best of the situation, I stole Yaxley's keys and copied them in the hope that the Court Room keys were there. Then we took off to grab as many of the Muggle-Borns that we could in the confusion."

"We ended up grabbing about almost 60 people all told that day. Got them all out of the country very quickly afterwards as well."

Ron and Hermione had rather strange expressions that almost mirrored each other. It seemed to be a mixture of amusement, fear and relief all mixed into one.

Getting himself under control Ron replied,

"The guy in the blue being chased by Yaxley was me. Thanks for the trip, he had almost caught up with me. I think that the person who knocked over your partner was Hermione over here." Ron indicated Hermione who was standing next to him and listening with rapt attention.

"I'll also guess that you were knocked over by Harry who was disguised as Albert Runcorn at the time. Did those set of keys you obtained give you access to the court room?" Ron asked.

"Unfortunately they didn't. But they did give us access to the central records room for Ministry Employees and most of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission records as well. They both proved very useful."

"I'm sure Harry will be very happy to hear that he assisted you then." Ron answered with a smile.

Taking the opportunity presented by the lull in the conversation, Arthur ploughed on again.

"Auror Webb, as Ron just indicated this lovely young lady here is Hermione Granger. Apparently, my sons Girlfriend and one of the main reasons we have asked you here today."

"Pleased to meet you Miss Granger" Auror Webb responded shaking hands with Hermione. He seemed to be about to say something else but Arthur then turned to Fleur,

"This lovely lady is Fleur Weasley, Bills wife and my Daughter-in-law."

"Pleasure to meet you Fleur" responded Auror Webb, while shaking hands with her.

"eet eez a pleasure to meet you to Monsieur Webb, as long as you don't call me Madame Bombshell, no?" Fleur asked with a smile.

Auror Webb gave a chuckle at this and replied, "No worries on that score."

"This young lady is Gabrielle Delacour, Fleur's sister" Arthur said as he indicated Gabrielle.

"It is a pleasure to meet you too Gabrielle." Auror Webb said as he extended his hand to her.

"Merci, Monsieur Webb. Eet eez a pleasure to meet you also." Gabrielle answered.

Turning to her sister she remarked, "I don't know what zey were complaining about. 'is wardrobe seems ok to moi, even if it is a bit simple."

"GABRIELLE!" Fleur exclaimed in shock, while Auror Webb and Chief Williams laughed. The rest of us had a small moment of unease also.

"I can see that she is a young lady of taste." Auror Webb answered with a smile.

"After my own 'incident' in Paris and the recent offence caused by the bow tie currently worn by Chief Williams. I was obliged to get my wardrobe 'checked' before leaving to come here. It was marked as 'passable' by my mum and Aunt. But I will pass your feedback along to them as well." He said smiling broadly at Gabrielle.

"They could probably do with some schooling from someone with a better sense of fashion and style." He laughed. Chief Williams also had a smile at this statement.

Gabrielle smiled broadly at the acknowledgement and was quickly hustled out of the way by Fleur.

Next to be introduced was Ginny. Here too Auror Webb seemed to have a moment of recognition flicker in his eyes. Only this this time I caught his glance from Ginny back to me, almost like he was comparing something. Ginny seemed to have noticed this momentary expression as well. I could almost see the questions begin to form before Arthur interrupted her thoughts.

"Auror Webb, this here is my daughter Ginny the baby of our family."

"Not the baby dad, just the youngest" Ginny retorted with a brief glare at Arthur before turning to Auror Webb.

"Pleased to meet you Auror Webb"

"You seem to have had an interesting time here in our country. What else have you been up to? I mean other than making life difficult for those lovely death eaters. Could you have managed to say 'taken out' some of those same Death Eaters rather than just giving them day dreams?" She asked with some heat coming into her voice.

"GINNY!" both Arthur and I exclaimed at the same time.

"Auror Webb is here as our guest, not for a cross examination" Arthur replied, his voice rising slightly.

"It's ok Arthur, it is a fair question." Auror Webb replied, almost as though he had expected this.

"Miss Weasley it appears that it will be an interesting experience to make your acquaintance." Auror Webb replied shaking her hand. The more formal mode of address towards my youngest had me slightly on edge and I didn't know why.

"When we are operating in another country, we have a very strict set of rules to which we must adhere. Things like random killings are very much frowned upon in our organisation."

"If we went around killing people like your 'lovely death eaters' as you described them we would be no better than them would we not? Killing is bad enough when it occurs inside the legal system. To willingly kill outside of it would be the same as murder do you not think so?" The questioning look Auror Webb directed to Ginny belied the steel and passion of his last statement. My earlier worries were starting to grow.

Ginny was not prepared for Auror Webb's response but she also gave the impression of someone who was not about to back down from her earlier statement either.

I think Auror Webb sensed this and he seemed to be ready to respond in a more direct manner when Chief Williams stepped in.

"Ginny, if you are implying that Auror Webb and his team have not been helping the fight against Tom Riddle Jr then I'm sorry to say that you are mistaken. I have seen the reports and a good deal of the physical evidence of the activities of Auror Webb and his team while they have been in this theatre of operations. Those same reports are soon to be presented to Minister Shacklebolt also."

"While the main role of Auror Webb and his team has been the identification and extraction of people who were being targeted by your Ministry. That includes Witches, Wizards, Muggle-Borns and Muggles. Auror Webb and his team have also removed from operation (directly) a significant number of Death Eaters and their supporters. At last count, the number was well over 200 individuals who were willingly supporting the 'darker side' of the Ministries activities."

"I'm sure you would agree that you would have not welcomed those extra reinforcements arriving at Hogwarts during the recent battle there?" Chief Williams asked a little pointedly clearly proud of the efforts of his fellow Aurors. When Ginny did not reply to this statement Chief Williams nodded to Arthur to continue.

Arthur then introduced Kingsley,

"Auror Webb it is my honour to introduce you to Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt. Minster Shacklebolt may I introduce Auror Webb."

"Not going to try and arrest me are you Auror Webb?" Kingsley asked with a twinkle in his eye as they shook hands.

"Err, no Minster. Sorry about that little misunderstanding earlier. I double checked the warrant before I left and Chief Williams was correct our Minister has indeed added Pius Thicknesse's name to it now."

"Glad that is settled then" Arthur said.

"We should all head inside for some tea and to try those lovely looking scones Chief Williams so kindly supplied us with." Kingsley suggested.

"Does this mean we should be thankful for your sense of fashion then Boss" Auror Webb asked with a mischievous look at Chief Williams? But he continued inside without waiting for a reply.


	5. Family Matters

Once everyone was inside I got them all seated around the kitchen table. Fleur and Ginny helped me make tea and coffee for everyone. Although after her last outburst I made sure that Ginny didn't deliver any hot drinks to either Chief Williams or Auror Webb.

When presented with his cuppa and scones Auror Webb replied,

"Many thanks Mrs Weasley, you're a real lifesaver you are."

It was one of the strangest expressions I had ever heard. But I must admit it is gratifying to see someone enjoying a cuppa and some scones.

Chief Williams was the next one to break the silence,

"Syd I know you have had a long day" he began only to be interrupted by a snort at the other end of the table followed by,

"Long day? It's not even 11am, how is that a long day?" from Ginny who was beginning to glare at Auror Webb down the kitchen table.

Auror Webb turned to face Ginny seemingly unfazed by her unfriendly expression and replied, "Yes it has been a long day Miss Weasley. I received Chief Williams call at 9:30pm local time and my team and I had been engaged in operations for almost all the previous 24 hrs. With very little time for sleep."

"So maybe 'long days' would be a better description."

"It can't have been 9:30pm, Perth might be up in Scotland but the time difference isn't that great." Came the rather stiff reply.

"Miss Weasley, I think you misunderstood me earlier. I was in Perth, Western Australia, when I received the call from Chief Williams. Not Perth in Scotland."

"Being on the other side of the globe Perth, WA has a VERY different time zone." He told Ginny.

When no reply was forth coming from Ginny Auror Webb turned his attention back to Chief Williams.

Arthur must have sensed his chance to ask Auror Webb about his arrival, as he quickly jumped in before poor Chief Williams could continue.

"I didn't know that it was possible to Apparate so far." He said in wonder.

"It's possible Mr Weasley, although very uncomfortable. So, I try to avoid it if possible. I prefer to 'jump' as we call it or to use 'enhanced doorways' to cover really long distances."

"Although today I didn't make the trip in one jump. As it was necessary to stop off in France to deliver those kids I mentioned back to their families. Arriving here was only a short jump from southern France" explained Auror Webb.

"'Jump' you say?" Arthur asked with intense interest "How is that different to Apparition?"

"The best was I can explain it is in Apparition you move yourself through space. While in a 'Jump', the space moves around you." Auror Webb stated.

"It also doesn't feel like you're being squeezed through a rubber tube during the process. It's more like stepping off a rapidly moving platform onto still ground. Apparently, that how the name 'Jump' was given to the process"

"Extraordinary!" exclaimed Arthur.

He seemed about to continue when Chief Williams cleared his throat.

"Syd, as I mentioned before I know you have had a long day, but I would like you to listen to Miss Granger here. As she sent her muggle parents to Australia to keep them safe from Tom Riddle Jr during the recent troubles."

"Minister Shacklebolt was approached by Arthur for help on behalf of Miss Granger. He in turn has asked me and after checking with the Minister I have asked you." He explained.

Auror Webb nodded his agreement while clearly enjoying his cuppa and scones.

"Now that the recent troubles have concluded, Miss Granger would like to find her parents and bring them back home." Chief Williams explained.

"I have asked you here because of your unique talents and successes in locating people."

"After that I will need you to give me, Kingsley and Arthur an update on the situation you mentioned before. In regards to the Children and the group of Death Eaters in particular."

"No worries Boss." Replied Auror Webb. "Miss Granger or can I call you Hermione?"

"Hermione is fine Auror Webb" she answered.

"Ok then. Hermione the floor is yours, how may 'we' be of help?" asked Auror Webb. As Chief Williams slid his notepad over to him.

"Thank you. As Chief Williams mentioned, I modified my parents' memories and sent them to Australia to protect them from any Death Eaters that may have come looking for them." She began.

"I took from them all knowledge of me and made them believe that their names were Wendell and Monica"

"Wilkins?" Auror Webb asked with an intense questioning look on his face.

"Yes. How, how did you know?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"They are both Dentists by trade. Your father is a mad supporter of the English Cricket team to the point that he is almost a total tragic. With a blind faith that while completely miss placed almost has to be admired."

"He also loves to make very bad jokes especially about Edam cheese?" Auror Webb questioned.

Now looking totally stunned Hermione was almost at a loss for words. But there was a wild light of hope in her eyes. She was also jumping up and down in excitement.

"Syd! How do you know this? As going from her reaction, I'm guessing you are correct in your statements." Chief Williams wanted to know.

"Would you believe that I'm an omnipresent entity that is like a God among the mortals of this world?" Auror Webb asked hopefully looking at Chief Williams in what appeared to be a familiar game between the two of them.

"Ah… No!" was the reply from Chief Williams.

"It was worth a try." He remarked to no one in particular.

Auror Webb next pulled out his Mirror phone and began to go through photos on it in. Stopping at one that appeared to show a group of people in bright yellow and green clothing. He passed the device to Hermione and asked, "Is this them?"

Hermione's eyes went wide with surprise and she smiled like I hadn't seen her smile in a long time. Touching the screen almost fondly she nodded. Eventually she said, "Yes that's them."

"Then Boss, the answer to your question is, I know that information as those two have been working for us for the last 10 months."

"They have been assisting us with the care of the muggles who we have brought out of the UK. As not all of them are comfortable around magic. So, we have had to organise muggle medical care for those that needed it and there is quite a few of them that do unfortunately." He explained.

"Do you know where they are? Can you take me to them? How are they?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

"Yes I know where they are. No, I can't take you to them right now…" He began before he was cut off.

"NO!" Yelled Ron, "What do you mean NO? They are her parents, why can't you take her to her own parents. You…"

"RONALD WEASLEY! You hold your tongue and let Auror Webb explain" I yelled at my youngest son.

Seeing that my outburst had the desired effect I said to Auror Webb, "Please continue dear."

Inclining his head to me he explained, "Yes Hermione, I know where you parents are right now. But I can't take you to them right now." He said while looking at Ron.

"As they are currently on holiday in Fiji at the personal retreat of the Fijian Minster of Magic. The location is protected by a fidelius charm and I'm not the secret keeper so I can't take you even if I wanted to."

Seeing the questioning look in her eye he added, "They are on holiday Hermione. A VERY well deserved Holiday."

"All of us involved with the plight of the Wizards, Witches, Muggle-Borns and Muggles that we have brought out of the UK have been under a great deal of stress. Some of us more than others."

"Where ever possible we have tried to arrange suitable 'Rest and Relaxation' for those involved."

"Your parents have been unceasing in their efforts to help those under our care. I felt that they deserved a decent break from all the chaos that they have endured. Thankfully our Minister agreed and called in a favour to his counterpart in Fiji."

"They are due back at my mum & dads on Friday next week. I will be more than happy to take you and whoever else you wish to accompany you to see them then." He offered.

Instead of answering Hermione sprang at Auror Webb and embraced him rather fiercely. Sobbing quietly into his shoulder.

Auror Webb for his part looked very startled by this reaction. But he soon had her calmed down and untangled from himself.

"A simple thank you would have been more than enough Hermione." He said with a smile.

"Your parents have done some brilliant work for us and you should be very proud of their efforts."

"Thank you Auror Webb. I am proud of them." She added.

"Can you tell me how they are?" she asked.

At this question Auror Webb's face became troubled and I wasn't the only one to notice it.

"What, what is it? What's wrong?" Hermione wanted to know.

"It's the memory charm that was cast on them. It has been starting to fail in the last 2 months or so and has been causing them some trouble." He said in a worried voice.

"Fail? How do you mean it is failing?" Hermione demanded. She was always concerned about falling short of expectations at school. I can only image how she would be feeling about it in terms of her parents.

"Currently, they suspect that there is more to their lives than they can remember. Your mum made the comment to my mum, 'it's like a few chapters and the index is missing' just before they went on their holiday." He explained.

"Mostly it has been like they were looking around for something that they thought that they had lost. But couldn't remember what is was."

"Mum?" Hermione exclaimed "Is your whole family in on this operation of yours?"

"Most of my family work for the Australian Magical Parliament in one way or another. Mostly in Magical Law Enforcement. But also in Medical and Research. And this isn't 'My' operation. It is a sanctioned op by the regional Australasian Governments and I have been asked to lead it." He stated.

"So yes, most of my family is involved in some capacity. Does this concern you at all?" he asked.

"No not really. I'm was just surprised that is all."

"Is your mum is a healer?" she asked.

"No, not really. As to be considered a Healer you need to be a Witch or a Wizard." He answered. "Mum is neither."

This answer greatly confused everyone. Surprisingly it was Chief Williams who answered.

"Auror Webb's mother is considered one of the foremost experts on the human mind and soul. In both the Magical and Muggle Worlds." He stated.

"Auror Webb is also correct in that his mother is indeed not a Witch. But she is a very powerful magic user none the less."

"How is she a Magic user but not a witch?" Hermione wanted to know.

"The labels applied to magic users here are far too ridged. Much like your 'wonderful' Class system that you seem to enjoy so much over here." Auror Webb began with heavy contempt in his voice.

"By your wonderful classifications, my Mum would be considered a Squib. As she can't use a wand. Fortunately she also doesn't need to use one." He continued some heat creeping into his voice.

"Unfortunately her family never waited to find out her true potential. They tried to quickly dispose of her to hide their shame and cut her off." The heat in his voice was clearly evident now.

"But she has talent surely, if she had only showed them they wouldn't have…" Hermione began.

"She came back to see her family in 81, to try and offer her help as she has very unique talents. However, when she showed them what she could do they were shocked. Regrettably they viewed her talents as even more shameful as being a Squib. Her Great Aunt even went to the extent of reporting her as an abomination to the Death Eaters." He said with clenched teeth.

The colour had begun to drain a little from Hermione's face at this statement.

"Her two younger brothers found out what their Great Aunt had done and tried to smuggle her safely out of the country. Their 'lovely' Great Aunt found out where they were staying one night and had their location passed onto Tom Riddle Jr. He sent a group of his followers to 'deal with them'."

"To use mum's words her little brothers 'fought like lions' and allowed her to escape. But they were themselves killed in the fight."

At this statement, I had a flashback to losing my own brothers to Voldemort's supporters.

"That's what mum's family thought of her unique talents. Since then she hasn't attempted any contact with them. She doesn't know if it is just her batty old 'Great' Aunt who was behind it or if they were all in on it. The ones she met with certainly were not keen on introducing her to the rest of the family that she has never known."

"But their loss is our gain. They don't deserve her in my opinion."

Hermione was looking at Auror Webb with a strange expression on her face as though she was trying to figure out a puzzle. She looked back down at the photo on the mirror phone.

"Who are these other people in the photo with my parents?" She asked.

"The two on the left of your mum are my Second Eldest Sister Natalie and her Husband Craig. Bill here might recognise them, although he might need to add some scaffold wreckage, dust and sand to the image to jog his memory" he added with a sly grin. Charlie and George were chuckling to. But everyone had a good look at them in the photo. They were smiling and happily waving to the camera.

"And the one on the left of my dad? The one missing his head." She asked.

Auror Webb quickly glanced at the image and smiled, "That is the world's ugliest Auror. My sister routinely cuts his head off in photos. She calls it a public service."

Displaying an insight that was rare for him, but pleasing none the less Ron looked at the photo and then at Auror Webb and said quickly "It's you isn't it? A sister would only do something like that to a family member."

Auror Webb looked a little startled, but Chief Williams was openly smiling. "You have been caught out Syd. Now you owe me lunch." He said laughing.

Auror Webb was giving Chief Williams a filthy look, but before he could respond Hermione exclaimed, "But how? The person in this photo would have to be 7 feet tall."

"Just over 7 feet actually" Chief Williams corrected. "I mentioned before that Auror Webb has a rather unique set of skills and abilities. One of those abilities is to be able to alter his appearance at will."

"You mean he is a Metamorphmagus?" Arthur asked looking at Auror Webb with excitement.

"Yes and no." Chief Williams replied much to the consternation of all in the room.

"Such 'simple' definitions don't seem to apply to Syd here." He said again smiling.

"Thanks Boss." Auror Webb replied when he realised that all eyes were again on him. "Any other 'state secrets' you want to give away while you're at it?" he said with the sarcasm clearly on display.

"No I'm good." He replied. But quickly added "For now"

"So why are you, not you now?" Hermione asked of Auror Webb.

"After some initial difficulties in operating here I was given rather strict rules regarding my appearance while in the UK. My natural appearance seems to generate some rather odd reactions over here."

"Once I was a little careless and was spotted as I normally look while out in public. Once spotted a mob quickly formed. I have no idea as to why it happens and that is the most frustrating part"

"So as my sister puts it, 'in the interest of public safety' I dress in a different body when in public over here."

"This 'John Citizen'" he said pointing to his chest, "is my main identity when I'm operating here."

"Dr Sandra Mary Webb!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"Pardon?" Auror Webb asked.

"She's your mother isn't she? Dr Sandra Mary Webb." She said with noticeable excitement.

Once again Chief Williams was the one to answer. "How did you come to that conclusion Miss Granger?" he asked.

"There are not many people who are acknowledged as world leaders in the mind and soul in either of the Magical or Muggle worlds. Even fewer in both."

"Thinking about the ones I have read about, only one lives in Australia. That means Dr Sandra Mary Webb is the only logical choice."

"You are correct in that she has unique talents. Most of her family do. In fact her youngest son has Metamorphmagus like abilities and he..." she started to say before her eyes went really wide and she stared at Auror Webb while her voice drifted off to nothing.

Auror Webb was looking at Hermione with an extremely intense expression that looked like he was almost measuring her. Waiting for her reaction to this discovery.

"Yes?" he asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it true?" she asked in a voice like a whisper, "Do you really have…".

"Is what true?" Auror Webb replied.

"There have been rumours, stories." She said in wonder.

"There have always been rumours and stories Hermione. There are even a great many about you. But I can't answer them if I don't know what you are referring to, now can I?" Auror Webb asked.

"No I guess not." She said, clearly keen to change the subject.

"Can you tell me more about my parents and the state of the memory charm?" she asked.

Nodding Auror Webb explained,

"Mum has been doing her best to maintain the structure of the charm that was applied to them. But she suspects that the person who applied it was under extreme emotional stress at the time. That stress has manifested itself into the 'cracks in the structure' as she puts it."

"But without knowing the specifics of the casting she can't fully repair it. She also thinks it can only be undone by the person who applied it." He said.

"If you are agreeable I can arrange for you to talk to my mum later this evening when it will be morning on the East Coast back home."

"Hopefully between the two of you, you can work on a solution to restore the charm. As it needs to be restored before it can be removed." He stated.

"Would this be ok with you?" he asked.

"Absolutely it would." She said with great happiness. "Do you think she would mind if I asked her some questions as well?" she enquired.

"I'm sure she will be happy to answer your questions once a solution has been found to your parents. As she is becoming quite worried about them" he said.

Hermione nodded happily and then looked back down at the photo of her parents.

With a puzzled expression on her face she asked, "Why are they dressed in Australian Sporting Uniforms?"

Auror Webb started to laugh, but before he spoke Chief Williams said, "Syd, you didn't."

"It wasn't my idea Boss. It was only supposed to be a simple regular lunch bet. But Wendell, wouldn't allow it. He was hoping to embarrass us, by making us wear English Uniforms."

"It didn't go according to his plan." He said smiling. "So we all chipped in and got them both good quality Aussie Uniforms and took them to the last day of the test against India in India."

"Your mum Hermione was a great sport and thought it hilarious. You dad was a little more sullen."

"But he had no one else to blame. We tried to warn him that the English team were having trouble in their tour of the West Indies. But he wouldn't listen to us, or his missus."

"In the end we all had a great time at the game. Although I don't think he will admit to owning a full set of Aussie Cricket Team supporters gear any time soon." He said laughing.

Hermione was also laughing at the story. Although she, Auror Webb and Chief Williams seemed to be the only ones who understood what was being discussed.

"What's cric it?" Ron asked with a baffled look.

"It's a muggle sport, involving two teams that try to score more runs than the other while trying their hardest to get each other out as fast as they can."

"It is very popular in the British Commonwealth Countries. My dad as Auror Webb has mentioned is a keen supporter of the English team. He loves to make bets on the outcome of matches with his friends." She had a strange look in her eye as though thinking of old memories.

"How did my parents come to be working for you Auror Webb?" she asked.

"I'm not sure how much you know about the Magical Government in Australia Hermione, but it is very different to your Ministry here."

"The Magical and Muggle Governments have an almost formal working relationship between them. As there are what is called 'Liaison' representatives from just about all Muggle Ministries within the Magical Parliament. Sometimes these are Muggle-Born witches or Wizards other times they are actually Muggles."

"These 'Liaison' roles enable the Magical Community to respond very effectively to any Magical disturbances in the Muggle world. They also enable the Magical Government to take advantage of Muggle technology, procedures and technology where it proves useful to do so."

"For instance our Aurors train with the Muggle Australian Federal Police. The better to learn investigative procedures and to gain access to Muggle records which can prove to be very effective at times." He said.

"What can Wizards and Witches learn from Muggles? Magic trumps Muggle technology any day." Ron exclaimed.

Both Hermione and Arthur fixed Ron with disbelieving stares. Auror Webb however was smiling at Ron. Reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out a small leather wallet. When opened it appeared to contain his Auror Badge and credentials. He then proceeded to unfold it yet again and then once more. This made a much bigger opening through which he pulled out a very large stack of parchment files. He also pulled out a small flat and back object that he laid on the table next to them. The black object was only about the thickness of my ring finger.

"That pile of parchment is a collection of 'traditional' Case reports files by my team on our work for the last two months. Let's say you are looking for the report that contained a witness statement from a person who is currently the subject of an active investigation. You need to find that statement and get it to a fellow Auror who is on the other side of the globe as fast as you can."

"Now this object here." He indicated the small black flat object next to the very tall pile. "Is what the Muggles call a 'Laptop Computer'. It is an electronic device that has been created to store and process large amounts of data on it. Currently in holds ALL our Case reports for the last FIVE Years. If I hook into something the Muggles are calling 'The Internet' I can access just about every case report EVER written by our Auror Dept."

"As all records that are stored on the computer are indexed and cross referenced I can search on the name of the person I am interested in and find ALL the reports in which they are mentioned. Then I can send that report off to anyone I chose via 'e-mail' (another Muggle Invention) and they will get it almost instantly."

"How long would it take you to complete a similar task looking through that pile manually and sending what you found off via an Owl?" he asked with a questioning look?

"I'm guessing a while." Ron answered.

"I won't argue against that." Auror Webb replied. "Muggle inventions are not always perfect. But we try to take the best of their ideas and improve them where we can and then make use of them. That vast majority of our job as Aurors is searching for information. Either on the street, in reports or looking through reference books. If we can gather, sort and collate that information more effectively then we perform better in our job."

"More cases have been solved through information gathering in the library or collating information from multiple disparate sources than say by open battles."

"Even more importantly through better information handling, we keep our people safer. That is my main goal. To make sure that I have at the end of the day the same number of team members that I had at the start and that they are all good and healthy. If ideas and tech from Muggles can help me make that happen then of course I will use them." He said with passion clearly evident in his voice.

"Never waste a good idea or talent. That has been one lesson that was drummed into me repeatedly. First by my family, then by my school and then my job." He explained.

Ron nodded his agreement. Auror Webb replaced all the items back into his wallet, before putting it away.

Turning his attention back to Hermione he continued. "Your parents were arrested at The International Terminal at Sydney Airport. As the names on their passports didn't match the ones in the computer system."

Hermione's face went pale at this statement.

"Not to fear Hermione. Their luck was in as the Muggle Liaison Officer on duty with the Customs service that day was an old friend of our family. He was given the case and quickly noticed the tell-tale traces of a strong memory charm that was on your parents as he had been trained to detect such things.

"He quickly took custody of your parents and brought them into the Aurors for questioning. My cousin was in the office on that day and Mum was visiting with her. She was quickly brought in to look at your parents."

"Once she had examined them and sat in on their interview she realised how useful they could be to the operation that I and my brother were involved with at the time. Arrangements were made to have all charges against them dropped and they were brought in to help assist with the Muggle side of our op."

"This also enabled my mum to keep a close eye on their wellbeing as she was also involved in our operation."

"Given the amount of contact that they have had with my parents and the work they were doing to assist us my Parents and yours soon became good friends."

Hermione had tears in her eyes at this news. "Where have my parents been staying while they have been in Australia?" she asked.

"Mostly they have been staying with my parents. But as they travel around quite a bit to the different safe houses we have setup they also occasionally stay there as well. I believe that they have visited just about all of the states and territories of Australia as well as quite a few nations of the South Pacific." He added.

"They quite enjoyed Fiji when they visited late last year. So that is why we arranged for them to have their vacation there. As a surprise." He said with a smile.

"Does this answer your questions about your parents Hermione?" he asked.

"It does indeed Auror Webb. Many thanks." She replied.

"Glad to be of help. I will send a message to my mum asking her to contact me when she is up. That is unlikely to be until around 9pm tonight local time."

"I will contact you as soon as possible after I have spoken to her. We can then make arrangements for you both to speak about your parents."

"Depending on what is worked out between the two of you, I can take you." Here he glanced at Ron with a knowing smile, "Along with whoever else you decide that you would like to take along. To go see your parents when they are back from Fiji. Or a day or so earlier if it is decided that you and mum will need some time to prepare."

"Are those arrangements ok with you?" he asked.

"Very much so Auror Webb. And thank you again." Hermione said very excitedly.

Auror Webb inclined his head to her in an oddly formal manner and replied, "I do believe that I am going to miss your parents as they are good people and have been very helpful to us. Although I think mum and dad are likely to miss them more." He said with a smile.

"Anything else Boss?" he asked Chief Williams, getting no immediate answer he added, "That's got to be a record of some sort for finding people. Even for me." He said grinning.


	6. Delayed Introductions

"Syd, I need you to brief myself and Minister Kingsley on your recent operation to recover the group of people you mentioned earlier on the phone."

"I have messaged the Minister and he has given the ok for you to speak." He replied showing Auror Webb something on his Mirror Phone.

"Sure Boss, the report has been written up and should be on your desk by now. If you want I can ask Drunkmouse to send it to you." Auror Webb responded.

"At the moment I'm not interested in the written report I want to hear from you what you saw, what you found. Understood?"

"Loud and clear Boss. I know the Minister said it was ok to tell you, but do you want to discuss it here?"

"It was not a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination Sir. I wouldn't want to give anyone here nightmares because of it." He stated.

The questioning look he directed at Chief Williams was very direct and seem to convey more than was being said.

"I understand your concerns Syd, but I believe and the Minister, our Minister that is" he added with a glance at Kingsley

"Agrees with me that sharing this information with Minister Shacklebolt and Mr Weasley will be beneficial in the long term. Having been briefed on the actions of the others in this room during the recent past I believe that they can be trusted with this information also."

"Do you agree Minister Shacklebolt and Arthur?" Chief Williams asked.

"I would and frequently have placed my life into the hands of many of the people in this room Auror Webb and felt very comfortable doing so. Thus, I am willing to vouch for them all." Kingsley replied in his slow deep voice.

"My thanks for your trust in my family Minister." Arthur said clearly humbled by Kingsley comments. "Auror Webb I also agree with the Minister. If I was looking for people to trust I would start my search with the people in this room".

With a quick questioning glance at Chief Williams, Auror Webb nodded and continued.

"We were supplied with information by 'Mr P' regarding a large number of Women and Children that were being rounded up in preparation for them to be sent out of the country." Auror Webb started to explain.

"Who is this 'Mr P' Auror Webb?" Kingsley questioned.

"'Mr P', is one of our best sources inside your Ministry, Minister."

"He has directly helped us rescue hundreds if not thousands of people and information he has provided us has directly lead to the rescue of many thousands more."

"It's the consensus of my team and just about anyone reading our reports that once his efforts assisting these people come to light he should be awarded one of your 'Order of Merlin' medals. We have already nominated him to our Minister for our Distinguished Service Cross."

"I meant can you tell me his name Auror Webb." Said Kingsley with a look of interest.

"To what end Minister?"

"To what end? To the end that I wish to know who this 'Mr P' is. I'm not accustomed to have information being withheld from me Auror Webb. If he is as brave as you say, then he certainly does deserve recognition for his efforts."

"I see Minister. Is that all?" said Auror Webb with a pointed look at Kingsley.

"What do you mean is that all? I am agreeing to your earlier suggestion that he should be rewarded for his efforts. You can't be changing your mind about that now can you?"

"No Minister I haven't. But I can think of somethings more important than rewards at this point however."

"Such as?"

"His safety Minister and that of his Missus as well." This reply gave Kingsley pause for thought.

"As things stand right now Minister, 'Mr P' and others like him stand accused of 'High Treason' by your Ministry. Or they would if their identities were made known."

"Identifying him or anyone else would be tantamount to issuing a death sentence on them or at the very least a lengthy stay in your Azkaban Prison."

"So no, I will not identify any of our operatives to you or anyone from your Ministry until you have proven yourself trust worthy enough." Auror Webb replied in an icy calm voice. He also looked to be readying himself for an argument. He was right.

"Prove myself trust worthy? Auror Webb have you not heard your own Chief say that your Minister has vouched for me? What else do you require?"

"Minister, had our Minister not vouched for you personally I wouldn't have even told you what I have. And with all due respect to our Minister, he is not the one who will have to visit the families of our operatives if he is proved wrong in placing his trust in you and your Ministry. That unhappy duty will fall on me"

"We have already lost one of our own because of our Ministers own blind faith in members of your Ministry. There will not be a repeat of that on my watch, Sir!" the steel in Auror Webb's voice while he made this statement could not be ignored.

Kingsley's reaction showed that he was well aware of Auror Webb's feeling on the matter. From the look in his eye it was plain that he thought a change of tact was required.

"Auror Webb, speaking to you as a former Auror myself I can give you my word that the identity of your agents will be treated with the utmost discretion until such time as it is safe for them to become known." Said Kingsley while maintaining eye contact with Auror Webb.

"Sorry Minister. It was trusting your Aurors that got our original Team Leader killed in the first place. He was lured into a meeting with them and then had his location betrayed. They then abandoned him when the opposition arrived and left him outnumbered. He was then brutally murdered and they left him to die alone, without even notifying us of what had happened."

"So forgive me if I am reluctant to trust your Ministry without proof." He replied.

"I'm sorry for your loss Auror Webb, and Chief Williams. Did you know him well? Do you know who betrayed him?" Kingsley asked clearly taken aback at the news.

"I had known him all my life Minister. His name was Senior Auror James Anthony Webb. He was my older brother. My only brother." Auror Webb replied, the pain evident in his voice and in his eyes.

This news rocked Kingsley back in his chair, he looked to Chief Williams for confirmation.

"He is correct Minister. Senior Auror Webb was handpicked by myself, the Director of MLE and our Minister to lead the team that we sent here. He was also instrumental in selecting the members of the team that came with him."

At a loss for words Kingsley simply stared blankly at the room around him.

Covering for his Boss Arthur spoke up, although it was clear that he too was shaken by the news.

"Do you know the identity of the person responsible for his death Auror Webb?"

"Yes Minister. A warrant has only recently been signed for the person we believe responsible for his Death. I have been given the honour of executing that warrant personally."

"May I ask whose name is on that Warrant Auror Webb?"

Reaching into his jacket Auror Webb again pulled out his leather wallet. Opening it again and then again he reached inside it and extracted a rolled up piece of parchment.

He reached over and handed this roll of parchment to Arthur who removed the ribbon and slowly unrolled it. While he was unrolling it, Kingsley moved over so he too could read it.

Almost as one they exclaimed "NO!"

"Not Tonks, not her."

Almost as soon as the words were out of their mouths Ginny was on her feet and pointing her Wand at the back of Auror Webb's head.

Auror Webb had turned his head to look straight at Ginny, then with an almost inhuman speed he began to stand and raise his hand to her with his palm out, just as her Hex had left her wand. Her Hex did not get much past the end of her wand, as it was left motionless in mid-air.

"THAT! MISS Weasley was not very polite." he said in a voice that contained all the warmth of a long dead grave. All the while fixing her with a look that would have frightened a statue half to death. His eyes were also blazing with an intense anger at what had just happened.

The room was silent, the only sound was the crackle of the Hex that hung motionless in the air. No one moved, everyone was too shocked at what had just happened.

I could see Arthur trying to speak but the words wouldn't come. Kingsley seemed startled by what had happened, but I could also see a look of curiosity on his face.

Bill, Charlie and Ron while very surprised at what had just occurred, were also wondering about what would happen next. Concern starting to register on their faces.

Hermione, Fleur and Gabrielle who were sitting closest to Ginny were also worried about what would happen next as they believed that were likely to be in the firing line for any response from Auror Webb.

My own emotions were going haywire as well. I could not believe what had just happened. My daughter had tried to attack a guest in our own home. Not only that, this particular guest was a fully trained Auror, who appeared to be VERY angry at this turn of events. You could feel the power and anger radiating off of him.

Judging from the look on her face, Ginny had not thought through her actions. Her already frayed emotions had simply given way out of concern for her friend who she had not yet admitted to herself was recently dead.

Finishing standing and now fully facing Ginny, Auror Webb turned his attention to the Hex in front of him. After looking intently at it for a few moments he said,

"Bat Bogey Hex. With an interesting twist."

"It seems that you have modified it so that the usual counter Hex will cause it to make even more Bat Bogeys. Creative Miss Weasley, very creative."

"However, nothing is beyond a little improvement. For with a little further modification"

He raised one hand to the stationary Hex and the brown colour changed to that of a deeper more angry brown. The Hex was also turned until it was now pointing back directly at Ginny. It was also less than a hands breadth from her face. At this Ginny's eyes became very large.

"I have found that an Eagle Bogey Hex makes a more lasting impression. Must be something about their more substantial claws raking a person's face. Don't you agree Miss Weasley?" he added in an almost polite conversational tone. This frightened me more than his previous voice for some reason.

Bill, Charlie and Ron started to rise looking thunderous.

Chief Williams, called out "Syd!"

"Boss, I haven't broken Guest Right. She has. I didn't cast the Hex she did."

"If the three gentlemen who just got up would like to support their sister in a cowardly and unprovoked attack on a guest I will gladly share with them as well." He said once more then that very calm voice.

Without taking his eyes of Ginny the Hex in front of her split into 4. The three new copies of itself began to drift over to each of my boys.

"Syd, please." Chief Williams tried again.

"Ok, Boss ok. If those gentlemen will sit back down I will cancel their Hex's and change her one back to just the original Hex. Deal?" Auror Webb asked still not taking his eyes from Ginny.

"Boys, sit down please." Arthur almost pleaded.

As they sat down Auror Webb changed the Hex back to its original shade of brown. He also flicked his hand at the three extra Hex's that he had made and they vanished. He however did not sit down but made to move towards the door.

Chief Williams rose and placed a hand on Auror Webb's chest and asked,

"Where are you going Syd?"

"Boss right now I'm going outside for some fresh air, and to clear my head. I was under the impression that I was asked here to talk with some friendlies. In a supposedly safe location. It has proven to not be one."

"Just right now I don't trust myself to talk in a civil manner."

"Unprovoked attacks on guests are not a great way to build trust." He added with a quick glance at Ginny, Arthur and Kingsley.

"I need to clear my head and calm myself down. Excuse me."

With that he walked past Chief Williams, collected his hat and glasses and went into the yard. Once there he proceeded to find a sheltered spot under a tree sat down and faced the house.

All the while the Hex was left hovering in the air only a short distance from Ginny's face. Ginny tried to move but the Hex moved with her. Neither getting any closer or any further away.

"Mum!" Ginny cried, "I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that." She said with a voice on the edge of tears.

Kingsley was looking at Chief Williams, then at Arthur.

"I don't know what to say. This is most unusual."

"How about telling that smarmy Auror to behave himself in our house." Ron yelled angrily at Kingsley and Chief Williams.

"Where does he get off behaving like that? Threatening Ginny in front of her family." Ron's ears were turning read, his hand were clenched into fists. He seemed to be working himself up into a rage.

Clearing his throat, Chief Williams spoke in a very clear and calming but commanding voice.

"According to his 'Rules of Engagement' Auror Webb has responded in a highly disciplined and restrained manner. As an unprovoked attack from behind like the one we just witnessed is justified to be met with 'deadly force'. At the Aurors discretion of course."

"You heard him describe what happened in Iran when he was attacked from behind with a simple stunner did you not?" Chief Williams said in his own frightfully calm and polite voice while looking directly at Ron.

"If someone had attempted a similar attack on you Ron, how would you have chosen to respond?" he enquired.

This question was enough to give Ron pause for thought.

"He didn't use a wand. I was watching his hands and he didn't have a wand in either of them. So how did he do that? I've never even heard of anyone being able to do that." Hermione said while looking with great curiosity at the stationary Hex.

"Auror Webb and several members of his family have rather unique abilities. Not all of them are fully understood, even by themselves." Was the answer she got from Chief Williams.

"Chief Williams, how can we persuade Auror Webb to remove Ginny's Hex from her." Kingsley asked.

"In all honestly I'm not completely sure Minister. In his family violations of Guest Right are a major transgression and not something to be taken lightly."

"However I do believe that you Arthur, will hold the key here to this situation. If you were to go and speak to him I can guarantee that he will listen to you." Chief Williams said.

"Me?" Arthur said confused. "He was attacked by my daughter in my house. How would that make him listen to me?"

"For precisely those reasons you just mentioned." Chief Williams said with a thoughtful expression.

"You also hold a rather unique position of respect in Auror Webb's family. Due to in large part of the esteem that they have for your father."

"I will however make some suggestions if I may."

"Please do, Chief Williams."

"Be honest when you talk to him. Like his father Auror Webb is not one for 'beating around the bush'. Blunt even brutal honesty is more highly regarded than diplomatic excuses and apologies."

"If he is approached with hostility he will most likely respond with it. If approached for an honest conversation he will respond in kind as well."

"Likewise approaching him for an honest argument will be met with an honest argument. Without malice."

"However approaching him to 'make excuses' never goes over well. He like his family tend to take 'equal opportunity' to the extreme. So I do not advise making an argument based on Ginny being a young girl with frayed nerves. That would carry no weight at all. I would suggest a different approach."

"It was clear from your reaction to the warrant that he showed you that this Auror Tonks is a friend of yours. If he asks about her and why she would cause such a reaction from your daughter tell him. Loyalty to ones mates is something he will understand without question."

"I would also suggest that when you go out and talk to him take your daughters wand with you. Show him that she has given it to you by way of an apology for her actions."

Looking at Ginny he continued.

"The same goes for you Ginny. I don't doubt that IF Auror Webb comes back in he will have questions for you to. Don't lie. It doesn't matter what the reason was for your Hex. He won't care too much if it was a fit of rage, or if you just didn't like him. He will however care about a dishonest answer."

"Honest dislike is something that he is sadly used to, due in part to his unique abilities. Oddly enough he has a kind of strange respect for those people who are honest enough to display their dislike too his face."

"Am I making myself clear Ginny?"

"Yes sir, I understand" Ginny replied in a rather small voice.

"I hope so Ginny. Now let us test if we are on the right track here. Please place your wand on the table and roll it to your father."

"If I'm correct in my guess, the Hex currently in front of you will move backwards a ways once you put down your wand."

Moving very slowly Ginny placed her wand on the table and rolled it to Arthur. As soon as she let go of the wand the stationary Hex did indeed move back about an arm's length.

"Arthur, I think we are as ready as we can be here." Chief Williams said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Please see if you can get him to talk. If I go it will be like a formal dressing down and that may not help the situation."

Nodding to Chief Williams, Arthur collected some biscuits from the table and walked outside.

From the moment he stepped outside Auror Webb was watching his approach. Displaying his quiet form of courage that I so dearly love, Arthur walked up to Auror Webb and offered him some biscuits.

Once a biscuit has been accepted Arthur calmly sat down beside Auror Webb and they began to talk.

"It's a great start, Mrs Weasley" was Chief Williams's response when he noticed me looking at him.

To this day I do not know what those two talked about. Neither one of them will say anything about it. I do know however that once the biscuits were finished they both got up, shook hands and walked back toward the house.

As they were walking back to the house we all exchanged some slightly apprehensive glances with each other. Although Chief Williams seemed to have different worries on his mind, as he stepped out onto the porch and met the two of them as they came up the stairs.

Auror Webb once again removed his hat and glasses as he got onto the porch. He shared a glance with Chief Williams which seemed to contain a whole conversation. He nodded to Chief Williams who then reached out and put his hand on Auror Webb's shoulder and gave a squeeze of encouragement. Almost like one family members would share.

After this exchange all three re-entered the room, Arthur first followed Chief Williams then Auror Webb.

Placing his hat and glasses on the table, he took off his jacket and placed it on the back of his chair. Revealing that underneath he wore a dark blue muggle style polo shirt with the words 'Marauders Q.C.' embroidered on the pocket. Underneath which was a strange looking man with an old style hat, beard, ear ring and an eye patch who seemed to be alternately smiling and snarling at anyone who looked at him. Below the image of the strange man were the letters A.Q.L.

Around his waist was a strange looking belt that had a collection of rather odd devices attached to it. He removed this belt and laid it on the table next to his hat and glasses.

He stood there briefly looking at everyone around the table. It was like he was trying to convince them that he was 'unarmed' from the way he was standing. Although from what we had just seen him do (without a wand I must admit) the fact that he wasn't hiding a wand up his sleeve was a small comfort. However the gesture seemed to have been understood by those around the table.

Raising his hand again he summoned the still hovering Hex over to him. I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen next but I certainly wasn't expecting what he did. At the point when the Hex was about to make contact with him, his hand began to have a slight golden glow about it. Without slowing the Hex just disappeared into his opened hand, with no evidence of it causing him any discomfort at all.

Once the Hex was removed he closed his hand into a fist, took a deep breath and sat down, with his hands on the table in front of him and his fingers intertwined.

Ginny appeared to be very relieved to have the Hex removed. I certainly was a lot happier with it gone as well. The others all seemed to share my sentiment as well.

Ron began to ask "How..." but he was silenced with a look from Auror Webb before he could complete his question.

Turning to face Ginny, Auror Webb spoke in a voice that while appearing calm was also very measured as though tightly controlled.

"Miss Weasley, since my arrival here you have behaved with a degree of hostility towards me. I would like to know why."

"Have I offended you in some way I'm unaware of? Do you just dislike me? Or did I simply swipe your bag of lollies in a previous life?"

Still recovering from the shock of having her own Hex hovering in front of her face, Ginny struggled to form a reply.

"Honestly Auror Webb, at first I didn't know why I was behaving like I was." She began in an overly calm voice.

"But now that I have had a chance to think on it, I think that I hated you. I hated that fact that you and your team where here and did nothing to help Harry, Ron and Hermione." She said showing signs of fighting back a blush.

Auror Webb was watching Ginny with an alert but unreadable expression while she spoke. He briefly glanced at both Ron and Hermione when they were mentioned but quickly returned his focus back to Ginny.

"Continue" was all he said.

"Why didn't you try to help him? I mean them? You said that you and your team were always around the ministry so you just have known what was going on and why they were being hunted."

"So why didn't you try and find him, them and help them? They could have been done sooner and he could have come back to me, I mean us." She said returning Auror Webb's stare and with her typical fire beginning to return to her voice.

"Were you listening to the conversation earlier, Miss Weasley?" was his question.

"Not fully" she replied.

"An honest answer, at least Miss Weasley." He said before continuing, "Will you listen to me now Miss Weasley?"

"Yes" she answered.

"I'm grateful for your attention Miss Weasley. Perhaps if you had listened earlier we might have avoided the earlier regrettable incident. Hmmm?"

"While I enjoy a good fight as much as the next person, I have learnt after much experience" at this point he briefly glanced at Chief Williams "that it is much more productive to talk to people than to fight them. Would you agree with that sentiment Miss Weasley?"

"Yes I do."

"Glad to hear it Miss Weasley. I was taught that fighting doesn't prove who is right. Only who is left. It took me a while to work out that lesson Miss Weasley, but I hope that you will come to understand it quicker than I did."

"If you feel the urge to fight, tell me to my face and arrangements can then be made to carry out a fight in a controlled and 'safe' manner as is done in training. Fights conducted outside of such arrangements have VERY different rules Miss Weasley. Do you understand?"

"I think so Sir" she answered with a rather thoughtful expression.

"I do hope so Miss Weasley. I also hope that in the event of any future misunderstandings or hatred you may have in relation to me that you will speak to me before resorting to pulling your wand. I have never attacked someone just because they wished to argue with me and I do not intend to start now."

"Am I making myself clear Miss Weasley?"

"You are Sir".

"Thank you Miss Weasley. And don't call me sir."

"Now to answer your earlier questions. My colleagues and I were not sent here to fight. Our original orders were to locate and extract our own citizens (and others from selected countries) who wished to leave the country but were unable to do so for various reasons."

"Around the time that Madam Bones was attacked our mission changed again. We began to be asked to evacuate diplomatic personnel from various Embassies."

"She wasn't attacked. She was murdered." Said the deep voice of Kingsley.

"Pardon Minister?" Auror Webb questioned.

"I said she was murdered Auror Webb. You said that she was attacked, that implied that she survived. But alas she did not."

Auror Webb looked to his Chief Williams who answered, "Actually Minister that is a topic that our Minister wishes to discuss with you. I cannot go into details here, not without approval, but I can tell you that Madam Amelia Susan Bones is indeed alive."

"What? How can this be? We found her body and confirmed the identity beyond doubt." Kingsley said in a surprised voice.

"Thank you Minister." Auror Webb replied surprising everyone.

Fixing Auror Webb with a rather exasperated look Chief Williams explained to a rather confused group. "Auror Webb and his brother Senior Auror Webb were the ones who responded to Madam Bones's alarm call. They were able to neutralise her attackers and then stage the scene to make it appear as though she had been killed."

"They were then able to get her safely out of the country where she was able to begin her recovery. For while she did indeed survive the encounter she was very gravely wounded. If not for the quick thinking and skill at healing of Auror Webb here and his brother she would have almost certainly died at the scene."

"That is all I can say on the matter Minister. You will have to ask our Minister for more of the details when you meet him next week sir." He finished.

"I see and understand Chief Williams. Rest assured I will ask your Minister for the full details. Madam Bones is an old friend of mine and I have missed her greatly" he said

"She was also a long-time friend of our own Director of M.L.E. That is one reason why she was able to summon two of our most capable Aurors at such short notice." Supplied Chief Williams.

Looking back to Auror Webb he indicated that he should continue.

"The embassy attacks kept us very busy as our Minister was leading the effort to avoid a full scale war within the International Magical Community."

"Then the attacks on Muggle-Borns, their families and their friends began in earnest. The number of missing people began to climb alarmingly high both in the Magical and Muggle populations."

"It was at this time that we were directed to make contact with selected local Aurors for assistance. My father directed my brother to organise a meeting with one Auror who he had known as 'Mad Eye'. Apparently he knew him as they had worked together many times in the past." He said with a slight sigh.

"Contact was made successfully, a time and place was agreed upon for the meeting. 'Mad Eye' was sadly killed on some sort of operation 4 days before the agreed meeting. Being the type of person that he was 'Mad Eye' had made arrangements in the event of his death and had an alternate contact who would take his place."

"His alternate was one Nymphadora Tonks. Apparently she was his protégée in the Auror program and supposedly trustworthy."

"My brother agreed to meet with Auror Tonks, with no change to the time or place. It was to be his last mistake." He said with a distant look coming over his face as he remembered.

"Unbeknown to Auror Tonks my brother had set his mirror phone to record the meeting. So we have an audio record of what happened. We know that Auror Tonks gave away their location by knocking over a number of pipes."

"We could hear my brother suggesting that they leave before they were discovered and Auror Tonks telling him not to worry and that all would be fine. For some reason he believed her. The next sounds heard are apparition pops nearby, shouts and spells being cast. My brother was hit by a Hex from behind and fell over. Auror Tonks fled the scene."

"The sounds after that are of my brother trying to get back on his feet and make his escape. But while he was doing this he was attacked by two people, we have since identified as the werewolf Fenrir Greyback and Rodolphus Lestrange"

"The sounds after that don't bear repeating, but you can hear him being brutally murdered." Auror Webb said in an almost broken voice.

"We were ordered home after this incident, but we refused. We wished to stay and finish the mission my brother was given. The Minister relented after a rather furious argument and allowed the bulk of the team to stay. I and some other members were still ordered to return home though."

"We were gone for around 2 weeks. During which the members who had remained behind had followed through on earlier plans to expand our operations involving smuggling people out of the country."

"We were still under orders not to directly engage the opposition but to focus on rescue efforts. Those orders got 'bent' on a few occasions but never broken." He added with a rueful smile.

"So you see Miss Weasley, we were not here on holidays. We had a job to do that kept us very busy indeed and we were doing it to the best of our ability."

"However even with all that, if we had been able to make contact with your 'golden trio' we would have most certainly offered our assistance." he said very clearly looking directly at Ron and Hermione.

"You see my team and I have a rather unique skill set that has proven to be very effective against Horcruxes in the past."

"How did you know what we were after? We haven't told anyone outside of our family and Kingsley what we were really doing." Exclaimed Ron jumping to his feet.

"Ron, don't ever assume that others can't put together the pieces of even the best hidden puzzle. That is a dangerous assumption to make." Auror Webb replied.

"Even the heavily summarised press statement you put out contained enough information for us to work out what you were really doing." He said again looking at both Hermione and Ron.

Once again facing Ginny he went on. "Do you now have the answers to your earlier questions Miss Weasley?"

Auror Webb gave the appearance of someone who was clearly prepared to wait for a definite answer to his question. He held Ginny's gaze with his own until she answered.

"I do Auror Webb." She said.

"Are they answers to your satisfaction Miss Weasley?" he asked and it was obvious that the answer to this question was to be very important.

"They are satisfactory Auror Webb."

"I'm happy to hear it Miss Weasley."

"So there is no need to make any arrangements for us to go and do battle over any perceived misunderstandings at all?" he enquired very directly.

Looking a little alarmed Ginny replied "I don't believe so Auror Webb"

"Excellent Miss Weasley. I was hoping that would be your answer."

"Are you prepared to reset our introduction and start over again Miss Weasley?" he asked.

Smiling Ginny replied "Yes Sir. I would be very happy to do so."

Returning her smile Auror Webb stood and said, "That's enough of this 'Sir' business, makes me think you're talking to my dad."

Strangely he looked over to Arthur, who must have caught his meaning as he leapt out of his seat and walked over to Ginny. In an almost formal voice he said.

"Ginny, I would like to introduce Auror Webb. Auror Webb this is my daughter Ginny".

"I'm pleased to meet you Auror Webb." Ginny said with a shy smile.

"Very nice to finally meet you too Ginny." He replied shaking her hand. The change in his mode of address relieved me more than I thought it would have.

"Please call me David or Dave. This Auror Webb business sounds far too formal amongst friends" he added looking at everyone in the room.

You could almost feel the tension and worry evaporate from the room in that instant.

Ron was the first to jump right in when he called out excitedly, "Dave! How did you do that to her Bat Bogey Hex?"

"RON!" both Hermione and Mrs Weasley shouted together.

"I want to know as well" Kingsley supplied with a smile.

Smiling Auror Webb, I mean Dave replied, "Not right now Ron. We can discuss that later. Right now I believe my Boss and your Minister have a few questions they want to ask me."

"But first" he said turning to me "Could I impose on you Mrs Weasley for another cup of tea? My first one seems to have gone cold for some reason." He said holding up his cup like a piece offering.

"That would be no trouble at all, Dave" I told him flicking my want to get the kettle going again.


	7. Mr P

"Sorry Boss, Minister" Dave began, "But I seem to have lost track of your earlier questions."

"What did you want to know?"

"You mentioned before that this 'Mr P' supplied you with information on a number of Women and Children that were being sent out of the country." Kingsley recapped.

"Yes Minister. That is correct."

"Can you tell us how many there were in this group?"

Dave reached back into his jacket and again got out his Mirror Phone. Dave's Mirror Phone showed signs of some recent 'hard use', I couldn't help but wonder how it managed to end up in its current state.

He tapped the screen a few times and lines of writing could be seen.

"There were 15 Children under the age of 6"

"20 children between the ages of 6 and 12"

"9 Teenagers and 18 adult females under the age of 35."

"How many of them were slaves do you know?" said Kingsley with a worried expression.

"All the adults were bonded into Slavery Minister. As well as just over half of the children." Dave replied with a rather stony face.

"You said that they were to be taken out of the country. Did you know where they were to be taken?" Kingsley asked.

"Not at the time Minister. It was as you say a 'rush job'. We moved to try and recover these people almost as soon as 'Mr P' provided us the information."

"We were able to intercept some of the group before they left England. Unfortunately most of them reached their destinations before we were able to locate them." He added rather nervously.

"Where did you find them Auror Webb?" came the question.

Dave was now clearly uncomfortable and he was choosing his words very carefully when he replied.

"When we found them they were located in establishments of a commercial nature Minister."

"You mean like a business? What sort of business? Can you describe it?"

"Not willingly in the present company Minister." Dave said rather nervously, but seeing Kingsley's reaction he added.

"But I do have some shall we say 'advertising material' from these establishments that I can show you. They will make it clear what sort of businesses they were."

"However Minister I must advise you in the strongest possible terms that these documents are not for the faint hearted. My team are rather hardened people in some ways, but even some of them had trouble with these documents and the places themselves."

At this Dave once again reached into his wallet and brought out what he called a manila folder (a muggle device).

He handed it over to Kingsley.

Arthur, Bill and Charlie all moved to be able to see the contents of the folder.

When Kingsley opened the folder, the 4 men visibly recoiled with an intake of breath. Looking through the contents of the folder, Kingsley went pale and started to shake. Arthur had tears in his eyes and was struggling to maintain control. However both Bill and Charlie had to run for the porch where they were nosily sick over the railing.

Lifting his gaze to look at Chief Williams Kingsley asked. "Have you seen these?"

"Not those ones in particular Minister. But I have seen others very much like them from previous reports submitted by Syd's team."

"You mean this isn't an isolated case?" he asked struggling to hold in his emotions.

"Sadly it is not Minister. Syd and his team have responded to incidents like this far too often". Chief Williams replied with the pain of the memories showing in his eyes.

"How often?" was the question Kingsley directed to Dave.

"Personally I have lead at least 19 recovery operations like this in the past 3 months alone. I have participated in many more however. Sometimes we are able to recover people before they get to places like you have just seen. Other times we are too late, and the people involved have already begun to have been 'hurt'." Dave replied with a haunted look in his eyes.

"You mentioned before that on the latest mission there were Death Eaters with the Children. Do you know who they were?"

"Let me check Minister. When I left we were still trying to confirm some of them."

At this Dave tapped his Mirror Phone device a few more times and the text on it changed.

"Ok, Drunkmouse and his team have given us the following names."

"Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange."

"Augustus Rookwood"

"Corban Yaxley"

"Antonin Dolohov and Fenrir Greyback."

"Quite a group." Kingsley commented. "What happened to them?"

Looking to Chief Williams for confirmation Dave continued.

"In the raid on the last location, we encountered some difficulties. The building was 'warded' to repel magic from it. So we had to resort to our Muggle equipment and techniques."

"Once we made entry, Yaxley made the mistake of thinking that Fireball and Shelly were ah, 'employees' of the facility and made to grab them. They corrected him of his mistake and 'disarmed him' without alerting the others."

"We moved through the location to the rooms where we expected to find the children. Unfortunately in addition to the children we found that the room was occupied by the group mentioned before. Minus Yaxley who was 'tied up' at the time."

"Rabastan Lestrange was closest to the door so he was the first to be neutralised."

"While he was being dealt with Greyback and Dolohov moved to grab the two young girls who were in the room with them. Rockwood was dumb enough to go after Fireball."

"Rodolphus showed his true colours and allowed his 'friends' to do the fighting for him. He hung back in the hope of sneaking out in the confusion."

"While he did manage to climb out a window and make his escape at one point in the proceedings I managed to get myself far enough out the window to deliver a 'gift' to him as he ran down the street with his pants around his ankles." Dave said with a smirk on his face.

"Syd, just what sort of 'gift' did you give him?" Chief Williams asked with a slight look of concern.

"Nothing major Boss. Just enough to remember me by." Was the 'innocent' sounding reply.

"Syd!" Chief Williams asked clearly not letting him off the hook.

With a slightly embarrassed look on his face Dave answered,

"Let's just say that his 'family jewels' are now a depreciating asset." He said with a very self-satisfied smirk on his face as he looked at Chief Williams and Kingsley.

Once comprehension dawned on Chief Williams and Kingsley they also displayed similar smirks on their face.

"I can see how that particular 'gift' is going to make his life very uncomfortable for him." Kingsley said enjoying the thought of Rodolphus suffering through the difficulties brought on by Dave's 'gift' to him.

"Dolohov? Isn't he..." Chief Williams started to ask

"Yes Boss, he is the one who killed mum's little brothers the last time she visited here."

Another flash back raced through my mind, as I felt a sudden kinship with Dr Webb and all those others who lost family members to that horrid man.

"They were your name sakes are they not?" Chief Williams asked.

"Yes, two of the three."

"So what happened to him?" Chief Williams enquired of Dave.

"He and Greyback tried to grab the girls who were in the room and use them as shields against me. But they forgot that they were in a location where magic was expelled. So the first spell he tried to cast caused him a great deal of pain when it didn't work. I put him out of his misery and focused on Greyback."

"Syd you didn't did you? We wanted him alive." Chief Williams chided Dave.

Trying (and failing) to show an air of innocence Dave replied, "He isn't dead Boss. Although he probably wishes he was. I merely knocked him out and restrained him. It was a bit of a rush job though as I had Greyback demanding my attention, so it's understandable if I fastened things a little too tight on him. But there shouldn't be any 'permanent' damage done to him."

Looking very unconvinced at this statement Chief Williams went on, "I see. Is your mum aware of his capture? I happen to know she asked to be kept informed of any news about him. I presumed she always hoped to testify against him."

"Yes Boss, she knows. I sent her a photo of him after the incident for her to identify him. She seemed rather pleased that we had caught up with him."

"And Greyback?"

At this Dave displayed a rather evil looking smile at Chief Williams and replied "He mostly got away".

"How do you mostly get away Syd?"

"Well Boss he might have left a few things behind."

"Such as?"

At this question Dave sat up and reached up to his neck. Digging under his shirt for a moment he brought out a silver chain bearing several while objects on it. Upon closer examination they appeared to be teeth.

That wasn't the only thing uncovered however. There was also an almost impossibly shiny ropey looking golden chain around his neck that had an animal tooth of some sort secured to it.

It also had two of the most beautiful rings on it that I had ever seen. They appeared to have been woven from different metals with a selection of delicately cut stones included in the weave. The smaller of the two rings had bright blue sapphires in it, while the larger of the two had black gems in it that seemed to have flecks of colour as well.

I was not the only one to notice these rings, all the girls in the room clearly noticed them as well. Their appreciation of them clearly written on their faces.

Tossing the silver chain over to Chief Williams, Dave continued on oblivious to the stares he was now getting, "He left those behind Boss."

Holding the chain up for it to be visible to all Chief Williams asked, "Are these his actual…"

"Teeth, Fangs, whatever you want to call them Boss. Yes they are his. I might have missed one in the confusion, but I think that I got all the others"

"How?" he asked sharing just about everyone else's look of incredibly at what he was holding.

"As I said Boss, Magic had been blocked in that building. So I had to do it the old fashioned, 'Muggle Way' as you call it."

"You knocked out Greyback's teeth with your fists?" was the shocked reply. Everyone else was staring at Dave with a little apprehension as well as a touch of appreciation also.

"Actually it was more of an open hand set of strikes. Using my fists would have cut up my knuckles Boss. You should know that."

"Did he leave anything else behind as you put it?"

"His wand, one or two fingers and a lot of blood. I also don't think he eye will recover unless he was able to get to a healer quickly either."

"I didn't collect his fingers or the blood. We vanished those later after we broke the wards." He explained.

Chief Williams next asked Kingsley, "Am I correct to assume you would like your countrymen returned to you?"

Smiling Kingsley added "But of course. Azkaban has kept a special cell for them in the event of their capture."

"Very well Minister I will put the wheels in motion for you."

While Kingsley was nodding his thanks, Ron spoke up and asked "What are those? Pointing to the rings on the chain around Dave's neck.

Glancing down at the chain around his neck the expression on Dave's face changed from amusement to one of profound sorrow in an instant. Cupping the Rings in his hand he looked at them with a very tender expression and answered, "Our Wedding rings".

"Haven't asked her yet have you?" Ron asked, obviously before he thought about it.

Hermione moved to elbow Ron in the ribs to get him to shut up but he had already continued on, "You don't have a mark on your finger so you obviously haven't worn them. Or did she turn you down?"

Almost everyone around the table cringed at the question, as they had a very good idea of what the answer was going to be.

"No Ron. She didn't turn me down, she said yes."

"And we did get to wear them. For a short time anyway."

Tucking the chain and the rings back under his shirt (this seemed to disappoint the girls), and with a look of utter loss on his face turned to Ron and added, "She died not long after we were married."

"Sorry." Ron said as it finally dawned on him what he had said. "I didn't think..."

"That's obvious." Hermione snapped at Ron making him retreat from the conversation.

Chief Williams once again went over and laid a comforting hand on Dave's shoulder and said, "Sorry mate for not being there when it happened."

"Not your fault Boss. We knew you would have been there if you could. She understood."

"She fought as hard as she could for as long as she could. In the end it just wore her out and all she wanted to do was rest. She asked us to respect her wishes and as hard as it was we… I couldn't say no to her." Dave replied the pain clearly evident in his voice.

Clearing his throat loudly Kingsley spoke up. "I'm sorry for your loss, Auror Webb. I take it this was a recent occurrence."

"Yes Minister. It happened while I was home after the loss of my brother." He said in a quiet voice that was clearly heard by all.

The looks exchanged around the room showed that this comment had clearly stuck close to home for everyone present.

Not knowing what to say Kingsley made an attempt to change the subject.

"Auror Webb, what can you tell me about this 'Mr P' that you have been working with."

Taking a moment to compose himself Auror Webb began to speak,

"We knew of 'Mr P' before we started to work with him. As we had frequently encountered him during our trips into the Ministry."

"Initially we thought him not much different to the other mindless bureaucrats that infest governments around the globe. Even though he did seem to have an extra-large cast iron wand shoved up his 'rear end'" he added to the general amusement of all.

"We took more notice of 'Mr P.' when we started to hear stories spread about him. Apparently he was in the bad books with Pius Thicknesse, when he was the Director of M.L.E. According to the stories being circulated 'Mr P' was 'losing' people who were supposedly brought into the Ministry for questioning."

"When we investigated 'Mr P' ourselves we found that he was indeed 'losing' people. Quite deliberately in fact. We learned later that he became aware of the fate of the people who were brought in for questioning and had decided that he didn't want to be a part of it."

"Knowing that resigning would result in his own 'questioning' and likely disappearance he decided to play the game the only way he knew how. He started to mess up paper work. Change orders around etc. When that didn't work he made illegal port keys and directly smuggled people out himself."

"Thicknesse was getting suspicious however and time was starting to run out for Mr P."

"One night we went to investigate a building where we suspected that Mr P was trying to hide those people he had smuggled out of the Ministry."

"Upon our arrival we found it already being watched by a group of people who had disillusioned themselves."

"From their behaviour it was clear that they were casing the building rather than guarding it. We kept watch to determine exactly what was going on."

"Not long after we arrived however a squad of Dementors arrived also and were shown into the building by those who were previously watching the building."

"Squad of Dementors? What do you mean by this?" asked Kingsley.

"Recently we have taken note of some strange behaviour that has been observed in Dementors. They appear to be taking orders from a single source. Initially we thought it was Tom Riddle Jr, but with his demise this new behaviour has continued."

"We still don't know the source of this behaviour. But the results of it are rather clear. Even when presented with a fully formed Patronus, Dementors who are part of squad formation will not flee. Not unless all the Dementors are simultaneously confronted. I'm sure you can see the potential problems with that approach when a squad is typically 10 Dementors or more."

"We have been working on some techniques and tools to counter this predicament, which are showing promise. But have yet to be perfected."

"A worrying development." Kingsley remarked.

"Very." Dave agreed.

"We made entry to the building and found the Dementors in the process of attacking the occupants."

"Mr P was standing between the squad of Dementors and a group of people that he had been sheltering. It was clear that he was close to exhaustion and very worried about the people behind him."

"One of the ladies in the group who still had a wand had stepped forward to try and help him. But it was clear that she was also close to exhaustion as well."

"A quick glance with Jimmy was all it took and we agreed that we should step in to assist. Even with the 4 of us that were present that night we were not enough to drive off that Squad of Dementors."

"Jimmy ordered me to try the 'alternate approach' that we had been working on. Thankfully it was effective and we were able to permanently neutralise the threat."

"That's not possible. Dementors can't be killed." Hermione said rather indigently.

"That would depend on your definition of what alive and dead is wouldn't it?" Dave replied.

"It can't be done, Auror Webb. Everyone knows that it is impossible to kill a Dementor." She insisted.

"Let me try to explain it like this. We all agree that a Dementor will flee from a Patronus?" he asked.

"That is true." She agreed.

"Excellent. What do you think would happen in the event of a Patronus being placed Inside a Dementor?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione sat there for a few moments with that studious expression on her face as she thought about the question. She started to speak a few times. But each time she started to speak, she stopped herself and thought some more. Eventually she said, "The only thing I can think of is that it would try to flee in all directions at the same time."

"That would be a good description of the effect that is achieved Hermione" Dave agreed.

"But how do you get a Patronus inside the Dementor in the first place?" she asked clearly showing her curiosity getting the better of her.

"That is proving to be the difficult question to answer. So far the best approach has been to use a Patronus 'with an edge' on it to basically cut its way in."

"However there are very few people who have such intense joyful/sad memories. Whether that is a good or bad thing would depend on if you are one of the people with such a balance of memories in you."

"The other option that is starting to show some promise is something we are calling 'friendfyre' or 'blessed fire'. As it seems to be very effective against dark magic. The biggest draw back with this approach is that there is a very small number of people that we have found who are able to produce such a flame."

"I would say that's because it doesn't exist, Auror Webb." Hermione started to lecture. However, as she started to get into the swing of her tirade Dave raised his hand.

As soon as he did so Hermione stopped and stared at it. As his hand was covered in a brilliant golden flame.

"But that's just a modified version of 'Bluebell Flames'. I use that spell all the time. It is very useful as a portable cooking fire or a waterproof light. But it won't be of much use against a Dementor." She explained.

"My sisters are well versed in the 'Bluebell Flames' spell. And this has several key differences. While it is waterproof, it gives off no heat unless it is in contact with dark magic. 'Bluebell flames' can be used for cooking if an object is placed directly above the flame. But as you can see" he said as he lifted a nearby piece of parchment into the flames.

"No heat is transferred and no damage is done to this parchment."

"If you have a cursed object or something tainted with Dark Magic to hand I invite you to place it into these flames and see the result." He invited her.

At this invitation Bill stepped forward and produced a small wooden object which he placed in the flames. Nothing happened to it.

Ron exclaimed "It didn't do anything."

Bill answered, "I would be worried it if it did. That object isn't cursed." He said with a smile. "However, this one, is different." At this he produced a different wooden object and placed it in the flames on Dave's palm.

At once the flames latched themselves to the object and you could almost hear it scream as the Friendfyre attacked it. When the flames subsided there was nothing left. Not even ash.

"Remarkable." Was Kingsley response.

"Who can produce such a flame?" he wanted to know.

"Currently the only people who have been able to do it consciously apart from myself are, my Dad, 2 of my sisters and one cousin."

"We are hoping to understand it enough to be able to teach more people but more study and work is required to better understand it."

Dave closed his hand and the flames disappeared.

"How did you discover it?" Hermione wanted to know.

"I didn't. My Grandfather was the first one I'm aware of who could produce it. Although how it learnt it he wouldn't say, other to hint that it was an 'old family recipe'. He never expanded on that explanation. At least not to me, I don't know if he told dad or not."

"It has proven its worth many times though and gotten myself and others out of several close scrapes with Dementors recently as well."

"Did you use it when you met this 'Mr P'?" Kingsley asked. He was clearly trying to get the discussion back to this mysterious person he wanted to know more about.

"No Minister. I used the first option I mentioned."

"I see, what happened after the threat of the Dementors was removed." He asked Dave.

"We moved in to check over the occupants of the building. Jimmy and I went over to the two who had been trying to hold them off and picked them up from where they had collapsed. When got them comfortable and tried to question them. While we were doing that the other members of our team were dealing with the people who the first two had been trying to protect."

"It turns out that they were all either Muggle-Borns who worked in M.L.E. and had had their wands snapped. Or they were Magical folk who had refused to support Tom Riddle in his goals and thus had been targeted."

"We asked the person who had initially been fighting the Dementors what his name was, but all we could get out of him was a long string of stuttering 'P… P…. P…'"

"Is that how you came to call him 'Mr P' then?" Ginny asked.

"Correct." Dave answered.

"'Mr P' as he was christened by Fireball was not in any fit state to talk. So we moved the whole group of them to a secure location in Northern France, where we could be assured of their safety and be able to nurse them back to health."

"It was during this time that the young lady who had tried to assist Mr P took a real shine to him as she (and us) learnt more about him. To the point where they became basically inseparable."

"They both also showed a very strong desire to get back to England and continue what they had started. With or without our help."

"It was decided that their chances of survival would be greatly enhanced if they worked with us. As well as our own effectiveness be increased if we had better contacts on the inside."

"We presented this proposal to them both and they agreed, as did out Minister."

"As a result we gave them both a rather crash course in document forgery, intelligence gathering, defensive techniques and survival in general. As well as a set of tools for communicating and passing information along covertly."

"I must admit both Mr P and his Missus proved to be far more effective than we (and they) had ever thought. They were working out brilliantly. The number of people we were able to intercept before the Ministry rounded them up greatly increased. At the suggestion of Mr P's Missus we made a similar offer to those people that we had rescued if they wished to do so they could assist us."

"The vast majority of them wanted to help but were too frightened to go home. So we offered them positions in secure locations we had outside of England where they could help us process and care for the people we were bringing out."

"As while the numbers where increasing so were the needs of these people."

"This arrangement also meant we were able to bring more of our Aurors into the country to run the front line missions and enable our very eager volunteers to look after the 'behind the scenes' operations."

"Soon after the 'Muggle-Born Registration Commission' was formed we had very solid skeleton of our operation in place."

"While he might be many things to others 'Mr P' is a born organiser and one of the bravest men I have ever known. He worked tirelessly to streamline and smooth out any 'kinks' he saw in the operation. It is due in a large part to his work as well as that of Drunkmouse and his team and Madam Bones that we were as effective on the ground as we were."

"This was just as well. For very soon the Ministry began to sell people into slavery. At first none of us would believe it. We couldn't comprehend anyone wanting to 'own' another human being in this day and age."

"Sadly we were all very much mistaken. There was and is a massive market in the world at large for human slaves. Not just for the purposes you saw in those documents either Minister."

"It wasn't until we intercepted a group that had already been sold that we realised that this nightmare was actually real."

"Once I saw their 'slave contracts' I knew that the situation had taken a much darker path than before."

"Slave contract? What is that? I've never heard of it before." Arthur asked.

"I must admit that outside of a school history lesson I haven't heard of them before either" Kingsley agreed.

"I would be surprised if either of you had. As they are some of the darkest magic around that doesn't involve the death of someone to make."

"Are you able to show us such a contract?" Kingsley asked.

"Not of a living person Minister. But I do have one with me I can show you."

"Please." Was the answer.

Dave once more reached into his wallet and produced several sheets of something resembling parchment but not as thick.

"This is called paper; it is the muggle equivalent of parchment. Although it is not a durable."

"This is a copy of my Grandfathers Slave contract." Dave added.

At this everyone stood up for a better view. Arthur in particular looked up in almost anticipation.

Dave shuffled the papers and then laid them flat on the table and cast a spell to make them larger and easier to read.

"When someone is sold into slavery by a Government a magical contact is created that is binding. The contract can only be altered by those authorised to do so. It can't be destroyed as that would lead to the death of the person who was listed on it as the slave."

"Once they have been listed as the slave and the contract signed (by their blood usually) the contract only needs the signature of the authorised government representative before the Slave is bound to it irrevocably."

"Can a person ever regain their freedom once they are a slave?" I asked wanting to know that there was hope for these people.

"It is dependent on the type of contract that is signed. Mrs Weasley." Was his reply.

"This contract is a good example of how a contract can be altered to allow the slave to regain their freedom."

"At the top left hand corner of the document you can see the name of my Grandfather, his date and place of birth. On the right hand side of the page you can see the conditions of the slavery."

"In the case of my Grandfather you can see that he was initially condemned to a lifetime of slavery and that it was to be hereditary as well."

"WHAT?" Kingsley, Arthur and Bill yelled almost at the same time.

"But that would mean…" Arthur started to say.

"Yes it would mean that had my Grandfather had any offspring they would have been born into slavery eternal."

"Thankfully someone seems to have altered the terms of this slavery contract before it was signed by the listed government representative."

"I believe Mr Weasley you might have an idea as to who carried out the alterations and may even recognise the signature next to those alterations."

Arthur looked closely at the places indicated, as did Bill, Charlie, George, Ron and Ginny. Looking up with pride shining in his eyes Arthur said, "That is indeed my father signature there. But what did his alterations do to the contract."

"In short the work done by your father nullified the lifetime component of the contract as well as the hereditary aspect as well."

"It seems that he also made it possible for any future 'owner' of my Grandfather to free him without Ministerial approval."

"It doesn't state it here, but from what my Grandfather told us, your father also arranged the sale of my Grandfather to people who he knew had similar views to him on this subject and that they would take the necessary steps to free him when the time was right."

"While your father wasn't able to cancel the contract completely Mr Weasley he did everything he could to nullify as many aspects of it that he could."

"The risks he ran to do this were numerous. They all had dire consequences for him if he was caught. Which given the fact that he had to sign his own name to the paper work were rather high. If the paper work was ever checked properly." Dave explained in a voice that clearly carried his thoughts on the bravery of the man he was describing.

"Does this make it clearer to you why my Grandfather, Father and indeed the whole family holds your father in such high esteem Sir?" Dave said with eyes that were beginning to moisten.

Arthur was speechless. We all were. It was a difficult thing to comprehend that people would be willing to inflict so much pain on each other in such an inhumane way as well.

Eventually all Arthur could do was nod his understanding. As he was still overwhelmed by these discoveries.

"To answer your questions Mrs Weasley. That is one way a person can regain their freedom."

"If the persons slave contact has no lifetime component and no end date specified another way a person can regain their freedom is to have their copy of the contact contain so many sales that all the available lines are used up."

"Thankfully given certain lax bureaucratic procedures that 'Mr P' may have helped influence and implement." Dave said with a crooked half smile that again seemed oddly familiar.

"That is indeed how many of the current day contracts have been written. This gives us a window of opportunity that we have been exploiting."

"As working with our colleagues and various organisations around the globe we have been able to form our own 'Slave Trading' organisation. For want of a better term."

"This organisation has enabled us to setup various pipelines where we can 'trade/sell' OUR slaves amongst each other to use up the transaction spaces available on their contracts."

"The down side of this is that each 'sale' a slave goes through takes a toll on them both emotionally and sometimes physically."

"Some people can deal with being sold frequently and thus are freed quicker. While others can only handle it every few weeks. Most of the kids fall into this category" He said with a very sad look in his eyes.

"It isn't perfect but it is the best we have been able to come up with so far. I just wish we could have gotten to them before they were sold in the first place" he added fighting back tears.

At this point Charlie and Bill put their arms around Dave's shoulders and supported him like they would have one of their own brothers. I was so proud of them I almost burst.

The others around the table were also looking at Dave and Chief Williams in a new way. As understanding of just what they had been fighting against and what it had cost them began to dawn.

"Is there a 'perfect solution' as you put it David, to this problem?" Hermione asked. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised she asked given that she is always looking for the perfect answer.

Dave's answer caught her a little off guard though. As he answered, "You mean other than having these poor people avoid being sold in the first place?" showing a little heat in his voice.

Hermione started to blush at this. Dave quickly continued.

"Sorry Hermione. That was unkind of me and out of line."

"The best solution for these people that are in this unfortunate situation would be the nullification of the contract at the source."

"As there is a copy of each of these contracts at the originating Government. Meaning that the Ministry has got copies of them somewhere. We have taken to calling these collections of originals as 'The Ledger'. We believe that given the scale of this that there will be several 'Ledgers' that we will need to locate."

"Our biggest hope as it stands now is to locate these 'Ledgers' and have them nullified by the appropriate representative of that Government."

"Who would that need to be?" asked Kingsley.

"The Minister of Magic would be a great starting point don't you agree?" Dave asked Kingsley once again showing that familiar looking crooked smile of his.

Grinning broadly Kingsley replied, "I do think he would. And I can guarantee that the current Minister would lend his full support to the idea as well."

Returning his grin, Dave replied "Thank you Minister. Thank you very much."

"I'm getting the feeling that it is me that should be thanking, you, Chief Williams, your Team and your Minister for your work on this. While it is a deeply saddening topic. Your work on it has been exemplary."

"No thanks are required Minister, although I will pass them along to my team. We were simply doing our job as humble Aurors Sir. It was what we signed up for."

"But if I may I would like to ask for a favour, or more accurately a few favours." He asked in a very firm voice.

"You may ask Auror Webb and I will see what I can do. Within reason of course, I hope you understand that."

"I do Minister, fully."

"Ask away then Auror Webb."

"Minister, I would like to ask for a full and unconditional pardon for Mr P and the others like him that have been working with us. As it currently stands they are all guilty of High Treason in one form or another. They deserve to have their lives back Minister not living with the fear of being caught and thrown in jail."

"A perfectly reasonable request, Auror Webb. One that I'm happy to grant and I can guarantee that it will be done. On that you have my personal word delivered in front of these witnesses."

"Thank you Minister." Dave added with a smile.

"I would like also to ask for the so called 'Blood Purity Laws' and the 'Muggle-Born Registration Commission' and their various ruling be repealed. This is to enable those people who we have rescued the opportunity of returning home if they so desire to do so."

"That one could prove to be a little trickier Auror Webb. But I agree with you whole heartily on it. Indeed, moves have already been started that will lead to those laws being stuck down."

Kingsley, Dave and Chief Williams stepped forwards to shake on the agreements that had just been made.

While they were doing this Hermione was taking a closer look at the document Dave had placed on the table.

"Excuse me David" Hermione asked.

"Why does your Grandfathers family name appear to be blurred out? Along with that of his next of kin on this form?"

"The names are blurred apparently to make it more difficult to trace his birth family. As after he was accused of his crime and sold into slavery as part of his punishment, his family cast him out. As it was done magically all documents that bear his name now have any reference to his original family made illegible."

"That's horrendous" she exclaimed.

"I agree it is. We believe it was done deliberately by his family, as they knew his feelings on the subject of family."

"So I take it that Webb isn't your original family name then Dave?" Arthur asked.

"No it isn't Mr Weasley." Dave replied. "We have no idea of what family Grandpa belonged to before he was cut off and sold. No idea at all. All we have is an old vault key to his personal section of the family vault. But without knowing which family he was a part of we can't even begin to try and ask for access to it."

"So where did the name Webb come from then?" Hermione enquired.

"After he was freed Grandpa realised that he would need a new family name. So he decided to choose one himself. In the end he selected two people who he held in very high regard and decided to make himself a new family name from theirs."

"The man who eventually granted my Grandfather his freedom was called Byron Black. He remained a great friend of my Grandfathers until his death. So grandpa used his initials in the new family name. That is where the two b's come from." He said with a thoughtful expression.

"Where did the 'We' come from then?" Hermione asked.

Giving her a rather puzzled expression he replied, "I would have thought that was obvious Hermione. The 'We' came from the man who gave Grandpa his chance at a new beginning. It came from Weasley."

"Our family name begins with 'We' to remind us that we began with the help of the Weasley family."

If Arthur was surprised before he was thunderstruck now. His face was a study in different emotions, each fighting for time to be expressed.

Dave turned to look at him and said, "I don't know if Grandpa ever explained how he came about his new name to your father or not. But I do know that his intention was to add a permanent memorial to him in his new family as a way of honouring him. All of us are taught the meaning of our name and about the people involved in its creation. My dad has your father's name as his middle name as a personal memento, but this was meant for the whole family."

"I do hope that it meets with your approval Mr Weasley. As it would have meant a great deal to my Grandfather if it did." Dave said facing Arthur.

Still not knowing what to say Arthur crossed the room and quickly embraced Dave and held him tightly to him. After a brief moment of alarm Dave returned the embrace only to be joined by all the Weasley men in the room.

I felt the urge to join them but there just wasn't enough space. I would have to wait my turn later.

While this was going on a new voice spoke up from the door and said,

"I've been listening to what you said earlier Syd, and I'm grateful for the pardon you have organised. Does this mean I can come clean now and get my job back?"

Extracting himself from the impromptu male bonding session, Dave turned to look at the source of the new voice and exclaimed, "Mr P"

The rest of the family turned as one and with looks of disbelief said "Percy?"

Dave quickly crossed the room embraced Percy and picked him up and spun him around.

Placing him back on the ground he put one hand on each of Percy's shoulders he looked him directly in the eyes and said, "We got them mate. We got them ALL. Every single last one of them."

Percy stared back with a look of wonder on his face. In a small voice he said, "All of them?"

"Yes mate every last one. We even came out with a few extras once we broke open those cesspits."

"But they were scattered over so many countries, how did you do it?"

"That's a story for another day mate."

"I told you we would hunt them down and we did. We got them ALL back. We even got a surprise haul of Death Eaters also." Dave said with fierce pride in his voice.

Percy had actually begun to smile at this news.

"You did it Mr P. Without that information you got for us, we would have been far too late to save even half of that lot. I was coming back into the country to take you and your Missus out to Dinner tonight to celebrate when I was asked to come here instead."

"So are you are free tonight? As you hadn't responded to my message as yet. Dinner is on me."

Not able to contain his smile Percy asked, "Dinner? Where are we going?"

"Anywhere you and your Missus would like to go mate. You, just say the word and strings will be pulled to make it happen." Dave said grinning ear to ear.

Not one to miss out on a chance to rib his brother George spoke up, "Percy is this mysterious 'Mr P' we have been hearing about? AND he has a Girlfriend? Can the world get any stranger than this?"

Looking at Dave with a resigned expression, Percy said, "I think smuggling people and fighting Dementors with you is going to be easier than surviving the ribbing that my brothers are preparing for me."

Looking across at the rest of the Weasley boys I could see them all wearing looks of feigned innocence. And failing badly at it as well if I might add.


	8. Coming Together

"Brothers? You mean this is your family?" Dave asked momentarily confused.

Percy fixed Dave with a look that clearly said 'your messing with me right'.

"I got so used to thinking of you as 'Mr P' I completely left off the Weasley from your name. Took a moment for me to reattach it." He said with a bit of a shamed face grin.

With the light of comprehension on his face he turned to Percy, "So all those chats we had about family. You were actually complaining about that Mr Weasley?" he said pointing a finger at Arthur.

"Yes.", Percy answered more than a little shame faced.

Dave stepped forward and slapped Percy on the back of the head. "You really were a bloody drongo you know that don't you? I bloody well hope you have patched things up with them by now. Fireball in particular is going to be pissed if you haven't." Dave said with a very intense look in his eye.

Talking just loud enough for everyone to hear him, George said to Charlie "I knew there was a reason I was starting to like this bloke." In a poor attempt at Dave's accent.

This statement gave everyone a good laugh.

Holding his hands up in mute surrender Percy explained, "You can tell her I have. It was kind of impossible not to. With you and your team always pushing the subject, then when Audrey took your side as well, I had no choice."

Dave looked to George for confirmation and he nodded to confirm Percy's story.

"When did you finally do it?" Dave asked.

"3 days after you left." Percy confirmed.

"3 days? You said you were going to do it the next day. Or did you want to wait for your ass to recover after Fireball was finished kicking it?" he said looking at Percy with a rather evil grin.

"Percy got his butt kicked by a gi…." George started to say. But stopped when he saw the looks directed at him by Ginny, Hermione and Dave.

"By what George? Hmmm" Ginny was enquiring directing one of her famous glares at him. "By a what?"

In an attempt to save George from the wrath of Ginny, Dave added "Tell you what George. I'm make a deal with you. If you can survive one round of a sparring session with Fireball, I'll let you finish that statement."

George seemed to be considering the offer, but during this time Dave lost his battle to keep a straight face. After that George seemed to have second thoughts on the matter.

"No thanks." George answered.

"You sure mate? I mean she is only a 'little' girl." Dave supplied.

At this point Ginny rounded on Dave and fixed him with one of her famous glares. "What did you say?" she snapped.

"I merely supplied our intended sacrificial lamb here with some pertinent information on his potential opponent. So he could make an informed decision." Dave answered seemingly immune to Ginny's furious glare.

"Fireball isn't 'little' Syd you know that." Percy said.

"She's littler than him isn't she? Therefore to him she is little. I'm mean there might be only an inch in it. But it still makes her littler don't you think?" he asked.

Ginny was opening her mouth to reply when Dave's mirror phone issued a strange buzzing sound.

This sound seemed to have captured the immediate and complete attention of Dave, Chief Williams and strangely Percy.

Looking curious, Dave grabbed his Mirror Phone and held it to his ear and said "Syd."

The look on his face turned from one of curiosity to a look that had everyone wondering where their wands were.

"I'm not sure, I'll check. Wait one." He said in a very crisp and business-like manner.

Turning to Chief Williams he asked, "Boss, do you currently have a detail assigned to you?"

"No Syd." was his answer.

"Minister, do you have a security detail assigned to follow you around at all?" he asked Kingsley.

"No I don't. Why do you ask?" he replied.

"I ask as Mick as just called to let me know that there is a group of 4 possibly 5 disillusioned people currently stationed outside the stone wall that runs around your yard."

Everyone now seemed to be wearing looks similar to that of Dave.

"When we arrived Mick thought he saw something out there. But whoever it was they were doing a good job of hiding themselves. So he wasn't sure."

"It wasn't until Percy here arrived and one of them moved carelessly that he could confirm what he was seeing."

"He has done a quick check of the area and found 4 people who are disillusioned positioned around what he assumes is the main apparition point for this location."

"It also appears that they have been there for more than a day. It is clear that they are waiting for someone to arrive and it wasn't Percy."

"We have seen this type of behaviour before in certain groups but they always operated in teams of 5."

"So I would like to confirm with you all. That to the best of your knowledge there is no reason for those group of people to be where they are, behaving as they are?" he asked very intently.

After a chorus of 'No's', he turned to Chief Williams and said, "Boss it looks like we have a group of potential hostiles out there. Can we make a move to grab them? As I would like to find out what they are playing at?"

Kingsley spoke up and added, "I think we would all like to know what is going on out there, Auror Webb."

"I can very quickly request a full team of Aurors from our Chief Roberts and they can be here very shortly." He added.

Dave was about to speak when Kingsley cut across him.

"I understand your reservations Auror Webb, but Chief Roberts is thoroughly dependable and reliable. He can be trusted to only bring reliable Aurors with him on a mission like this."

"Minister he may well be under normal circumstances. But he is also currently compromised." Dave stated.

"His newly pregnant wife has been kidnapped and is being held by the opposition." Dave said in a very professional tone.

"What? When?" Kingsley questioned.

"On the day he returned from his Honeymoon Minister. Someone in your Ministry changed the details of his Portkey and they were taken to an alternate location. Where he was very quickly outnumbered and over powered."

"His wife was taken away to a separate location where she is currently being held. We understand that she is allowed to communicate with him via Floo and occasionally by Owl."

"Do you know where she is being held?" he almost demanded of Auror Webb.

"Yes Minister we believe we do. I have a team watching the location now and we intend to raid it as soon as we have confirmed her presence there." Dave explained.

"When do you expect the raid to take place Syd?" Chief Williams asked.

"Within the next 48 hrs Boss." Was the reply.

"This is why you told the Minister not to visit until next week isn't it?" said Chief Williams.

"Yes Boss. The surprising thing is that he listened to us."

"The next question Boss, is how do we want to handle this lot who are sneaking about outside?" asked Dave.

"We have a few options. First we can go after the 4 that Mick has identified. Or we can give Mick sometime to do a proper scouting of the area to see if there is indeed a 5th person as we suspect."

"If we are not pressed for time my preference is to give Mick time to do his thing. As the more warm bodies we collect the more we will to talk to. And the more we have to talk to the greater the chance of useful information being uncovered."

Dave turned his gaze on all those present while waiting for their response.

Kingsley, Chief Williams, Arthur and Bill were having a hurried discussion while all watched them. Eventually Kingsley spoke. "We agree with you Auror Webb. It would be ideal to gather as many of these people as possible in one swoop. How long would it take for this 'Mick' to check the area?"

Dave placed his Mirror phone back on the table and spoke directly to it, "Mick, its Syd here. I have you on speaker with me are the Boss, Minister Kingsley, Arthur Weasley and his Family. It has been decided that they like your idea of having a proper Captain Cook of the area."

"Can you advise who you have with you and how long it would take for a sweep to be done?"

"Syd, there is only myself and Fireball here." Mick started to respond.

"Fireball? What is she doing there? She is supposed to be back in France resting as she has been on the go longer than me." Dave asked clearly agitated.

"Syd I tried to stop her. But after you left she pulled rank and told Rowdy to stand down as she was coming with me." He answered.

"Why on earth…" Dave started to exclaim when he was cut off by a female voice stating, "I have orders from a 'higher power' than you Syd."

Dave put his head in his hands and started to take a deep breath.

"Trouble with the Missus?" George wanted to know.

Dave looked at him confused for a moment, while laughter came over the phone.

"She isn't my Missus mate. She's worse. She's one of my sisters." Was Dave's reply. Followed by "I heard that" from the Mirror phone.

"I'd be worried if you hadn't Fireball." Said Dave with a grin on his face.

"Sisters? How many do you have?" enquired George.

"Six." Was the distracted reply from Dave.

"Now that must have been painful" George remarked to no one in particular.

Ginny however stepped up and exclaimed "Could have been worse it could have been six brothers." She then punched George in the arm.

Almost without thinking about it Dave remarked, "Keep your wrist straight, and remember to twist so as to use your back muscles as well."

"Thanks" said Ginny excitedly while she tried the suggestions, and then admired the end result of George wincing for real.

Dave watched the exchange and smiled. Turning serious he continued.

"Fireball, can you keep track of the currently identified targets while Mick goes for a Captain Cook? Or are they two spaced out too do it without giving your position away?"

"They are sufficiently spaced that to properly stay concealed an extra pair of eyes wouldn't go astray Syd."

"Do you have a suitable jump point there?" Dave wanted to know.

"We do" she replied.

"Ok, mark the positons you know now and then notify, Cassy, Rowdy and Jono to jump there now. That will give a set of eyes to each target. But make sure everyone stays undetected. We want all of these jokers. Is that understood?"

"Yes Syd. It's understood. Moving now." Fireball replied.

"Mick as soon as they are in position begin your search. Do you need any assistance from this end? As I have some willing volunteers here." He added seeing the looks in the eyes of those in the room.

"Not right now Syd. But will advise once I have completed the circuit."

"How long Mick?" Dave questioned.

"15 minutes, minimum Syd."

"We will be waiting Mick." He replied.

"Mrs Weasley, could I trouble you for a larger Mirror? Or a shiny steel tray?" Dave asked.

I was momentarily confused by the request, but moved to grab the large mirror from the lounge. Bringing it back into the kitchen Dave motioned that I should place it flat on the table. He then placed his Mirror Phone on it in one corner and tapped it a few times.

When he removed it from the mirror we were looking at a map of the Burrow showing the surrounding area. There were 4 red dots over near the apparition point. There were also 4 blue dots moving into a position behind each of the red dots. But far enough back so they would be difficult to spot.

Pointing to the mirror Dave said, "The Red Dots are the disillusioned individuals Mick first noticed. The Blue Dots are my team moving into position."

"What I want to know is, if there is a 5th person as we suspect out there where would be the most advantageous position for them to be?"

Chief Williams was the first to speak up. "Why doesn't Mick show up on this?"

"Mick won't show up, as when he is cloaked his beacon is blocked. This map is only a very simple tactical one to co-ordinate between us all. It is still a new feature and not all the 'bugs' are worked out yet. But it does show promise." Dave answered. Chief Williams nodded.

"If I wanted to watch the kitchen door which is the main entry to the house, I would be in that gully over near the orchard." Bill offered.

Dave was beginning to ask more questions when a new blue dot appeared on the map on the side opposite the red dots. Then a voice came from the Mirror Phone, "Syd?"

"That was quick Mick. What did you find?" he asked.

"Syd, I think we have a situation here. As I have found a section of ground here with some very serious protective charms on it. Marking the outer boundaries on the map now."

A rather large area was soon marked in red on the map just past the orchard.

The expressions on the faces of Syd and Percy as they looked at each other were definitely making me check for my wand.

"Mick, what if anything can you detect inside that area?" Dave asked.

"Syd, I can't get past those charms without them knowing that I'm here. But I can tell you there is a patch of grass and some trees here who are showing signs of frost damage."

"Kind of an odd time for that to be happening in summer don't you think." Mick stated.

Once again Percy and Syd looked at each other and exclaimed almost at once, "Dover!"

"What's Dover got to do with this?" Kingsley asked with some concern.

"It means Minster that we are all inside a very carefully prepared ambush." Dave said with a completely emotionless voice.

"How long have you all been back here? A day? Two?" Dave wanted to know.

"This is the Fourth Day since we came home from Hogwarts" Arthur said looking a little concerned.

"Ok, when you arrived home did you scout the area and put your charms back up or were they already in place?" Dave enquired of Arthur.

"We checked the house and the out buildings as well as the yard for people and traps. But not much outside of the stone wall" Bill said with resignation.

"All but the most basic of charms had been broken and needed to be re-set on the house and surrounds. We did that before brining everyone back here." Bill said and Arthur confirmed.

"No checks on the surrounding area since then?" Dave asked of Bill and Arthur.

"Not since we chased off the reporters the day after we got back" Ron added.

"Reporters? Where were they located?" said Dave.

"By the gate near the Apparition point" said Ron pointing to the gate on the map.

Exchanging another look with Percy, Dave replied "That probably explains why there is only one pocket here instead of two then."

"As when you chased off the reporters you most likely upset the wards for the other pocket. It would explain why those other 4 are exposed on that side."

Percy nodded but still looked worried.

"Syd, can you explain for the rest of us what you two are talking about." Chief Williams asked with a hint of frustration in his voice.

"Can do Boss."

"As I mentioned before this looks very much like an Ambush that was sprung on us in Dover. Although back there we didn't have Mick out scouting for us."

"In that ambush they had two 'pockets' each with a quad of Dementors in it positioned on opposite sides of the location we were in. Also positioned very near the apparition points that we used."

"They were waiting until the early hours of the morning and then tried to raid the house we were in. Luckily for us we had started a planned move earlier that night/morning. So there were only myself, Percy, Shelly and Rowdy on the scene when they attacked." He added.

"In that case we had a group of nearly 80 people who were our priority to get safely away so we didn't stay to play."

"But we could today." He asked almost hopefully.

"What do you expect to be facing in that 'bubble' as you called it Auror Webb" enquired Kingsley.

"If they follow the same plan as in Dover there will be a group of between 10-15 Dementors and maybe about 8 Wizards / Witches in there."

"Counting the 4 over the other side that will bring the total up to 12 Witches and or Wizards."

"I'm wondering who the target is going to be. Given the amount of time it takes them to set this up it will have to be someone who is usually here. Not a visitor."

"That will count out myself, you Boss and you Minister. As our visit here is rather last minute."

"My money is on it being, either Arthur or one of the 'golden trio' as the paper here calls them." Dave said with a slightly thoughtful expression.

"The next question is going to be what do we want to do about it?"

"My vote is not to wait till they are ready to move in the early morning but spring the ambush now in daylight when we are ready."

"Dementors don't like bright sunlight. If we are lucky and that isn't a squad of them waiting for us they will leave on their own."

"But if it is a squad we are going to have to fight them, and I only have the 3 of us here who can directly do that currently." He said looking very directly at Chief Williams and Kingsley.

"Your thoughts?"

Everyone seemed a little shaken by this rather blunt assessment. However they were also determined to take action to defend their home and family.

"I agree we do not want to wait till dark." Kingsley began, "However I would like a few more people on our side if possible given the numbers you expect there to be."

"I have another 6 members of my team I can call up and have here very quickly Minister. More than that and I will need to issue an all hands alert. Unless we want to go through Ministry red tape Boss?" Dave offered.

"Not if we can help it Syd." Was his reply.

"Minister, Mr Weasley are you able to call in anyone else? Given that we are being watched here?" Dave asked.

"If Chief Roberts is indeed compromised as you say Auror Webb our options are limited." Was Kingsley reply.

Arthur was about to reply when Hermione spoke up, "What about the DA? We can get a message to them with our coins. I'm not sure who will be able to help come though."

"Coins?" Dave asked, "How detailed a message can you send with coins?"

"Not very, she replied. I could ask for assistance at the Burrow now. That would be about it."

"Where would they arrive if you asked them to come? The apparition point near your gate?"

"Yes" she replied after getting confirmation from Ginny and George.

"It could work, Boss. But we will need to secure that point and have someone meet them there to explain things so they will know who is who."

"My team have communication gear so we can stay in touch and co-ordinate. I can organise some more for the ones in this room. Without knowing how many of this DA mob are going to show I can't be sure we will have enough." Dave offered.

"What are you thinking Syd?" Chief Williams asked.

"Boss, I'm thinking we get my team into place, capture their attention and then spring their trap from behind."

"Drunkmouse are you listening in on this at all?" Dave asked with a smile.

"But of course Syd." Came the reply from a very correct sounding voice.

"You know I always start to take notice when someone draws a tactical map during a supposedly 'quiet' visit." The voice of this 'Drunkmouse' replied.

"Thanks Mate. Knew we could count on you." Dave said with a smile.

"You can see the map and the names", he added tapping his screen so that names appeared next to the dots.

"That I can Syd."

"Right then. If we call in Shelly, Goose, Olly, Abby, Guz and Izzy, we can pare up the team like this."

"Cassy can pair with me once the trap is sprung, but she can join up with Fireball before that. Send Goose to Join up with Mick and have Olly and Abby go to Mick as well."

"Rowdy and Jono will be another pair, along with Shelly and Guz and Izzy and Fireball"

"Those three pairs along with Cassy will take out the group near the apparition Point. Secure their prisoners and then join in with the main group dealing with what comes out of the bubble."

"In the mean time we will pair the people here like this, Chief Williams and Minister Shacklebolt we will keep together to co-ordinate and act as a reserve if required."

"Arthur and Bill Weasley" Dave began to say before a female voice spoke up and said, "Is that actually Bombshell?" to a few laughs over the phone and in the room.

"Yes Fireball it is. You can ask him about the stories later" Dave said smiling. Looking at Bill he said "Told you that you were famous in the family."

Bill had the good grace to blush slightly under Fleur's rather amused direct look.

"As I was saying, Arthur and Bill Weasley will form one pair, 'Mr P' and George another, Charlie and Ron also. Molly and Hermione will be paired and the last group will be Fleur, Gabrielle and Ginny."

"My thoughts on a plan are this, after we get the team in place outside the current wards. I, Charlie and Ron will setup a distraction. That will enable the teams near the four disillusioned people to make their move. Once they have been secured, Hermione can send out her message to her DA mates. Then Hermione and Molly can take a position near the apparition point to greet any arrivals and brief them on what we are doing. As well as to equip them with comms gear so they can hear what is going on."

"We can then setup a perimeter around the bubble in preparation to take down their charms."

"Bombshell, you're the curse breaker so you will be the logical choice to break their charms. You ok with this?" he asked Bill.

"Got to get used to this name but yes that is fine." Bill replied.

"Excellent, everyone is to stay with their group or pair. If your opponent is taken down, look to support those nearest you. If no opponent is available, announce that that on the comms gear and Kingsley or Chief Williams will assign you a new one."

"Under no circumstances are you to leave your buddy. If one of you is hurt the other will provide cover and call for assistance and you will then ALL move together. Is everyone clear on that?" Dave asked the note of command clear in his voice.

A chorus of Yes's greeted that statement.

"Now if there are indeed Dementors under that bubble, our first goal will be to try and drive them off with Patronus charms as usual. If they don't leave and only circle back that will be the signal that we are facing a squad."

"If that happens then the plan is to change thus, those nearest the current wards get outside of them and setup Patronus Shields to keep the Dementors from Escaping." Dave explained with a very serious look on his face.

Seeing the stunned looks he explained.

"Once we start to take on the Dementors to destroy them we want to make sure we get them all. As we don't want them to carry word back to whoever is giving them orders about what we can do. The longer we keep them in the dark on that the better it will be for us."

Looking around and seeing nods he continued.

"Those who are on the outside of the shield will follow the instructions of Mick or Goose if Mick isn't answering".

"Everyone else is to fall back to this house and set up Patronus shields to keep the Dementors out of the house and provide a haven for those working on the Dementors directly."

"Chief Williams you can run the show inside here or if you are unable Minister Shacklebolt will."

"Those here in the house will also need to setup some extra shields to cover the expected… let's call it 'Noise'. That will be experienced when a Dementor is destroyed."

"It is not noise that will damage your ears as such. It is more like very intense emotions of all sorts. Usually it is despair, anger and hatred. It will 'mess with your head' in many different ways, but it will also give you a major headache none the less. The longer it goes on the more damage it will do though."

"Boss the ones you will want on that shield if it is needed will be Fleur and Gabrielle" Dave said to the surprise of those in the room.

"Why them?" Chief Williams asked.

"They are both part Veela and as such are experienced in shielding powerful emotions both from and of others. That is basically the same type of shield needed here. I'm confident that they can show the others who end up in here how it is done if needed." Dave stated.

"Ow do you know zat we are part Veela, Dave?" Fleur asked curiously.

"It is a few things, but mostly your wings. As I can see them hiding behind you both." Dave replied with his eyes quickly showing a golden tint over them.

Fleur and Gabrielle were clearly surprised by this statement and by the change shown in Dave's eyes when he spoke.

"Eet is a useful skill to see zat which is ideen no?" Fleur said looking at Dave with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"It depends on what is hidden and why it has been hidden" was Dave's reply.

"Zat is a very deep answer Dave. Per'aps we can talk later?" Fleur enquired.

"If that is what you wish. I will place myself at your disposal after we deal with these buggers outside." Dave replied to a round of chuckles and some laughter from those of us in the room.

"Ok, back to the task at hand. Cassy and I will take first crack at the Dementors if it proves to be necessary. If we start to tire Fireball you and Shelly will take over from us. Clear?" Dave asked.

"Yes Syd that is clear." Fireball replied.

"No one else is to be between the shields except for the pairs actively engaged against the Dementors." He stated very forcefully.

"'Mr P' do you still have the gun I gave you?" he asked Percy.

Percy nodded and produced an odd looking device that resembled the letter L made from a metal of some sort. He passed it over to Dave.

Collecting it from Percy Dave activated a switch and a piece fell out of the handle. Picking it up he showed it to those of us in the room.

"This is an experimental weapon that we are working on. It is based on a Muggle Weapon called a 'Gun' or a 'Firearm'. In short it is a tool, which can fire a metal object with great force in a straight line."

"This one has been modified to fire magically enhanced ammunition."

"What I'm holding up is called the magazine. It holds the bullets, these Magazines are magically expanded and can hold around 50 bullets. Each bullet carries a set of curses and charms on them."

"These curses and charms are designed to get the Dementor to absorb the bullet much like it would absorb emotions. Then once the bullet is inside the Dementor it will break open and release something rather like a Patronus."

"This will cause the Dementor great pain and weaken it a good deal. In theory enough of these bullets into a Dementor will destroy it. But we have not yet achieved that goal. It will however drive the Dementor away in the event that your Patronus charms are not enough or you are unable to cast one."

"It is extremely important that these are not pointed at or used against anything other than Dementors. If a person is standing in front of this Gun and I pull this trigger they WILL die."

"These are weapons of a last resort nature at this point in time and are to be used as such."

"'Mr P' here has been trained by us on these items so he can show you how to use them if required. My team members also carry these items and will use them to support you if needed."

"Keep in mind when they are used they will sound like very loud fire crackers going off and will emit a bright light and flame from the barrel here."

"Any questions?" Dave asked, while pulling another 5 of the 'Guns' from his jacket pocket and placing them on the table.

"I have a question Dave" asked Charlie, "What sort of distraction are we going to cause to get the attention of that lot outside."

Smiling ear to ear Dave answered, "Just how far do you think the two of you can throw me from your porch when you toss me out of here?"

Returning the grin Charlie answered, "Oh, I think we could get you a good ways out into the yard."

Ron was agreeing with Charlie when he added, "Why would we be throwing you out of the house though?"

"I understand that it is part of the distraction, but I'm also guessing that we are going to have an argument out in the yard. So what is it to be about?"

"Good point Ron" said Dave giving the matter some more thought.

"I know, I have a great idea for a fight." Ron said excitedly.

"We can throw you out for making a pass at our sister." Ron said rather pleased with himself.

"Why would I have wanted to do that though" Dave started to say before there was a loud thud and Ginny started to swear while holding her wrist.

Looking at her with amusement Dave said, "Sorry I should have warned you. According to my sisters I'm denser than a normal bloke, so extra care is needed if you wish to thump me." There was quite a bit of laughter at this comment.

Holding out his hand to Ginny he said, "Let me fix that for you, as you are likely going to be needing your wand hand shortly".

He quickly placed both his hands on Ginny's offered wrist and then released her. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Much better. Thank you" she replied before slapping him on the back of his head saying "Git".

"I think I might have deserved that one." Dave chuckled.

"Unless anyone has a better idea we will run with Ron's" Dave asked.

When no one offered a better alternative Dave spoke to his Mirror Phone again.

"Drunkmouse, can you put at least 20 ear pieces into my tray for me. All coded to the channel for my team?"

"Will do Syd. Give me a moment" was the reply.

"Drunkmouse is currently gathering up some more of these." Said Dave while holding up a small oddly shaped device that looks like a squashed kidney bean.

"This is another idea we have taken from the Muggles. It is a device that goes in your ear and will enable you to hear everyone else who has one in their ear also. Every time you talk it will broadcast your voice enabling others to hear you."

"The range on these devices is currently only about one kilometre but that should be more than enough for today."

"It goes in your ear like this" he said putting the device inside his ear.

"Inserting it like that will activate it. There is a light sticking charm on it to help keep it in place."

"Speak only when it is necessary when wearing one as otherwise it can quickly become like a noisy party with all the different voices going at the same time." He cautioned.

"They are ready and in your tray Syd" came the voice of Drunkmouse.

"Thanks mate" Dave replied before again opening his Auror wallet but to a different pocket this time.

Reaching into the pocket he brought out twenty of the devices that he had just shown us.

I would like you all to put one of these in your ears now and say your name so you can confirm that they are working and get a feel for what they are like.

We all complied and I must say it was a rather strange experience to have a voice buzzing in your ear like that. But I could also see it being very useful. As each one of us spoke a dot and our name appeared on the map.

"Drunkmouse, are the others briefed and ready to jump?" Dave asked.

"They are Syd." Was the reply.

"Boss, Minister" he said looking at Chief Williams and Kingsley, "Are we going to get this done?"

After a quick chat between them Kingsley replied, "Yes Auror Webb we are."

"Is everyone clear on what the plan is and their role in it?" Dave asked the group and those on the Mirror Phone.

Once again there was a Chorus of Yes's coming back.

"Excellent. Any other questions before we begin?" Dave asked.

"Syd, what about those cursed knives from Dover? We never worked out who was using them." Percy asked.

"Good Point. Mr P."

"Listen up everyone. In our last encounter in Dover there were some unusual weapons used against us. One of them was a device that looked a bit like a wooden stake."

"However they were actually a cursed throwing knife. They are rather nasty objects as a normal shield won't do much to them other than slow them down. They will still go through the shield, but you will have a little time to get out of the way but DON'T expect your shield to stop them."

"Do NOT under any circumstances touch them with your bear skin. The curses on them are strong enough to affect you by touch alone."

"If anyone is hit by one of these do NOT touch them. As the Curse will transfer just as easily from them to you by touch also."

"Your best bet at treatment will be to put a freezing charm on the person until we can get them to a curse breaker", he said looking at Bill. "And a healer depending on the nature of the damage done"

"I would also like to remind everyone to continually check 'six' or your back. If your pair is not near the active engagements turn and check the area's behind us all. We don't want to be caught from behind at all."

"Hermione, any members of the DA who arrive after the action starts might be best placed to take on this role, as they will already likely be away from the action. If they do find anyone make sure they themselves are in pairs and that they let everyone else know about any new opposition." Dave instructed.

"Makes sense", Hermione agreed.

"Fleur. I would like your group to keep near the house when we go to 'break the bubble'. The reason being if there is a Dementor squad present your team will be the first back to the house and be able to get the shields in place to protect the minds of the people inside the house. While Kingsley and the Boss will be able to get the Patronus shields up. Others can help as they arrive." Dave requested.

"Oui. Agreed" was Fleur's reply.

"Any other questions or suggestions?" Dave asked.

Getting none, he turned to Charlie and Ron and said with a smile, "Would you two gentlemen like to throw me out of this most excellent house?"

"Dave I thought you would never ask" was Charlie's chuckled reply.

"Then lead on then my good man"

Once Charlie, Ron and Dave had got themselves positioned just inside the kitchen door they turned to look at Kingsley and Chief Williams.

Chief Williams nodded and said "Go." He then spoke to the Mirror Phone and said "Drunkmouse we have begun. Give a count of 15 seconds and then get the others to jump." He then faced Hermione, "Hermione as soon as those red dots change to crosses call your DA friends."

While this was going on there were sounds of "You Smarmy git, how did you think you could get away with trying something like that on MY sister."

Between them Charlie and Ron seemed to have been able to get Dave to almost fly into the centre of the yard. Dave appeared to have landed badly and was groaning on the ground when Charlie and Ron descended on him and began to kick into him while still yelling all sorts of insults.

I turned my attention back to the map on the table. Very quickly after the boys started in the yard there were extra blue dots showing on the map. Both over near the apparition point and near where the dot labelled 'Mick' was positioned.

Shortly after the arrival of these extra blue dots the 4 red dots changed to show crosses.

"They are now disarmed, secured and in custody" remarked Chief Williams. "Hermione, call your friends and get yourself and Molly over there now".

Hermione performed the charm on her coin. I grabbed the extra ear pieces from the table and went with her to the apparition point.

While we were making our way over to our position the others were all moving also. There was also a group of 7 people that I didn't recognise running for the other side of the yard. I did absently notice that one of them had bright flaming red hair. They also seemed to be moving as one in co-ordinated pairs.

I next remember feeling something almost like an explosion and the hearing Bill's voice in my ear saying "Wards are down" followed by different sets of voices calling out "Contact" or "Engaging" followed by the sounds of spells being cast.

Just then we had our first arrivals at the apparition point. It turned out to be Neville who was closely followed by Luna and Terry Boot.

Hermione very quickly briefed them on what was happening and the plan that was being followed. They were given ear pieces and announced themselves just like we had done.

At this point there was a cry of "Dementors" followed by a few shouts of 'Expecto Patronum'.

Quickly after this Dave's voice spoke up over everyone one else saying "It's a squad. Repeat it's a squad they are not fleeing only drawing back to regroup."

"Everyone to their assigned positions and ready shields. Remember we can't allow them to escape. All eyes must remain alert for further hostiles."

Kingsley quickly spoke up and asked the newly arrived members of the DA to move to the house and provide cover for those who were falling back to it.

The next sounds chilled my heart. There was a feminine scream and Fleur's voice spoke saying "… is down". I missed the name but my heart skipped a beat as Ginny was with her.

Her call was quickly answered by Guz and Shelly saying they were able to assist getting them all into the house.

Chief Williams was the next to speak saying "Syd, the killing ground is all clear of all hostiles except the Dementors. All friendlies are clear except for you and Cassy. You are free to engage."

"Understood Boss. Engaging Dementors now."

The next thing I remembered was what sounded like the largest thunder clap that I had ever heard coming from the yard behind me.

Turning to look I saw one of the most frightening sights I had ever seen. A group of about 15 Dementors were circling Dave and Cassy. Occasionally one of them would swoop down only to be met by either Friendfyre or another lightning bolt like flash of light and sound.

The Friendfyre seemed to almost hug the Dementors. It also seemed to be causing them a great deal of pain. But they were not fleeing, they would circle back and be met by another strike of light.

During this process we had some more arrivals. Angelina Johnson, Dean Thomas, Katie Bell, Seamus Finnigan, Anthony Goldstein and Cho Chang had all arrived in quick succession.

They were all quickly gathered and the remaining ear pieces were given out. Despite their initial confusion as to what was happening in front of them, once it was explained they all readily agreed to assist with the outer Patronus Shield to stop the Dementors from fleeing.

I had just turned back to watch the scene in the yard when there was a very loud explosion which knocked a few of us over.

However the shock was not from the noise, but from the undisputable fact that a Dementor had just been destroyed.

In its wake there was a rapidly dissipating black cloud as well as a few feeble almost twinkling golden lights that looked almost like fairies.

The remaining Dementors sprang towards those lights but I saw Dave raise his hand and summon them to him. This action only seemed to enrage the remaining Dementors even more.

Two more explosions quickly followed from Dementors who had previously been on fire. They also left behind some lights that were collected by Dave.

At this point Cassy appeared to stumble and before she was on her feet had three Dementors on her. Two of them appeared to have grabbed her arms while the third was trying to raise her face.

Dave appeared to crash himself into the Dementor trying to raise Cassy's face while yelling, "Dammit Cassy, Burn it. Burn it NOW!"

While he was struggling with the Dementor he just crashed into, Cassy seemed to fully catch on fire. The Dementors holding her were also wreathed in flame.

Dave set his Dementor on fire also and there followed another three bright flashes of light each one shortly followed by another louder explosion.

Once again Dave summoned those odd yellow lights.

Both Dave and Cassy were now fully aflame and they seemed to have become enraged as they attacked with reckless abandon. They were now not just trying to set Dementors on fire by touching them when they came close enough. They actually seemed to be throwing balls of fire at them, lots of them.

The balls of fire appeared to be more effective than the previous methods. As all the Dementors who were hit ignited. Once alight they seemed to be weakened to the point where they could not climb very high or move very fast. Those so weakened were finished off by Dave with his off flashes of light.

This resulted in another 6 Dementors being destroyed. Significantly more lights were released this time and while Dave tried to summon them all, one of the Dementors managed to grab a light and began to draw it to itself.

At this point I clearly heard Dave yell, "No you don't, he belongs to me now. NOT YOU!" at which point he threw what looked to be a fireball at the Dementor who was focusing on the yellow light. Only this time the fireball was pure white not yellow and it moved much faster.

When the white ball hit the Dementor it detonated immediately. The resulting explosion knocked Cassy sideways but it knocked Dave to the ground and he didn't immediately get up.

Instantly one of the Dementors was attacking Dave. It picked him up and threw him into the porch. Dave sailed through the porch railing to crash into the wall of the house.

Two voices could be heard screaming "No!" and then two more people were on the scene. One of them had the brilliant Red Hair that I noticed earlier and she came from outside the outer Patronus shield. The other had hair the colour of midnight and emerged from the house.

Both of them were also fully aflame with the same Golden light as Cassy and Dave.

The remaining two Dementors were soon alight and obviously weakened. But were not yet out of the fight.

Cassy and the Red Headed one were teaming up on the Dementor in the yard. While the one with the Midnight hair was trying to get Dave away from the Dementor near the porch. She seemed to be struggling with Dave and wasn't paying full attention to what was occurring as the Dementor was soon right behind her.

"Shelly Down!" Arthur yelled and then I could hear what sounded like fire crackers going off.

Soon the Dementor was off the porch and I could see Arthur, Bill, Percy and someone I didn't know standing on the porch and pointing the guns that Dave had supplied at the Dementor.

Dave's voice could next be heard saying, "Thanks all. Out of the way please."

Arthur, Bill, Percy and the unknown person moved back inside the house. Leaving Dave on the porch being supported by Shelly.

Dave raised his hand, there was another flash of white light followed by a thunderous crack. Then the Dementor from the porch exploded.

Once again Dave summoned the strange lights to him.

Shelly and Dave continued out into the yard. All four of them continued to hurl fire at the remaining Dementor. Dave attempted to strike it with the same white light as before, but he seemed to be weakening himself. As the white lights didn't have the same effect.

The Red headed one after what appeared to be a quick whispered conversation with Dave turned and fired a white fireball at the Dementor. This had the effect of causing it to explode.

Dave summoned the strange lights to himself once again before falling to the ground on his knees.

The silence that followed was thunderous. Broken only by Dave's whispered voice. "Everybody stand back, give me some room. Then after I'm done sweep and secure the area."

Chief Williams asked, "After you have done what, Syd?"

"You'll know Boss. You'll know" was Dave's reply.

The three people with Dave moved back leaving him on his knees and gave him a good amount of room.

Dave himself had begun to glow with a faint golden light. After a moment he lifted his head raised his arms and there issued from him lights lots of lights.

These appeared to be similar to the lights that came from the Dementors, but they were no longer feeble and twinkling lights. They were bright golden lights giving out a solid steady glow.

All who saw them were amazed and couldn't help but feel the immense sense of happiness and joy that came from them. The lights seemed to hover briefly around Dave before raising up and disappearing into the sky above.

Once the lights were gone Dave fell face first into the dirt of the yard. I thought he had passed out until I heard him say, "Mick, take over and have the area checked. I'm knackered and need some lunch."

Several sets of laughter could be heard at this before Mick replied, "No worries Syd. We will get it done."

The three who had been with Dave in the yard helped him to his feet and then assisted him into the house.

A set of commands could be heard over the earpieces we all had organising a search of the area. It seemed to all be names of the Aurors from Dave's team. So I joined the line of people heading for the house.


	9. The Power of Love

Walking into the house just behind Dave and the three who were assisting him, I was expecting there to be scenes of jubilation. However I was immediately confronted by Fleur's tear streaked face and sorrowful looks on all in our now very crowed kitchen and living room.

"What's wrong" I asked. Wanting to know what had happened.

Bill was the one who gave me the news. "It's Gabrielle. She was hit by one of those cursed knives we were told about." He said in a very grave voice.

"Where was she hit" the girl with the red hair helping Dave wanted to know. She looked up for an answer.

Bill turned to look at her to answer the question when I saw his expression change into one of recognition, wonder and confusion.

I stepped out from behind the group holding Dave to see what had caused such a reaction from my eldest son.

What I saw nearly made my heart stop. The girl, no woman with the red hair who was helping Dave into a seat looked like she could have been Ginny's sister.

Admittedly she would have been her older and bigger sister as she was easily over 6 feet tall and appeared to be in her mid to late twenties. But the face, eyes and even the expression were unmistakeable.

Bill and Fleur were speechless. So was I. We just stood there looking at her, not knowing what to do or say.

For her part she was looking at us wondering if we had taken leave of our senses. As that was the exact same expression that Ginny herself used.

It was now that Ginny herself entered the kitchen, she first noticed the strange looks on Bill and Fleur. Then she noticed my expression as well. Turning to the others in the room for an explanation she saw the Red Head who was standing next to Dave.

If I hadn't already been so shocked I would have burst into uncontrollable laughter at the looks on the faces of the two of them.

Ginny was now wearing an expression much like the one of Bill's face and the Read Headed girl was now mirroring it.

"Who the hell are you?" Ginny asked of the Red Headed girl.

Dave took this opportunity to look up and noticing Ginny's expression glanced over his shoulder, looked back at Ginny and then back over his shoulder again. Then he replied, "Ginny this is Fireball. Fireball this is Ginny Weasley. Arthur Weasley's daughter."

"What sort of weird name is Fireball?" Ginny wanted to know.

"Sorry Ginny, her real name Jasper Charlotte Webb. She is one of my sisters." Dave replied.

"I see so why the hell does she look like me then?" Ginny asked.

"I have no idea Ginny. But there is no need to get worked up over it. She didn't have a say in it did she" Dave replied with a chuckle.

At this comment all three of the girls standing behind Dave smacked him over the back of his head. This resulted in his head almost making contact with the kitchen table.

I have to admit that I started to laugh at this point. My only saving grace was that the others in the room also began to chuckle as well.

Looking back over his shoulder at the ones behind him Dave gave a theatrical sigh and then turned back to the rest of us and said, "The remaining 'lovely' ladies behind me are, Michelle 'Shelly' Rosemary Webb" he said indicating the one with the black hair, "Yes she is another one of my sisters."

"This is Cassandra 'Cassy' Violet Blanks, one of my many Cousins. But apart from that she is mostly ok." He said with a smile.

This time he was quick enough to avoid the blows aimed at the back of his head.

"Ladies may I introduce, Mrs Molly Weasley, wife of Arthur Weasley. Bill Weasley and his wife Fleur." He said pointing to us all in turn.

As handshakes were exchanged Fireball asked Dave, "Is that really Bombshell?" to general laughter.

"Yes it is Fireball and you can ask for his side of the story later. As I'm sure we would all love to hear it too." Dave replied.

Turning serious again he added "However right now I would like to get the answer to your earlier question Fireball."

"Bill, where was Gabrielle hit and how bad is she hurt." Dave asked.

At this the colour that had returned to Bill's face drained away and he replied. "She was hit almost in the middle of her chest by one of those knives you mentioned. It has gone in far enough that it is in danger of coming out the other side of her."

At this statement Fleur again broke down into tears.

You could almost see Dave, Fireball, Shelly and Cassy switch into the Aurors that they were.

"What was done after she was hit?" Dave asked very intently.

"Fleur put a freezing charm on her like you advised almost at once. Then she and Ginny levitated her into the house and put her on the sofa in the lounge" said Bill, worry clearly showing on his face.

"No one has touched her since? Have you examined the knife for any curses or poisons as yet?"

"There are at least three different curses on the knife that I could detect through the freezing charm. I'm afraid one of them looks like it is indeed an active curse." Bill answered.

"Can we see her?" Fireball asked of Bill.

Nodding and pointing to the lounge we all got up and went in. From the way he moved Dave was clearly in pain. It was also clear however that he had other worries on his mind at that point.

Gabrielle was laid out on the sofa in the lounge with her hands raised at though casting a spell. Her face still registered the shock of being hit.

Fleur could not bear to look at her little sister and again buried her face into Bills chest.

Dave and Fireball moved to kneel next to Gabrielle's body. The DA members in the room were clearly wondering who these people were. I could also see a few of them sharing thoughts similar to the ones we had just had in the kitchen.

Dave placed his hands over Gabrielle's head, close to but not touching her. He closed his eyes for a moment and then moved his hands down her body to the knife that was sticking out from her chest.

All the while his hands were close to but never touching her. During this Fireball had her hand on the back of Dave's neck and sat like that with her eyes closed while Dave moved his hands over Gabrielle's body.

Eventually he withdrew his hands and stood up. Beckoning to the Weasley family he moved into the kitchen with Fireball, Shelly and Cassy close behind him.

Once we were all there he closed the door to the lounge, ignoring the questions being asked from inside.

"Ok, the good news is, she is still with us right now. The freezing charm was applied very quickly so the Poison and the Curse haven't had much time to work." Dave began.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this news.

"However the bad news is, the knife has gone through her heart and into her left lung." Fleur fell to her knees and began to almost scream her cries now. The rest of us were also in a state of serious worry as we were all aware of the seriousness of a knife to the heart is.

Bill dropped to the floor to assist his wife. Looking up at Dave he asked, "So there is no hope at all?"

"No Bill there is a degree of hope here. Given that Fleur was able to apply the freezing charm so quickly we have a window of opportunity to work on this."

"However I do need to know the answers to some rather strange questions first to decide how much hope we have." He asked Bill and Fleur.

"What do you need to know?" Bill asked.

"Her parents, are they still alive and if so do you know where they are?"

"Our parents are at 'ome in France, at ze moment." Fleur replied.

"Can you Apparate that far to get them and bring them here?" Dave asked.

"I have not tried to do it over such a distance before but I am willing to try." Fleur responded.

"No. Now is not the time for experimenting with things like that. We will get you to your parents very shortly. But I do need you to bring them both back. Having both parents will greatly increase our chances of success." He added.

"Do you have access to any of Gabrielle's hair at all? The more recent the better?" he asked.

"Pardon 'er 'air?" Fleur asked confused.

"Yes her hair, we will need a sample of her hair from before she was hit with that knife."

"There was hair on her pillow this morning back at Shell Cottage" Bill answered.

"Excellent. Bill can you arrange someone to go and collect this hair. Minimum of three stands the longer the better from this 'Shell Cottage'?" Dave enquired.

"I will go myself it will not take me long at all." Said Bill. Keen for something to do.

"No not you Bill. I have another job for you to do, which is slightly more important. Do you have someone else who could go?"

"I'll go Bill." Ron answered. "I know your place well and can get the hairs and be back quickly."

Bill looked at Ron with a grateful look and said, "Thanks Ron".

"Yes, thanks Ron. However don't go alone. We don't know if Shell Cottage has a similar ambush setup to what we just dealt with here. Take 3 or 4 people to go with you." Dave suggested.

"I'll go and so will Luna and Neville" Ginny said.

Normally I would have raised objection after objection about Ron and Ginny going off like that but this time I only had one suggestion.

"Ron, Ginny use the Floo that way you won't need to be outside in case others are indeed there." I told them.

They both gave me a strange look that seemed to imply the statement 'who are you and what have you done with our mother', but they also both nodded grabbed Neville and Luna and left.

"Drunkmouse are you still eves dropping there?" Dave called out to the Mirror Phone that surprisingly was still on and connected.

"There are no eves here Syd, but I'm listening yes." Was the reply.

"Excellent. Please tell me Nat or Craig have been past to collect their Mirror Phones." Dave almost pleaded.

"Sorry Syd. They got back in country yesterday (our time) but have not yet been pass to see me or 'Q' as yet." Drunkmouse answered.

Dave let out a string of swear words that made even Kingsley and Chief Williams go pale.

"Ok then. Fireball I need to send you home to track down that wayward sister of ours and her husband. Who is best to go with you?" Asked Dave.

"Guz would be best as he knows Craig's home better than me." Fireball said looking slightly annoyed.

"I know you want to stay Fireball, but you know ALL the wards of Nat's new place. Not all of us have been there as yet. Guz is a good bet that he knows the ones on Craig's work as well. So it is likely that you two will find them the quickest."

"Guz, get your butt in here ASAP" Dave called out.

"Was already on the way Syd after I heard myself being 'volunteered' by the 'fiery one'" said a solid looking man who had just walked in off the porch.

"Thanks Guz. You heard the conversation?" Dave asked.

"Correct." He replied.

"Mrs Weasley can I borrow the door to your scullery for a few moments? It won't be damaged in any way." Dave asked.

Startled by this very strange request I could only nod and watch with great curiosity as Dave walked over to the scullery.

He opened it looked inside and when seeing my odd look said, "Just need to make sure no people or animals are in there. As you do not want to be on the wrong side of a doorway."

With that he touched the door in the middle with an almost loving caress. Then moved his arms up to the top of the door then out to the edges and down to the bottom before bringing his hands together once again and then back up to the middle of the door again.

He touched the door handle and suddenly it changed to a more ornate one with a lock and a key in it. He withdrew the key and looked at it briefly before inserting it again in the lock.

Turning the key he opened the door. The room on the other side of the door was most definitely NOT our scullery. It was a large room that appeared to be a family dining room with a kitchen off to one side. One wall of the room appeared to be almost entirely made of glass and looked out over a night shrouded coastline.

Turning to Fireball and Guz he said, "Looks like mum and dad are not up yet. Go and wake them. Tell them what has happened here and what we are doing about it. Get them to grab anyone they can put their hands on to help track down Nat and Craig. Bring them back to mum and dads as soon as you have got them. Ok"

"No worries Syd." Was the reply.

"Tell Nat and Craig that we think we have an active curse on that knife and we are on the clock on this. For even with the freezing charm it won't stop. We can wait only 1hr more at the absolute most before we have to start at this end. Also tell them to bring their usual 'bag of tricks."

"Drunkmouse, can you setup a dedicated operator for Fireball and Guz to co-ordinate everything for the search?" Dave asked.

"I can Syd but that is not simple task, your dad might have an issue with it." Drunkmouse responded.

"He might and if he does I'm happy to speak to him about it. Just let him know that this is for someone that Arthur Weasley introduced as family. Got it!" he ordered.

"Loud and clear Syd. Being organised now." He replied.

"Ok you two, take the key and go. Be quick be safe." Dave said in parting.

They grabbed the key and Dave closed the door. Oddly the key was still in it. I was about to ask about this when Kingsley spoke up.

"Where did they just go?" he asked.

"Home. East coast of Australia" was all Dave said. The look on everyone's face was nothing but shock.

"How..." Kingsley started to ask before Dave replied. "I will be happy to chat about transport later Minister. Right now we are on the clock and need to get things moving."

Looking at everyone in the room he asked, "Is this the first time that Gabrielle has been to this house? Have her Parents ever been here before either?"

Bill answered, "She has been here a few times, however I think her parents have only been here for our wedding?" he asked Fleur.

"Oui" she replied.

"Where was the wedding held? Inside or outside?" Dave asked.

"Outside in the yard." Bill answered.

Turning to Charlie he asked, "Were you here at the wedding?"

"I was the best man, of course I was here." Came Charlie's rather confused reply.

"Good news. Can you go into the yard and find me something metal. Doesn't matter what it is, it just needs to be from the yard and likely to have been here for a while so it is 'of this place' does that make sense Charlie?" Dave asked.

"Not really but I think I know just the things. There is a pile of old nails, big ones over near the shed. They have been here as long as I can remember."

"They sound perfect. Can you go and get me a dozen or so of them, or as many as you can find. It doesn't matter their condition as long as they are all roughly the same size." Dave asked.

"On it" he replied before running out the door.

Turning to Fleur Dave said, "I'm going to send you and Shelly to collect your parents. I also need you to gather some hairs from them as well. I will also need hairs from you also, will that be ok?" He asked with a slightly worried expression.

"Eet will not be a problem, Dave. I zink I know zee stories you are zinking of. Zey are not true, eet is ok for a Veela to donate 'airs. Zough we seldom do." Fleur said with a smile. Seeing the relief written plain across Dave's face she continued.

"I know you 'ave a reason for a zese requests. Zey will 'elp my sister no?" She asked.

"Yes there is a reason, and they will not only help save your sister but help keep alive those who are going to help us in healing her." Dave said in a very serious voice.

"Zen it will be done." She said with some steel showing in her voice.

"My thanks." Was Dave's relieved reply.

"Please come with me to the door. Shelly you to." Dave asked.

"In order to send you to your parents Fleur, I need you to hold my hand and put your other hand on the door handle. Then think of your parents place, but pick a location outside any wards they may have up. We don't have time to fight through any wards just now." Dave instructed.

Fleur nodded and held Dave's hand and then grasped the Door handle. Dave closed his eyes and placed his hand on the middle of the door.

"Is that the location you wish?" he asked Fleur after a moment.

"Oui" was her response.

"Ok then when I ask you, turn the handle and open the door. However as we are opening in a location with no frame please be VERY careful not to touch the edges of the door frame as you step through. If you do you might lose something that could be important later on." He explained.

Fleur nodded and said 'Oui, understood."

After a few moments of concentration Dave spoke again.

"Ok, I have the back of the door to a rock outcropping that should make it safe. So go ahead and open the door please."

Fleur opened the door to reveal a very ornate garden. "Is this the correct location?" Dave questioned.

"Eet ez" she replied.

"Ok go on through then. Shelly, you grab the key so you can make the return trip once you have her parents. It will work on any normal door with a keyhole as it will be paired with this one."

"Go now, quickly" he instructed.

They both stepped through the door and Dave closed it.

"Mr and Mrs Weasley, could you both step over here please and remove this key together." Dave asked.

We both did as asked and removed the key. It felt very odd in my hand and very warm. When we opened our hands we noticed that we each held a key in them.

Smiling Dave said, "This door is now secure. No one can come through it unless one of you use your key to admit them."

"When those that we have sent through just now are ready, they will put their key in on their side and knock while stating their name. You will be able to hear them clearly. All you need to do is put in your key also and say enter followed by their name. Open the door and they will be able to enter."

"Once they enter back through the door their key will automatically disappear, as yours are the masters. Unless you command them to keep their key of course." He explained.

We both nodded our understanding.

Dave turned to the Mirror Phone and said, "Drunkmouse, can you get a hard copy of Nat and Craig's notes on that incident in Indonesia with the cursed knife and put them in my tray."

"Already done Syd. Thought you would have asked for those."

Dave reached into his wallet again and brought out a pile of parchment. He handed this to Bill. "These are the notes my sister and her husband made of a similar knife used on an Indonesian Auror. Unfortunately he died as his body wasn't discovered in time. But the Indonesian Ministry permitted his body and the knife to be examined in the hope that further losses could be prevented."

Bill nodded as he accepted the notes from Dave with a rather grave expression.

"If I remember correctly that knife also had multiple curses. One was an active curse and one was a curse that stopped the blood clotting around wounds. Can't remember what the other curse was though. Hopefully those notes will help you identify what is actually on that knife so it can be dealt with quicker."

"I understand." Bill replied and began to read.

"Minister I have a request for you also." Dave asked Kingsley.

"How can I help?" he replied eagerly.

"I need you to go to your hospital and see if there are any healers who are available to come here to assist. The most difficult challenges with these items is that multiple things are going wrong all at the same time. If we can get people who can work on each problem separately but also work together our chances of success go up significantly." Dave explained.

"I would like to ask you to see if you can bring back any healers that have as their speciality, internal medicine specifically physical damage to the Heart, Lungs and the Blood. Anyone who specialises in Poisons and a curse damage specialist would be a bonus. We have Bill as our curse breaker, but any help we can get him will be good also. If Nat and Craig get here in time that is our 'ace in the hole' as they have more experience with active curses than anyone."

"A tall order Auror Webb, but I will bring back all that I can." Kingsley said before he headed off to the fireplace to Floo to St Mungo's.

"Is that the DA members in the other room with Gabrielle?" Dave asked of me.

"Yes now that your team members have gone they are all DA members." I answered.

"Can you introduce me to them? I think that they will be able to help as well." He asked.

"Of course follow me." I said as I lead him into the lounge.

Opening the door we were meet with a sea of concerned and confused faces. Dean was the first to step forward and ask what was going on with Gabrielle and who our visitors were.

I decided to start by introducing Dave first, "Everyone I would like to introduce you to Auror David Webb of the Australasian Auror Service. He has asked for your help in the attempt that is soon to be made to try and heal Miss Gabrielle Delacour here."

"Auror Webb, these are Terry Boot, Angela Johnson, Dean Thomas, Katie Bell, Seamus Finnigan, Anthony Goldstein and Cho Chang." I said pointing to each in turn.

"Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom, were the ones who left earlier with Ginny and Ron" I added.

"Longbottom?" Dave asked, "His parents used to be Aurors?"

"I believe they were why?" I replied.

"They might be the ones who helped my mum escape back in 81 after she lost her brothers. I would like to meet him later if at all possible." He requested.

"We should be able to arrange that." I told him and he smiled.

"All of these people are in the DA with George, Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny. They also all fought at the recent battle at Hogwarts" I told him.

"I'm very pleased to meet all of you" he started, "I have a very strange request to make of you which will help us when we attempt to heal Gabrielle here."

"One of the curses that we believe is on the knife that she was hit with is a particular nasty one. As it will try to make her feel alone, abandoned and frightened. Doubly so when we begin to directly attack it."

"In order for us to increase our chances against it we need a ready supply of love and friendship to combat it with." Dave explained.

"The love that she will require will be provided by her immediate family. The friendship required I'm hoping will be provided by you all."

"One of the best sources of friendship that can be used is a room full of people happily chatting to each other about shared experiences that brought them together. Nothing major or earth shattering. Just simple everyday things that made you realise you were friends."

"What I would like for you all to do is stay here if you can and chat with each other about these sort of experiences. Not a party by any means, just a group of people having a collective discussion. Does this make sense to you at all?" Dave asked.

"How will that help fight a curse?" Angelia asked Dave.

"It will setup a… Let's call it a vibration in the Magic that we are going to attempt that will be beneficial to our goal. That vibration will flow throughout the house. However if we need a stronger amount we will have the door opened to allow more in." Dave explained.

"What sort of Magic would be affected by such a thing?" Terry asked.

"Very old Magic. Almost ancient you could say." Was Dave's reply, "Will you help us?"

With quick looks at each other the DA members present nodded their assent to help.

"You have my thanks." Dave said almost formally.

"Mrs Weasley, can we get a supply of drinks in here for them as talking in thirsty work. Maybe some snacks as well?" he asked.

"Certainly dear" I replied and I could see it startled him a little.

We went back into the kitchen to find Charlie waiting for us and Ron just emerging from the fire place with the others close behind.

Charlie had placed a set of twelve large nails on the kitchen bench. "Will these do?" he asked Dave.

"Just about perfect. Thanks Charlie" Dave said.

Ron laid on the table a bag he said had four long hairs from Gabrielle's pillow in Shell Cottage. Dave also thanked him.

Dave arranged the nails from Charlie into groups on the bench. There were four groups of 2 with a single nail placed above each of them.

Taking three of the hairs from the bag Ron had just provided he arranged them in a similar manner to the nails. He then carefully wrapped a single strand of hair around each nail.

Staring at the first nail very intently it began to rise from the bench and then the hair that was wrapped around it began to sink into the nail itself. The nail then started to glow slightly. As the nail started to glow Dave started to make motions with his hands like he was trying to knead the glowing nail as one would bread dough. The nail responded as though it was indeed the dough.

Very soon the nail was a bright golden colour. Dave continued to work on the 'nail'.

"That looks like Gold." Ron exclaimed.

"That's because it now is Gold, Ron. As close to pure as it is possible to be. Also impervious to anything that will try to damage it." Dave replied to startled gasps from the people in the room.

He kneaded the nail a few more times and then conjured a small wooden rod and began to wrap a thin thread from the golden nail onto it. The amount of golden thread that he got onto the wooden rod was astonishing.

Putting that rod aside he worked the other two nails. These however didn't turn golden, they were more silver in nature.

"How come they are not gold also?" Ron asked.

"Because I need them to be Silver and Platinum" was Dave's reply.

Dave then set each of the three rods to weaving with itself into ever thicker thread. While this was happening then was a knocking at the Scullery door and a voice called out,

"Auror Shelley Webb requesting entrance. I have with me Fleur and her parents."

Arthur quickly put his key into the door and said "Enter Auror Shelly Webb" and opened the door.

Out stepped Shelly, Fleur and Fleur's parents. Fleur quickly introduced her parents to Dave and gave him hairs for each of them.

"Many thanks for these. Please allow me a moment to get these started and then I will explain what we are going to be doing." Said Dave rather hurriedly.

He quickly repeated the process that he had done with Gabrielle's hair with the hair from Fleur and her parents. Like us they were also astonished at what he was doing.

Once there were 12 sets of metallic thread weaving themselves Dave turned to Fleur and her parents and explained,

"Your daughter Gabrielle has been hit in the chest with a cursed knife. This knife has gone through her heart and into her lungs causing a good deal of damage along the way."

Madame Delacour almost fainted at this news. Dave however continued to explain,

"What you see behind me is preparation to make up a set of talismans. One for each of you. These are to protect you while we work on curing Gabrielle."

"You will be required to make skin contact with Gabrielle while we work on her. The need for this skin contact is to make it easier for you to call to Gabrielle. To encourage her and to let her know that you love her with all of your heart. This needs to be done with your thoughts not your voice." He explained, looking at them all for confirmation that they understood.

"As we start to break through the curses Gabrielle will start to respond to your calls. She will ask questions about what is happening and who is around her. As she will be able to sense others in the room with her."

"When she asks questions they must be answered 100% truthfully. Any falsehood will setup potentially dangerous vibrations. If she asks if it will hurt tell her truthfully 'Yes'. As this isn't going to be a pleasant experience by any means."

"If she asks if it is all going to be alright, tell her you don't know. But that we are all working very hard to make it that way." He almost commanded.

"Can you do this?" he asked.

"Oui. We can and will." Came the reply from Monsieur Delacour.

"That is great news sir. Please all of you make yourself comfortable as I need to finish these and we are waiting on our healers to join us."

Dave turned back to the talismans behind him. They had now spun themselves into something resembling a thin but wide metallic rope. Taking the three thin metal ropes from the first set Dave began a complicated weave with them that left a very beautiful pattern in a band about thickness of two fingers.

He left the ropes weaving each other and did the same for the other sets.

Very quickly the ropes were all woven on each of them. Dave then 'fused' (as he called it) the ends of each strip. This resulted in there being on the bench four strips of beautifully woven metallic material. That was the only way I can describe them.

Dave picked them up and handed them to Monsieur Delacour. Here are your talismans, please don't put them on just yet. You will be able to feel which one is yours as it contains your own hair in it.

I would like you all to hold them for a time each and while doing so think about all that you love about each other.

Nodding Monsieur Delacour accepted the talismans from Dave and closed his eyes while holding them to his chest.

Dave got up and went for a drink of water, saying "Its thirsty work."

"Cassy, can you act as scribe for this? As Nat will want to know everything that happened, when and in what order when she gets here." Dave asked.

"Of course" she replied.

Kingsley arrived back with two healers.

Kingsley introduced them as Healer Jones and Healer White. Healer White specialised in the treatment of the heart and lungs while Healer Jones specialised in the treatment of Poisons.

He brought them into the kitchen where they were quickly briefed on the situation with Gabrielle.

"Can't be done I'm afraid" was the rather stiff response from Healer White after he had been informed of the damage to Gabrielle's heart and lungs.

"What do you mean it can't be done?" Dave rounded on the healer before anyone else could speak.

"I thought that as a Healer you could 'heal' damaged heart tissue?"

"I certainly can Auror Webb, but I can't while there is a knife sticking in it. Each time her heart moves it will just damage itself against the knife again." Healer White went on in a rather pompous voice.

"That presents a simple solution Healer White. Stop her heart while you work on it." Dave responded.

Healer white fixed Dave with a look of purest loathing and replied, "I wouldn't expect a simple Auror to understand this, but the heart must keep beating in order pump blood around the body. If it stops she will die."

"Not necessarily, Healer white." Dave replied. "It is the movement of the blood around the body and it's oxygenation in the lungs that is important here. Not the movement of the heart."

"The heart can be stopped to work on it. Muggle surgeons do it all the time. Surely you are more capable than a muggle are you not?" Dave replied in a direct challenge to Healer White.

Pointing to himself and Shelly Dave continued, "We can arrange it so that her blood will still circulate and her lungs will still oxygenate her blood as well. That will enable both the lungs and the heart to be stopped so that they can be worked on."

"Will that present a sufficiently still set of organs for you to work on Healer White?" Dave asked rather intently.

"Magic can't do what you propose Auror Webb. It's unheard of." Healer White exclaimed.

"It can Healer White. It's still magic, just not as you know it. As it is old magic, very old." Dave explained.

"Sorcery!" Healer White said in shock, "I will not participate in heathen Dark Magic."

"The core of what we are going to do here 'Healer' White is the oldest and most pure and powerful magic that there is. Do you know what that is?" prompted Dave, while searching Healer White's face.

"I concern myself with only what I know I can do Auror Webb. Not fairy tales." Healer White rebuffed.

"It is love Healer White. The most powerful of all the magical energies. Also the most pure and challenging to control. But one that we have all been touched by at some point in our lives." Explained Dave.

"You must be able to feel it. Even a 'simple Auror' like me can feel its power in this room." Said Dave as he turned to take in the people in the room.

When he looked back at Healer White I noticed that Dave's eyes again had a slight golden tint to them.

"If you focus Healer White and concentrate you can even see the bonds of love that exist here."

Pointing to the Delacour Family he said, "They almost shine with it. The bonds between them are strong and deep. The bonds between Fleur and Bill are also equally powerful."

"That is one of the most remarkable things about love Healer White, it can be shared almost infinitely. Strong deep bonds between close family members do not stop one from making new bonds with your chosen one. In fact they often strengthen them."

"Young love or old, the bonds will prevail. Case in point here." He said pointing to Ron who went a little pale at being singled out.

"This young man. Ron has very significant bonds with his family. But that has not stopped him forming a new bond with Hermione here. While it is a new bond it shows all the signs of growing as deep and strong as his parents bond."

Ron and Hermione both had rather shy smiles on their faces at this statement.

"Young Ginny here is another literally shining example. Her chosen one" at this comment Ginny and a few of the others smiled and giggled a little, "is not even here in the room and the bond between them still shows. Fiercely bright. It is new and they are still learning but I can almost see it growing just watching it." He said with a kind of wonder.

"Do you not understand that power Healer White? When given freely to help others that power is truly a force to be reckoned with."

"Will you help us Healer White? Even with all this love, we still have many things to fix in the young lady who needs our help. Teamwork will magnify our ability to respond to the challenges that we are going to face. So I ask again, will you help us?" Dave asked with a desperate kind of hope on his face.

"I will not risk my reputation by participating in a crack pot scheme hatched by an Auror who is pretending to be Healer" shrieked Healer White.

"Your reputation?" exclaimed Dave, "We are not here for your reputation! We are here to help a young woman who has been badly injured Healer White."

"Her life is more of a concern to me that your bloody reputation. Now will you fulfil your Healer's oath and help us or not?" Dave asked again.

"My reputation is as dear to me as my soul Auror Webb" I will do nothing to risk it.

"Your soul?" Dave said as once again he was surrounded by a halo of golden flame. This time his eyes also turned solid gold, no trace of the previous brown or even the white remained. Startling everyone in the room in the process and frightening Healer White backwards.

"Your soul has nothing to do with your reputation." He thundered, while he walked towards the still retreating Healer White.

"I can see your soul Healer White. It is as plain to me as the nose on your face. I can also see the damage you have done to it when you turned away those difficult cases. Preferring to bask in past glories rather than challenge yourself to help the patient's right in front of you."

"If you truly valued your soul you would have taken those cases. For even had you failed your soul would have revelled in the fact that you tried and gave it your all. Even your patients would have been grateful for your efforts."

"But no instead you chose to turn them out into the cold. Rejected their pleas. Crushed their souls as they felt their self-worth be diminished. And scarred your own soul in the process." He said with the air of a man who seemed to know he was fighting a losing battle, but was still determined to go on.

"I would think that I know the state of my own soul better than a crack pot like you" Healer White snapped.

"Perhaps you would like me to remove your soul and show it to you? That way we would all be able to see it and judge its current state, hmm." Dave thundered.

When Healer White refused to answer Chief Williams spoke up.

"Syd! There is no need to tear Healer White's soul from his body. We will take him back and get a different Healer."

"Good idea Boss. Let's get rid of this useless excuse for a Healer. While you're at St Mungo's look for a Healer Grant, he apparently works with Healer White."

"Healer White here is thinking of him as someone who cares more for the patient than their reputation. That sounds exactly like the type of Healer we want right now." Said Dave still eyeing Healer white with open contempt.

"Healer White, for your information I qualified as a Healer. As in addition to my regular Auror duties I also provide emergency medical care for my team."

"I also have nothing but contempt for people like you who seem to have no regard for their patients. Get out of my sight." He snapped as his eyes turned back to normal and the golden flames went out.

As Kingsley and Chief Williams began to move Healer White to the fireplace Dave called to them, "Boss, I'm guessing we have about 30mins before we need to start. Even with the freezing charm the curses and poisons are spreading."

Nodding their understanding Kingsley and Chief Williams hurried to the fire place and almost threw Healer White into it.

"Healer Jones, can you help us?" Dave asked of the rather nervous looking Healer who was still with us.

"I don't know Auror Webb. But I would like to. I need to see the patient to give a realistic answer" he explained.

"Good answer" was the not so quiet response from George.

Healer Jones and Dave both got a chuckle from this along with a few others in the room.

"Most certainly Healer Jones. Monsieur Delacour, may Healer Jones here examine your daughter?" Dave requested.

"But of course he may." Was the reply.

Monsieur Delacour, Healer Jones and Dave all went into the lounge room where Gabrielle still lay.

"Blimey, that was intense" said Ron while wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Can he really see what he claimed?" Ron asked of Shelly and Cassy who had remained quiet throughout the confrontation.

"Of course he can." Shelly replied. "If fact he isn't the only one who can see it." She said as her own eyes turned golden while she stared at Ron. Cassy's eyes also briefly flashed a golden hue across them as well.

"What is it that you actually see when you look like that?" Hermione asked clearly afire with curiosity.

Thinking for a moment while everyone was watching her intently Shelly eventually replied, "Magic. More correctly the energy OF Magic."

"That is the simplest way I can think of to explain it. It takes a great deal of study and practise to read what that energy actually means. But that is the core of it." She explained.

"I can't read a soul as well as Syd can. He can't read them as well as mum, well not yet anyway. Mum can even to a degree read inherited Genetic memories in a person."

"But I can read love better than Syd can, and almost as well as mum."

"We all see the world differently and we all have different talents. But as Syd mentioned, it is when we all combine our unique views and talents that is when the REAL magic begins." She said with a smile.

"That is probably one of Syd's greatest strengths. His ability to get people to work together and his willingness to work with just about anyone or thing to get the job done."

"It's why he makes such a great team leader, and why we all willingly follow him. Despite his age." She replied almost thoughtfully.

"What's his age got to do with it?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing. Sorry, my thoughts wondered there for a moment." She quickly covered.

The fire place flared and Kingsley and Chief Williams stepped back into the room with a different Healer accompanying them.

Monsieur Delacour, Healer Jones and Dave also came back in to the room looking a little worried.

"What's wrong?" Fleur and Madam Delacour both asked at the same time.

"A small complication." Healer Jones replied.

"I could detect the poison in the knife and in Gabrielle. It is one I have seen before. However the antidote takes 2 weeks to make and doesn't last for long." He answered as the colour drained from both Fleur and her mother.

"I don't mean to alarm you ladies." He added hastily. "Auror Webb here had a suggestion on what we could try and I think it will work. However it will cause a good deal of discomfort to Gabrielle."

"He is reluctant to try it without her permission" he explained.

"'ow do you intend to get 'er permission Dave?" Fleur enquired.

"The old fashioned way. I'm going to have to ask her and explain what we will need to do. If she agrees it should work. If she doesn't and she tries to fight us then everything might fail."

"W'at do you need to do?" Fleur asked.

"Change her blood into something else. Something hostile to the poison in her. The catch is, it will also be hostile to her as well. Although not as much." He explained with a worried frown.

"S'e will agree, s'e is a fighter." Fleur said with confidence.

Seeing the new arrivals in the room Dave went to introduce himself and Healer Jones. There was a rather hurried conference as they briefed the new healer on the situation.

After another quick examination of Gabrielle the new healer who was indeed Healer Grant and a proud Scot to boot agreed to assist with the attempt.

After this things began to move quickly.


	10. It's Magic but not as we know it

Gabrielle was levitated into the kitchen and placed on the dinner table.

Dave began to position us all around Gabrielle and explain the plan.

Standing by Gabrielle's head Dave began, "Once we begin we must all keep the 'normal talking' to a minimum."

"We will start by lessening the freezing charm so that Gabrielle will become more aware of us all."

"I will start by trying to introduce myself to Gabrielle, as well as her soul as I place my hands on her head. I will then 'talk' to her and try to explain to her what we are going to be doing and why."

"Once I have explained things to her and hopefully obtained her permission I will nod to you Monsieur Delacour."

"Beginning with you Monsieur Delacour, you will each introduce yourself to Gabrielle by stating your name and relationship to her. Then place the Talisman I made for you on your wrist and tell it to stay. The Talismans will keep you safe from the curse and help me and Bill identify you while we work."

"Monsieur Delacour after you have placed your Talisman on your wrist please pick up Gabrielle's hand closest to you and place it on her chest with her fingers near the knife."

"Madam Delacour please do the same with her arm closest to you."

They both nodded in understanding.

"Once you have done that please place you hand either on her shoulder or her stomach some where you can make skin to skin contact. After that you may start to send your thoughts of love and support to Gabrielle. She will not respond straight away, but when she does it will be a good sign."

"When you begin to 'hear' her replies or become aware of her responding please let Cassy know and she will take a note of it."

"Fleur, after your parents have made their introductions and made skin contact it will be your turn. Introduce yourself and place your Talisman on your wrist and also ask it to stay on. Then take hold of her ankles and begin to send your thoughts to her as well."

Fleur nodded also.

"Bill, Healers Jones and Grant once the introductions are done we can begin our part."

"Shelly and I will stop Gabrielle's heart beating and stop her lungs as well. Shelly you will take over for her lungs and keep her blood getting the oxygen it needs." Shelly nodded

"I will keep the blood circulating through her body. I will also throw up wards around her heart, lungs, liver and brain to keep them from all being affected by the poison and hopefully the curses."

"Healer Jones and Grant, if my wards interfere with your ability to carry out the tasks you need to do tell me and I will adjust them. Ok?" he asked.

They both nodded in reply.

"Mrs Weasley, Hermione and Ginny. You three will be helping Gabrielle to remove the knife from her chest." Dave said looking at each of us in turn and noticing our slightly shocked expressions.

"Gabrielle will be doing most of the work on this. You are there to assist her. The more the knife is pulled out of her the more it will fight to remain."

"At the start we will be only moving it slowly. While it is moving up Healer Grant will be repairing the damage done to the lungs and the heart. Healer Jones will be looking for any bleeding that we missed or that may begin. He will also be monitoring the poison."

"When her Heart and Lungs are again whole, the knife will be able to be removed. Hopefully Gabrielle will be able to do most of the work. However the three of you who are assisting her are likely to find she will require a good deal of assistance."

"If she does need some help give it to her. Once the knife is free we will need a wooden bowl or something similar to put it in. As it will need to be burnt fully to destroy it. It is imperative that no one touch that knife with their bare skin." He added checking with each of us that we understood.

"Once the lungs and heart are repaired we will be able to tackle the poison through the method I mentioned before. As it is a painful process she might start to thrash about. Only lightly restrain her. We only need to keep her from making contact with anyone else or from falling onto the floor."

"Once all that is done is done Shelly and I will restart Gabrielle's heart and lungs. At this point she may begin to verbally speak. Be prepared for a lot of swearing, as our main focus will turn to any remaining curses that Bill hasn't yet dealt with."

"Any questions so far?"

When no one asked any he continued on.

"While you are wearing those Talismans you may notice them get warm, even almost hot at times. This is normal do not be alarmed by it."

"If however they start to get cool or worse cold tell Cassy. If they start to freeze let go of Gabrielle until either I or Bill tells you to take hold again. Understood?"

"While you are holding onto Gabrielle you may see things differently. You might even see some of what I will see. If that does happen, you MUST remain calm. Nothing you see will attack you, or cause you harm while you are wearing that Talisman. This is extremely important."

"W'at might we see?" Fleur asked.

"Magical energy, or even Souls, at least the outer shell of them." Dave replied. "If you do see a soul please remain calm, as it can be a shock when you see one for the first time, especially if it is under stress, or damaged."

"They may appear to you to resemble something like a Patronus, or they may well be something very different. They operate by very different rules to us however. If you are questioned by one be very clear to it that you are there willingly to help Gabrielle. They will understand that and accept it."

"The last Talisman is for Gabrielle herself. It is only to go on after her heart and lungs have been successfully restarted. Monsieur Delacour I would ask you to perform this task when it is required." Dave requested

"When you place it on her tell it to stay on. After Gabrielle has been revived you may remove your own Talismans whenever you like just by asking them to come off. Gabrielle however must continue to wear hers for at least another 2 full days."

"As you will be placing it on her Monsieur Delacour she will not be able to remove it. You will need to do that. After you have removed it, she will be able to put it on or take it off as she likes."

Checking his watch Dave looked up, "We have time for anyone who needs water to get some now. As this may take a while."

With that he quickly drank a few glasses of water and a few others followed suit. Dave also briefly stuck his head into the lounge room and I heard conversation begin in there.

Coming back to stand at Gabrielle's head Dave looked across to Chief Williams, "Boss, Nat isn't here yet and we can't wait much longer."

"I understand Syd." Chief Williams replied.

"In order to do this I will need to be unencumbered by this" he said pointing to his chest, "so I can reach for my magic with no interference."

"I think this situation falls under that 'just cause' clause for that restriction to be removed?" he asked with a pleading look in his eye.

"It does Syd. It does. I will back your decision to the Minister if he asks." Chief Williams replied.

"Thanks Boss" he replied.

Looking around at us all Dave said in a voice that clearly carried worry with it, "Just before we begin, I will need to change back to my 'natural' appearance."

Every eye in the room was on Dave as he fought some obviously strong emotions to try and explain.

"I ask that you please do not be alarmed by this. My appearance has caused many odd reactions over here for reasons I can't explain."

"I will endeavour to keep this change as short as possible, so as to keep your discomfort to minimum." He said in a small voice.

He next turned to Monsieur Delacour and asked almost formally, "Monsieur Delacour, I would like to request for your consent to reach out to your daughters' soul. More specifically the core or centre of her soul."

"Why do you require my consent Monsieur Webb?" asked Monsieur Delacour.

"It is required Monsieur Delacour, as it is considered a very intimate act for two people to openly display their soul cores or centres directly to one another in order for them to communicate fully and unencumbered."

"To do so without permission is a horrendous act. Almost akin to forcing ones attentions on someone who does not desire them." He added actually blushing.

"In the event that I can't communicate successfully with Gabrielle herself, I will need your consent to try and save her life. For without the consent of at least one of you, our attempt will be doomed from the start."

"Her consent is the more important of the two, but I would like the consent of you both Sir." He explained.

"I understand Monsieur. You 'ave my consent and my blessing." Monsieur Delacour answered.

Bowing his head to Monsieur Delacour Dave turned once again to Gabrielle.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, expanding his chest. It was then that I noticed his chest was expanding more that it should have for a deep breath. Even for a very deep breath.

His height was also increasing. Very shortly he towered over everyone in the room. His shoulders broadened and his arms and legs became noticeably more muscular.

His brown hair became raven locks that were in need of a haircut. I also noticed that it seemed to be a rather untamed set of hair as it was sticking up all over the place.

I couldn't see his face as he resumed his natural form as he called it. But Fleur, Bill, Charlie, Hermione and Ginny clearly could. As I could see the colour drain from their faces and the stunned almost worried looks that they wore.

I hissed at them to try and get them to behave themselves and not to embarrass this young man who was about to attempt something very obviously difficult. But I was too late as he had noticed their shock.

Almost recoiling from their looks of shock he very quickly summoned his hat and pulled it firmly down on his head. He also looked down at Gabrielle's face effectively cutting anyone else off from seeing his own.

I fixed them all with looks of deepest disappointment. But they were still too stunned to even register my expression.

An idle thought flashed through my mind wondering how bad his face must have been to get a look like that. I mean after all they were all used to Bills scars by now.

Placing one hand on Gabrielle's forehead, Dave noisily cleared this throat and said, "Mademoiselle Gabrielle Delacour, my name is David Fabian Gideon Webb"

My eyes widened in shock. I quickly looked to Arthur only to see a similar recognition on his own face. If Arthur had noticed it too, I can't have imagined it.

Arthur and Bill were now exchanging looks between them and I saw Arthur mouth the word 'wards'. Bill nodded at his father's suggestion. Frowning to myself I wondered what he was talking about. Then I remembered this man had appeared in our yard inside our wards. Wards that would stop anyone who wasn't family or who was added to them specifically (like Harry and Hermione) from gaining access to the house.

Looking at Charlie, Percy and George I could see similar startled looks on their faces.

I remembered him saying his mum's younger brothers were killed by Dolohov, just as my older brothers were. An impossible idea dawned in my head as I tried to get a look at his face. It couldn't be. I couldn't have, could I?

Before my mind could go any further into overdrive Dave continued on.

"I am an Auror with the Australasian Auror Service in the Special Operations Command." He explained.

"I and several others have gathered here to help heal you of your injuries. However before we begin I would like to approach and discuss with you what is to be done and how we hope to achieve it." He requested.

He seemed to pause here for a moment before continuing,

"My thanks Mademoiselle Gabrielle Delacour." He said before he moved his hands to either side of her head. He now bowed his own head and was motionless.

I found myself watching him rather intently for a few moments. Looking across to Shelly I asked, "He hardly seems to be breathing is that normal?"

Not removing her eyes from her brother she replied, "It is normal. Just as long as it does not go on for too long."

"Eee is crying" Fleur remarked not long after, as she had moved so as to get a look at his face.

"Why ez ee crying. 'as somezing gone wrong?" she asked a little worried.

Shelly moved closer to Dave and I saw her eyes change as she looked at him very intently. "No, nothing has gone wrong." She said in a clinical tone.

"He is talking to Gabrielle. She is frightened and asking him many questions. Unfortunately she is asking him about the scars on his soul and that has led to them talking about his wife and how she died."

"A more painful line of questioning for him would be hard to find." She said sadly.

"Scars on his soul?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, in life particularly traumatic (or highly emotional) events can leave an imprint or 'scar' on one's soul. Some darks are dark and evil. Others are just scars almost like a reminder. The loss of a family member can leave such a scar."

"Over times scars may heal or fade. Other times they become like an old friend and are comforting to the soul that bears them. In Dave's case he has had two particularly traumatic experiences within the last year. They both left significant scars."

"While they may be healing, they are also very noticeable. They have obviously drawn Gabrielle's attention."

"This could be a good thing however. As it means that she sees him clearly and he will be able to see her. That means the likely hood of them being able to communicate successfully is very good."

"The downside is that when communicating like this, it is impossible to lie. He will also not be able to avoid her questions either. I suspect he is having to face things right now that he himself was not yet ready to deal with." Her worry beginning starting to show a little.

"W'en did she die? 'ow…" Fleur asked quietly.

Looking up at Fleur then across to her brother Shelly replied, "They were married on the 11th of August last year. She died 3 days later on the 14th. It almost killed him, to lose her."

Fleur, Hermione, Ginny and myself looked at Dave, their sympathy (and I'm sure mine also) was clear in their eyes. I was also very sure we were all thinking the same thing.

"She had been ill for many years. But she..." Shelly began. However Dave spoke up at this point.

"She agrees. She will help us." He said clearly relieved. "You were right Fleur, she IS a fighter."

Dave nodded to Monsieur Delacour to begin. After which he removed the freezing charm enough to allow Gabrielle's arms to be moved and her to be placed in a comfortable position.

Looking a little frightened Monsieur Delacour spoke up saying, "Ma fifille Gabrielle, I am Julian Delacour your father" while he placed his Talisman onto his wrist. Smiling as he did so. "I am here to help you."

He then picked up Gabrielle's arm and placed her hand at the knife in her chest. After this he placed one hand on her shoulder and one on the exposed patch of skin near her hip.

Madam Delacour was the next to speak, "Mon petit Gabrielle, I am Apolline Delacour your mother", she too placed her Talisman onto her wrist as she said this. As with her husband she also smiled once it was in place. "I am here to help you."

She moved Gabrielle's arm closest to her and placed it on her chest alongside her other hand on her chest near the knife.

Now it was Fleur's turn. "Ma poupée Gabrielle, I am Fleur Weasley your sister", she said placing her Talisman onto her wrist. She too also smiled once it was in place. "I am 'ere to 'elp you".

At this Fleur moved to gently but firmly hold Gabrielle's ankles.

Taking a quick glance up at the Delacour family and Bill, Dave said, "I can see you all clearly."

"Bill how about you?" Dave sked.

"I can sense them all as well." He said "and also you Dave" he added with a trace of wonder.

Fleur must have noticed the wonder in Bills voice as she glanced at him and smiled clearly happy with what she saw. She then glanced at Dave. While Dave had lowered his head to look at Gabrielle, Fleur must have seen something hidden from the rest of us as her eyes widened in surprise and also wonder. Along with curiosity as well.

Dave formally intoned, "Gabrielle, Your family are joined by myself, Michelle Webb, Bill Weasley, Mrs Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Healer Jones and Healer Grant. We are all here to help you."

"The rest of the Weasley family is here also and will assist if needed. If you are ready we will begin."

Dave seemed to listen for a moment then nodded his head. He reach over his shoulder and withdrew his wand, it was the first time I had seen him hold one. The wood seemed to be almost alive with the patterns it displayed.

"Very well let us begin. Shelly, Bill, Healer Jones and Healer Grant are you all ready?" he asked.

Getting replies in the positive he said, "I will remove the freezing charm completely and set the wards. Shelly and I will then stop her heart and lungs and maintain the blood flow and circulation."

At this he waved his wand and the freezing charm was gone. Then very quickly but precisely he outlined the wards in Gabrielle's body. Finally he held his wand over Gabrielle's chest and it ceased to move.

While this was going on Shelley also had her wand out and was doing a series of complicated wand movements over Gabrielle's chest.

Bill had his wand and it was focused on the knife. Healer Jones and Grant where also busy at work. All of them had looks of extreme concentration on their faces.

Bill soon spoke up saying, "The blood clotting curse has been broken."

"Healer Grant are you ready for the knife to be moved?" Dave asked.

"Yes I am." He replied.

"Mrs Weasley, Ginny and Hermione I am going to ask Gabrielle if she can start to pull the knife from herself. Please help her steady it and stop it from sliding back in."

"Are you ready?" he asked us.

"Yes" was the reply from all of us.

I couldn't hear what Dave said to Gabrielle but soon her hands gripped the knife a little awkwardly. She then slowly began to pull upwards.

Slowly ever so slowly the knife began to rise. Even with the three of us working together on the knife it was a challenge to hold it still.

After what seemed an age but was most likely only 30 minutes Healer Grant spoke "The knife is removed from her lungs. They are repaired and I think there is no damage or bleeding."

"Healer Jones do you agree." Healer Grant asked.

"I do" he replied.

"Fantastic work everyone. It is a great start but we have more to do. Let's focus on the heart next." Dave replied.

He once again turned his attention to Gabrielle.

Once again the knife began to rise. Gabrielle continued to pull it from herself.

Healers Grant and Jones continued their work as the knife slowly rose.

It took over an hour for the knife to be removed from Gabrielle's Heart. Towards the end it was a real battle for the three of us to hold it steady let alone stop it sliding back into Gabrielle's chest.

I could clearly see the strain on both Hermione and Ginny. I knew how tired I was from effort required to maintain the spell for that length of time.

When the knife was finally pulled free from her chest and Gabrielle held it out for collection, the relief I felt at not having to maintain the spell any longer was enormous.

Charlie darted forward holding a wooden bowl large enough to accept the knife. He was also very prudently wearing his dragon hide gloves.

Once the knife was in the bowl he took it outside and placed protective charms on it to keep anyone else from touching it.

Sitting down I noticed that Shelly had begun to sweat. Her clothes were beginning to become soaked. Hermione and Ginny were also sitting down and looked ready to pass out.

Both Bill and Dave had a light sweat on them but otherwise showed no other signs of the strain.

Healer Grant looked like he had put in a full day at the office already. Healer Jones who had been assisting him looked only slightly tired.

"Something isn't quite right here." Dave remarked almost to himself.

Dave repositioned his wand and began to circle around Gabrielle's heart. While he was doing this Gabrielle's chest seemed to almost glow from within. After a few moments however Dave commented, "It's all good now."

As he put his wand away, he looked over to Healer Jones.

"Healer Jones, we need to deal with the poison now. Are you ready to monitor while I perform the change?" Dave asked.

"Yes I am, Auror Webb." Healer Jones replied.

"Thank you. Once there is no more trace of it please advise straight away I do not want to prolong her discomfort any more than is required." Dave said slightly worried.

"I will." Was the reply.

Taking his free hand Dave gently picked up her right hand. Placing his first two fingers on either side of the first two fingers in Gabrielle's hand. He then touched both their fingers to her chest where the knife had previously been.

He paused here for a moment or two. I could only assume that he was talking to Gabrielle about what he was about to do.

He then said one word "Change"

At once Gabrielle stiffened. I'm sure if she could have cried out she would have. Her face contorted in agony.

Healer Jones was moving his wand over Gabrielle and focusing very intently on something only he could see. He called out, "Another 10 seconds Auror Webb from my mark."

"Mark" he called.

I'm sure we were all counting down those 10 seconds while holding our own breaths.

A few of us called out "0" at the same time and Dave removed his and Gabrielle's hand from her chest.

Healer Jones continued to wave his wand over her.

Eventually he stated, "Her blood is clear of the poison. I can find no trace of any Poison in her body."

"Thank you Healer Jones." Dave replied and then looked to Shelly, "You ready?" he asked.

"I am Syd. On your Mark." Was the reply.

Dave put down Gabrielle's hand and placed his three fingers in the middle of her chest again.

"I will need you all to let go and stand clear for a moment." He requested.

Monsieur and Madam Delacour let go of their daughter and stood back. Fleur let go of her sister and stood back.

"3, 2, 1, Now" Dave called out as he sent some kind of jolt into Gabrielle.

He removed his hand and looked to Shelly and Healer Grant, "Is she?" he asked.

Healer Grant replied with a wide smile on his face "Yes she is breathing on her own and her heart is again working."

The relief on everyone's face was obvious.

Dave looked to Monsieur Delacour and indicated that he should place the Talisman onto Gabrielle's wrist.

As he did so the corners of Gabrielle's mouth could be seen to begin to smile. Dave seeing this began to smile also, if his cheeks were anything to go by.

Dave and Bill moved back into position. He also indicated that the Delacour family should move back as well.

Once everyone was in position both Bill and Dave set their shoulders and readied themselves.

I got the impression at once that this was to be their real battle.

After a time Bill again called out "Broke the second curse. One more to go."

The time dragged on. I noticed that both Bill and Dave had begun to sweat, heavily. Both of them looked as though their clothes were completely soaked through.

After nearly another hour they were both starting to sway, Bill by an alarming amount.

Bill called to Dave, "I might need some help here."

"Cassy drop the pen and go to Bill, hold his hand. Shelly come here to me and hold mine and Cassy's" Dave ordered.

When they were all in position, Dave called "3, 2, 1, Now." All three of them burst into golden flame.

Only this time Bill was engulfed as well. The flames were spreading to Gabrielle as well. Monsieur and Madam Delacour and Fleur were looking rather alarmed at the approaching flames.

"Do not fear this fire. It will not harm you." Dave instructed.

The fire eventually fully engulfed Gabrielle. Although it took longer than it did with Bill. It also spread to the rest of the Delacour family.

After an initial spate of panic at the flames touching their fingers they all seemed to calmly accept the flames.

Eventually Bill called out "It's broken, it's gone. It is done. She's clean" he slumped into the chair behind him. As the golden flames went out.

Everyone except Dave let go from Gabrielle. Dave stood there for a moment with his hands either side of her head. He own head was bowed as though he was again talking. He soon released Gabrielle and stood back.

"Maman?" Gabrielle said in a small voice as she tried to sit up.

Her parents and Fleur were to her in an instant and engulfed her in hugs and kisses.

Cassy and Shelly went back to their seats and collapsed in exhaustion.

Dave watched the scene in front of him then his shoulders dropped.

"Fantastic work everyone. Absolutely fantastic." Dave said with a very tired smile evident in his voice.

He turned and went to move to a chair near him but he started to lose his balance.

"Catch him someone" Chief Williams called out.

Bill was closest but he was also too late. He only managed to grab a hold of Dave's hat before he toppled over and fell to the ground. Striking his head on the kitchen table on the way down.

Healers Grant and Jones were to him in an instant and were able to stop the bleeding very quickly. They then moved him into the lounge and quickly kicked the DA members out of there so that they could work on him in private.

Not long after Dave collapsed Chief Williams Mirror Phone started to beep. It was quickly followed by the Mirror Phones of Shelly and Cassy. More beeping could be faintly heard from outside along with the sound of running feet and raised voices.

"What's going on?" Kingsley asked Chief Williams.

"It is an Auror Down alert. Happens automatically when an Auror loses conciseness." He replied while quickly trying to cancel the noise.

"I just hope it hasn't woken the…" he started to say when his Mirror Phone rang.

Chief Williams lifted the Mirror phone to his ear with a look of dread on his face.

"Chief Williams" he answered the phone.

"Yes Minister, I copied that alert to." He said in the tone one always uses to deliver bad news.

"I was in the room when it happened Minister. That is correct Minister it is not a drill."

"The Healers are working on him now."

"Yes Minister, the Auror down alert was indeed for your son Dave." Said Chief Williams Sadly


	11. Family Ties

"Yes I understand Minister. I'm standing with them right now and will ask for you." Chief Williams said with a trace of apprehension.

"Excuse me Arthur and Molly. Our Minister would like to request your permission to come here and see Syd. If that is ok with you." He asked.

"Is Dave indeed the Ministers son?" Arthur asked beating me to it by a heartbeat.

"Indeed he is. His only son now." Replied Chief Williams a little sadly.

"Then by all means he is most welcome." I replied, this time beating Arthur to it by what felt to be a heartbeat. "Will that key Dave gave us help to open the door like he did?"

"Shelly or Cassy would be the ones to ask about that. As creating doors like that is beyond me I must confess." Chief Williams explained. Looking across to the two women he asked, "Shelly? Cassy? Can either of you open a door to the Ministers House at all?"

"Of course I can open that door to home Chief." Shelly replied with a smile. "But I will need Arthur or Molly to unlock it first" she added.

"Minister, Arthur and Molly Weasley have given their permission for you to visit. We will open a door shortly." Chief Williams said into his Mirror phone.

Arthur quickly moved over to the scullery door and put the key in, "Just turn it to the left till it clicks once. That will enable us to open the door from this end." Shelly instructed.

Arthur did as she suggested and then stepped back.

Shelly stepped up to the door and touched the middle of it briefly and then turned the door handle and opened the door.

Standing on the other side was a very imposing looking man. He must have been at least 7 feet tall. Solidly built, with broad shoulders. A mass of slightly scruffy looking black hair flecked with grey covered his head. His eyes were solidly grey to the point of almost being silver. But they were perhaps the most 'alive' looking eyes I had ever seen.

He had an air of purpose and drive about him. He seemed to be the type of person that you would immediately notice and listen to. The scars that were visible on his neck, and arms gave mute testimony to battles in his past. I wondered if he too had been an Auror.

However, it was his face that held my attention. It seemed to hold the attention of Kingsley and Arthur as well. For they seemed to be fascinated by it.

Looking at his face I was immediately reminded of a photo that Harry has in that album Hagrid had made up for him. It was a photo of his father. Now the man standing before us on the other side of the door was certainly much older than James was in that photo. But you could not have helped wonder if James would have looked like this had he lived long enough.

He was by no means a twin of James but the similarities were far too strong to be discarded out of hand. He had no glasses for one, a heavier jaw, slightly more defined cheekbones and a more serious expression. But the similarities seemed to hint at the possibility of a family connection somewhere, I thought.

I don't know if he was used to people gawking at him like that. Or if he was truly focused on the wellbeing of his son. He certainly didn't give any acknowledgement or show any issue with the intense scrutiny he was getting.

Chief Williams stepped up to the door and beckoned to Kingsley, who quickly moved over to the door. "Minister Webb, it is a great pleasure to introduce to you the British Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt. Minister Shacklebolt this is our Minister of Magic Ivan Septimus Webb." He said formally.

Both the Ministers warmly shook hands through the door way.

"Minister Webb, it is a great privilege and an honour to finally meet you. I understand we have you and the New Zealand Minister to primarily thank for sending your Aurors here during our recent troubles." Kingsley said in his quiet deep voice.

"Minister Shacklebolt, the pleasure is mine. I have learnt a great deal about you recently and I believe that between us we will be able to restore the previously solid relationship between our two countries." He said in a voice that seemed to begin somewhere around his toes.

"Do you mind if we save all that flowery guff for the formal visit next week Minister? As I would dearly like to find out about my son right now and political speak slows things down as well as grates on my ears." He asked with a shy smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Nice to meet a Minister after my own heart." Kingsley replied also with a smile.

"Your son is currently being tended by two of our best Healers in the next room. We expect that they will be coming back out shortly." Kingsley explained. "While we are waiting" he said directing Minister Webb's attention to Arthur.

"Minister I would like you to meet Mr Arthur Weasley, our temporary Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. And the master of this house." Kingsley said with only slight formality showing through.

Arthur waved Minister Webb into our kitchen, he had to be weary of the top of the door frame as he stepped through. But he greeted Arthur with a genuine smile on his face and with warmth that was clear in his voice,

"Mr Weasley, it is a very great honour to finally get to meet you. When David told, me he had spoken to the son of Septimus Weasley I nearly didn't believe him. I do hope he passed onto you my greeting and invitation earlier." He said while warmly shaking Arthurs hand in both of his.

"Minister Webb, I'm humbled that you consider meeting me an honour. I must confess that until today I was unaware of the actions of my father in relation to yours. I can say he would be greatly pleased to know that he helped a man who turned out such a fine family. If the actions of your son and daughters today are anything to go by. And Minister please call me Arthur." Arthur said humbly.

"Many thanks Arthur. It is indeed gratifying to an old man's ears to hear that his children are doing some good in the world." He said smiling. "No need to keep up with the Minster fluff, please call me Ivan."

Nodding to Ivan, Arthur next turned to me, "Ivan I would like to introduce my wife Molly Weasley."

As he turned toward me I saw his eyes widen and flicker with obvious recognition before quickly reverting to his usual expression.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Ivan." I said. And before I could stop myself, adding on, "Have we met before?"

Given I had just put 'my foot in it' I thought I might as well go all out and explain. So, I continued, "You seemed to have recognised me just now. I must admit I thought I noticed a similar reaction on your sons face when we were first introduced earlier also."

"A pleasure to meet you also Molly. Please forgive my startled expression before. It's just that you bear such a striking resemblance to my wife. It caught me off guard for a moment." He replied.

"Of course, you are forgiven. Your wife must be an exception woman to take after me." I said cheekily

"She is most definitely one of a kind." He replied with a smile. "Would you like to meet her? She did say she would be right behind me."

"It would be a pleasure." I said quickly, trying to hide my own curiosity.

Ivan quickly walked back to the door and called out, "Sandra, are you ready yet? The door is open and everyone is waiting."

"Coming, I was just selecting a nice bottle of wine to bring." a female voice replied.

Very soon another person joined him in the door way. As he stepped back to allow her into the room we both made eye contact at the same time.

If Ivan's reaction to seeing me was one of surprise it was as nothing to our reactions to seeing each other. She dropped the bottle of wine she had been holding and I dropped the tea pot that I had just picked up to make tea with for everyone. Both items smashed unnoticed on the floor of the kitchen.

While I felt a great deal of curiosity it was also clear that she was feeling something much stronger. As the colour, had drained from her face and she was beginning to look horrified.

The next words from her were heart breaking,

"It's a trap" she hissed to her husband.

"They didn't manage to kill me last time I was here. Now they have lured me back, by hurting my son." She exclaimed.

"We must rescue him darling and get out of here, all of us. They can't be trusted." She almost pleaded with her husband.

"Who can't be trusted dear?" Ivan asked somewhat confused.

"Her." She said pointing a finger at me. To the enormous shock and surprise of everyone in the room, myself included.

"I don't follow you my dear. Why can't Molly be trusted?" Ivan asked of his distraught wife.

"She's a Prewett" she almost spat the word, "Just like 'Great' Aunt bloody Muriel who had Fabian and Gideon killed because they tried to protect me."

"They can't be trusted. Let's get our family and go. They took my little brothers, this country took my first-born son. I will NOT let them take my daughters and only remaining son." She said with steel coming back into her voice.

The Aurors outside had obviously heard the exchange and were paying more attention to the goings on in the room. They also looked to be ready to spring into action when called. I noticed that Shelly and Cassy had moved over to place themselves between the lounge where their brother was and the group in the kitchen. They hadn't drawn their wands, but from what we had witnessed earlier they didn't really need them.

The potential for immediate and extreme violence in the room was almost palatable.

Arthur was trying to speak, but the words wouldn't come. My mind was going like an out of control Hippogriff. But I couldn't get my mouth to express my words.

What I couldn't communicate verbally I was trying to communicate with my face. If this woman was to be believed she would have to be my sister. My older sister. As she referred to Fabian and Gideon as her younger brothers. But to me they were my older brothers. She also mentioned Great Aunt Muriel. The names alone would have given me pause to think.

But her appearance was so familiar, I could almost picture her at the dinner table in my parents' house.

Ivan, Kingsley and Chief Williams were likewise tongue tied with no idea what to say.

Into this mix there arrived a Fireball.

Not a real fireball obviously that would have been disastrous, but the other sister of Dave had arrived. She had two more people in tow behind her. They also looked rather confused.

"What's going on? Why does everyone look like a bunch of stunned wombats?" she asked.

"That woman over there is a Prewett, Jasper." Sandra said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, I know. So, what's the problem?" asked Fireball.

"You know? How can you possibly know?" her mother demanded.

"Dave told me. He recognised it as soon as he arrived and let me know." She said with a rather direct look at her mother.

"Dave knew? And he didn't warn you?" she asked.

"Mum do you honestly think Dave would have stayed for even a moment if he had read any guilt from her. You know what he is like." She said with an exasperated sigh.

"He not only stayed, he fought alongside her and her family and their friends to protect them when we found the ambush waiting." She explained.

"Then after that he went way above and beyond to help heal the young woman over there who was hit with one of those hideous cursed knives." She said pointing to Gabrielle.

At this comment the two people who had entered with her moved off to where Gabrielle lay.

"Now mum, do you see Dave doing ANY of that. Let alone all of it if he thought she was guilty of or involved with the attack on you and your brothers?" she asked rather pointedly.

"You said it yourself, when you were last over here that Muriel wouldn't let you meet any more of the family. So, it's a good bet she hasn't told them about you either." Fireball said with some frustration starting to show.

The two women were almost glaring at each other.

"Bloody Hell Mum, you are one of the most stubborn and frustrating women that I know. If you don't believe me ask Dave. You know that he can read people far better than any of us. If he says it is a good bet, that we can trust her and Arthur that's good enough for me." She exclaimed.

"Where is Dave anyway?" Fireball asked looking around for her brother.

Concern for her son over riding any other emotion Sandra joined Fireball in looking for Dave.

Kingsley ever the Diplomat, chose this moment to speak up, "Dr Webb, your son David is in the other room with two of our Healers." He said with more calmness than usual.

"Healers? What did they do to him?" she asked a little heatedly.

Speaking in his deceptively calm and deep voice Kingsley tried to calm her fears by saying,

"He collapsed after Gabrielle here, was herself healed from the cursed knife she was struck with." Kingsley answered.

Fireball immediately began to move to the door that was currently guarded by Cassy and Shelly.

Shelly held up one hand to her sister and calmly but firmly said, "Let them do their job FB. Let them do their job."

Glaring at her sister for a moment, Fireball moved to one side and put her hand on the wall. She closed her eyes and bowed her head for a moment.

"What do you see?" her mother asked desperate for news.

"Dave's hurt. Badly" she mentioned quietly, almost clinically.

Her mother on the other hand only seemed to get more concerned. "How badly?" she asked in a small voice.

"He's broken a lot of bones, in his legs, arms, back and most of his ribs. Must have been from when the Dementor threw him through the balcony" she went on in a clinical voice.

"Dementors?" Sandra croaked. "What..." she tried to say before her husband quietened her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Looks like he tried to heal himself but he must have been too tired to do it properly. I think they are going to have to re-break several of the bones to reset them."

"The Healers in there are working hard and honestly. But they are struggling with something, as we know that Dave doesn't respond in the usual way to most treatments."

"I think Shelly is right. We need to let them work in peace. Although we should have something ready for them to eat and drink when they get out. As they are going to need it." She said taking her hand off the wall and turning to face the rest of the room.

"What?" she said taking in everyone staring at her when she turned around.

When no one answered her, she walked over to the crowd that was gathered around Gabrielle.

After a quick glance between them the two Ministers seemed to make the decision to take advantage of the quiet that had descended.

"Sandra, I would like to introduce you to Mr Kingsley Shacklebolt. The British Minister of Magic. Minister, I would like to introduce you to my wife, Dr Sandra Webb."

"Dr Webb, it is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kingsley began with a small smile, as he took her hand in a warm but gentle hand shake.

"Minister, I'm very pleased to meet you also. It is reassuring to finally meet a British Minister of Magic who isn't a total drongo." She said returning Kingsley smile.

"Been reading my briefing papers again I see." Ivan replied laughing at his wife's comment and Kingsley's reaction to them.

"I'm glad I have filled you with confidence in my abilities" Kingsley replied after recovering from his initial shock at her rather blunt assessment.

"A sense of humour too. Things are looking up." Sandra replied to her husband while giving Kingsley a warm smile.

"Darling, this is Mr Arthur Weasley, son of Mr Septimus Weasley and Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He is also master of this house."

"Mr Weasley, it is indeed an honour to meet you. The exploits of your father are almost legendary in my husband's family. I for one are very grateful to him, for without him I would have never have met my husband."

"Thank you for welcoming us into your home." She said very warmly.

"You do me and my family great honour Dr Webb. I was unaware of my father's actions in regards to your family until today. I'm still coming to terms with it myself I must admit. But you are most welcome here. Please call me Arthur" Arthur replied clearly nervous with all these guests.

"Thank you Arthur. I suspect that your fathers' actions will have affected not only my husband's family but a great many others. But that is going to be a journey for another day."

"I greatly suspect that I myself are about to learn some new things about my own family" she said turning to look at me.

The woman standing before me looked at once so familiar and very much a stranger at the same time. She was slightly taller than Arthur. She had the fiery red hair so common in the Prewett family, even with the flecks of grey that showed through it was still a mane that she wore with almost regal bearing.

Her eyes were the bluest that I had ever seen. They reminded me of a bright summer's day. But you could also almost feel the mind working behind them. They were the eyes of someone who remembers all of what they see. I don't doubt that trait caused her children no end of grief while they were growing up.

While her face wasn't like looking in a mirror, you couldn't see it and not think it had to be a close family connection. Her expression was now of open curiosity; it was so familiar I couldn't help but start to smile.

However, her build was the most noticeable difference between us. She put me in mind of someone who had spent a great deal of time outdoors. Not labouring or working on a farm, but just being outdoors for the pure enjoyment of it. She probably enjoyed walking in nature or a similar active pursuit.

My emotions were in such a jumble I almost didn't hear Arthur making the introductions.

"Molly, I would like to introduce you to Dr Sandra Mary Webb. Dr Webb, this is my wife Molly Weasley." Said Arthur a little nervously.

Keeping in mind her earlier comments, I raised my hand to shake hers very gently so as not to cause her any alarm. She also rather hesitantly raised her own hand to mine.

The handshake was tentative, but warm. I could feel all the questions behind it, I was willing to admit they were most likely the same as my own.

"Very pleased to meet you." I finally managed to get out. As she squeaked out a similar reply.

Looking for a starting place for a conversation I said, "You have such a beautiful name. How did you come by it?"

"My parents each picked one name for me. As I was my mother's first child she named me after her mum, Sandra Black. Of whom she had many fond memories. My dad named me after his wife, my mum, Mary Longbottom." She explained.

"What was your father's name?" I asked. I was almost positive that I knew the answer but I had to be sure.

Looking at me with searching eyes she answered, "William Prewett."

My legs went weak and I would have fallen if Arthur hadn't of caught me. I was only vaguely aware of all my children following the conversation very intently. But at the same time trying to look like they were not overly interested in it. Except for Bill, he was opening displaying his interest.

Looking up at Arthur I asked of him, "Why didn't they ever tell me? Why?"

"I don't know Molly. Truly I don't know." He answered with tears beginning to form in his own eyes.

"May I ask after your parents?" Sandra asked tentatively.

Wiping my eyes, I answered in a rush, "William Prewett and Mary Longbottom. I also had two OLDER brothers Fabian and Gideon Prewett."

I watched her very closely as she absorbed those names. Comprehension dawned on her as to their meaning. There was a look of hope, longing as well as apprehension on her face as she drank in my face in the light of this new information.

"Sisters?" she said to the utter astonishment of all in the room.

Not knowing what to say, I could only nod. I wanted to move forward and embrace my older sister. However, she still seemed too stunned to accept it.

"Why?" she asked her eyes still searching my face. It was the one question I feared. As I had no means to answer it.

"I don't know. I really don't know." I replied. It was the most honest answer I could give.

"I never knew. Growing up I thought that Fabian was my parents' oldest child. There was never a hint that he wasn't." I tried to explain.

Her face was still searching mine, for what I could only guess. Her husband came up and put his hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear that I could not make out.

She glanced at him in surprise and then turned back to me. Her eyes turned almost completely golden and she just stared at me for a few moments. I had the oddest feeling that I had just been weighed and measured.

Whatever she saw seemed to remove the tension from her. She lost the defensive stance she had adopted since we first met.

She approached me again holding out both of her hands.

I took her hands in mine and held them, smiling at her.

"Sisters?" she asked again.

"Sisters!" I replied, with my eyes becoming moist.

We embraced each other in rather fierce hugs. People often tell me I give very strong hugs but my sister trumps me in that department.

When we finally released each other, I looked around at the crowd in the room, as well as the gathering of DA members on the porch with some of the Aurors from Dave's team sprinkled amongst them.

"Everyone" I called out, "I would like to introduce my big sister Dr Sandra Webb".

This set off a roar of approval and triggered a very hasty round of introductions as my family came over to meet their new Aunty and Uncle. Charlie was the first to us and was warmly embraced by both Sandra & Ivan. He was followed by George and Ron.

When Percy was introduced he was also warmly embraced, but Ivan asked him, "Mr P?" to which Percy nodded. Ivan then proceeded to tell Percy that Dave was highly impressed with his work with his team. He also mentioned that he had endorsed the nomination from Dave for Percy to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. As it was the highest honour that they could bestow on an operative who worked with them.

Percy's face was the same colour as his hair when he moved on and made way for Ginny.

When she saw my Ginny, Sandra put her hands over her mouth and said, "It's like looking back in time to when Jasper was about to come of age." Ginny smiled shyly at the comment.

Ginny was also warmly embraced by the two of them. She then also offered her apologies for losing her temper and trying to Hex Dave not long after he arrived.

At this statement, I could see, Shelly, Cassy and Fireball take more of an interest in the conversation. Although they still seemed to be very relaxed.

"Thank-you for telling us Ginny" Sandra said with genuine warmth, "but it is nothing to do with us. It sounds to me like it was a misunderstanding between you and Dave, which you both have already dealt with."

"Yeah it's not the first time one of his cousins has tried to Hex the cheeky bas…" Fireball stated before being cut off.

"Jasper!" Sandra exclaimed, "mind you tongue. You are a guest here."

"It's true mum." She retorted.

"That maybe but here is no need for that language young lady." Sandra replied.

"The resemblance just gets clearer and clearer" Charlie remarked to Bill with a smile. "Indeed" he agreed also with a smile.

"Cousin?" Ginny asked a little surprised. "He would be, wouldn't he? Another dam boy in the family." She exclaimed.

"Don't forget the six new FEMALE cousins that you just found out about also." Fireball replied with an impish grin directed to Ginny.

Ginny gave the idea some thought and must have liked it as she moved off with a smile on her face to go and talk to Fireball, Shelly and Cassy.

I went to introduce Bill to my sister, but when I looked at him I was shocked. Without meaning to I exclaimed "Bill, what has happened to your face?"

Poor Bill found himself as the centre of attention in the room now.

Sandra spoke up saying, "They are only very mild scars, Molly. There're nothing to worry about."

"That's just it. They were never mild scars." I said, "They were deep and angry red scars before."

At this Fleur and the woman who entered with Fireball came over to examine Bill's face.

"C'est comme un miracle" Fleur said clearly surprised. Noting the looks from the others in the room she said, "It's like a miracle"

"What are you talking about?" Bill asked

"It's your scars Bill." I said, "They are almost gone. You can still see them, but you must need to be looking for them to notice them now. As they are a lot fainter than before. They are also very shallow, nowhere near as deep as before."

Bill was startled for a moment before he borrowed a mirror from Fleur and saw for himself.

The woman who had entered with Fireball asked, "How did you get those scars originally? How long ago?"

"Fenrir Greyback the werewolf gave them to me. It would be just over a year ago." He answered without looking up.

"Curse wounds then. Take it has wasn't transformed at the time?" she asked again in a very clinical manner while still staring at the scars.

I could see Fleur beginning to get a little agitated from the attention that this woman was giving to Bill.

"Correct." he replied taking his eyes off the mirror to look at the woman before him. His eyes had a curious look in them, like he was trying to place where it was that he had seen her before.

"Don't worry Bombshell, it will come to you eventually." She said grinning ear to ear.

At this statement Bills eyes lit up with recognition. He also started to blush slightly.

"Look a bit different when I'm not covered in scaffold wreckage, dust and sand don't I." she said still smiling.

"Oh my." Bill exclaimed. "I had almost completely forgotten about that until your brother reminded me of it earlier." He said with the blush continuing to spread.

Fleur looked at the woman standing in front of Bill and asked "You are Natalie 'ood? Dave's sister?"

"I try to deny it but I am." She replied smiling, "From what your parents said you must be Fleur, Bill's wife and sister to the young lady on the table?"

"Oui" Fleur answered returning Natalie's smile.

"Was Bill exposed to 'Friendfyre' at all during the effort on your sister?" Natalie asked.

"'Friendfyre'?" Fleur questioned.

"That's what we are calling it at the moment. It doesn't have an 'official' name currently. But it is Golden flames that don't interact with things unless they are cursed or been exposed to dark magic." Natalie exclaimed.

"Ahh… In zat case, Oui. We were all covered in it." She answered.

"There is your answer Mrs Weasley. The 'Friendfyre' as we call it has destroyed all the curse damaged tissue on Bill's face and most likely the rest of his body also."

"Dave must have closed up the remaining wounds and healed them. But it has been a while since he was that clumsy about something like that. But given the other things he was doing at the time, I guess we can forgive him this once."

"Excuse me, I must get back to examining Fleur's sister." With that she turned and went back to the table where Gabrielle and her parents were clustered.

Taking advantage of the break in the conversation, I introduced Sandra and Ivan to Bill and Fleur.

Sandra was greatly amused to meet Bill in person.

"So you are the near mythical 'Bombshell' that we keep hearing about." She said struggling to contain her laughter.

"I must say you certainly made Craig's proposal to Natalie a memorable one." She chuckled.

"Proposal?" Bill said surprised, "Blimey, an entrance like that would have certainly put a dampener on the event."

"I had no idea that that's what they were doing. I just thought it was a dinner for two. I probably should go and apologise for interrupting them like that."

"No need for that" Sandra said, "she has gotten great mileage out of the stories."

"You might want to get Craig a beer at some point though. As he was a little put out with you for a while."

"Although I suspect, that was mostly because you ended up in his lap. Drove the engagement ring he had in his pocket into his thigh and then tried to cuddle him." She said finally failing to control her laughter.

"He was happy that you decided not to kiss though."

Fleur also joined in the laughter although she might have been laughing more at the expression on Bill's face at the moment. It was one of abject horror as he tried to imagine the scene.

While Bill was recovering from that news Fleur was introduced. She was also warmly welcomed and unconsciously turned on some of her Veela charm. The effect on my boys (except for Bill) was most noticeable, several of the others outside on the porch was also caught by it. However, Ivan was curiously unaffected by the display, and calmly mentioned that he was pleased to meet her and expressed his wishes that her sister would recover fully from her injuries.

Fleur once she realised what she had done was only a little surprised that her charm didn't seem to have its usual effect on him.

She graciously accepted the good wishes and moved back to be with her sister and her family.

I next introduced Hermione to Sandra and Ivan. She had been hovering in the background clearly excited at the arrival of the woman who had been involved with looking after her parents over the past year.

When I made the introductions, I made sure to stress just who Hermione was to Sandra and Ivan. They were both very pleased to meet her and confirmed the information that Dave had provided earlier to her.

Namely that her parents were well, with some slight problems in regards to the charm that had been applied to them. But now that Sandra could question Hermione about the specifics of the charm that she had applied to her parents, Sandra was confident that it could be restored and removed fully.

Arrangements were quickly made to take Hermione back to Australia two days before her parents arrived. It was felt that this would give them both plenty of time to plan their course of action.

As the healers who were working on Dave had not yet come out of the lounge I took Sandra and Ivan over to where the Delacour family were gathered around Gabrielle.

I introduced Sandra and Ivan to Monsieur and Madame Delacour. Once they understood that they were the parents of Dave, the Delacour's were lavish in their praise of the work that had been done by Dave.

They seemed to be pleased to hear this news, but were also very startled by the very French kisses that were bestowed on them both by Monsieur and Madam Delacour. I remembered thinking that I could relate as it also took me a while to become accustomed to them myself.

Looking at his daughter Ivan asked how Gabrielle was doing.

"I do believe that she is out of the woods right now, I also believe that she will make a full recovery with no ill effects." She said very clinically. These comments also brought a smile to Madame and Monsieur Delacour and Fleur as well. Even Gabrielle managed a small but very tired smile.

"From what I have heard Dave did a solid job in dividing up the work load so no one was burdened to heavily. However, I am worried that he may have drained himself too much in the process." She said a little concerned.

"How so?" Ivan asked.

"Think over the events of this day dad and what Dave has been through. Late yesterday he had a significant battle with a group of Death Eaters. Then they moved a large number of people from Thailand back to Australia. With a short rest he then moved a good number of people to southern France and then came here."

"While here he apparently fought against the ambush that had been setup. Then once the humans had been dealt with he took on 15 Dementors. Now while Shelly, Fireball and Cassy helped that is still a tall order. Especially as it is currently only Dave who can deliver the 'coup de grâce' on them."

"That alone takes a huge effort on one of them. Imagine doing it 15 times." She said.

"I got one of them." Fireball added.

"Ok then, 14 of them" Natalie said with a half-smile to her sister.

"To put it simply dad, I'm worried." She said, "If all those healers had to contend with were a collection of broken bones on him they should have been done well before now."

"I want to go in there and find out just what exactly is going on with him." She added.

Ivan nodded and looked to Kingsley who had been listening to the conversation.

"I will go and ask for an update on his condition for you" he said before quickly making his way over to the lounge door.

The women gathered around it let him pass without hesitation. Clearly they wanted an update as well.

Kingsley opened the door and stepped through.


	12. Dave

_**A/N:** Hi All, I have received some concerns around the Potter family in this chapter (and the ones to follow). All I can say at this point is this: 'all is not as it seems' in regards to them. Also yes the 'punishment' is harsh for the 'crime', but here also there is more going on than is currently known._

 _I do hope you are all enjoying the journey provided by this story. Thank you for joining us on this journey and I hope you continue to return for each new chapter as we progress in this story._

Thanks again for reading.

* * *

As he stepped through he was greeted by Healer Grants voice, "Minister I was just about to send for you. We have a problem here."

This was enough to cause the Webb family to quickly appear in the lounge along with Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Ron, Ginny and Hermione.

"What is the problem?" Ivan asked.

Healer Grant looked up at the crowd of people had appeared in the lounge. He quickly stated that only family members should be present, to which Kingsley replied that they were all family in here.

Slightly taken aback by the news Healer Grant continued.

"We have repaired the broken bones to Auror Webb's, Skull, Neck, Arms and Legs. We believe that we have taken care of most of the internal bleeding as well."

"However, we can't do anything for the damage to his chest. As he is wearing something that is blocking all of our spells." He added in frustration looking to Kingsley and Ivan.

"Let me see" Fireball added determinedly walking past the two Ministers and the Healer with Natalie and Craig hot on her heels.

Their action caused the rest of us to move further into the room so that we could see Dave laid out on the couch. He was still unconscious.

Upon seeing his face there were several gasps from assorted Weasley family members (Fleur and Hermione included).

"What is it? What's wrong?" Sandra spoke up.

"Blimey, he looks just like Harry a younger Harry." Ron exclaimed, "If he had the scar and green eyes and was smaller I would say he was his twin."

"Harry? Who's Harry?" Sandra asked clearly confused. Ivan also had a slightly confused look on his face, but his was more the look of someone who was trying to place a name he knew rather than a name he didn't.

"Oh come on. You must be kidding me." Ron said, "Harry, as in Harry Potter."

"You must have heard of him." Ron asked in disbelief.

"Is that the same Harry Potter that your ministry was trying so hard to capture until recently?" Ivan asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." Ron replied, disbelief evident on his face that these people were not fully aware of Harry's role in recent events.

"When he gets here you can stand them next to each other and compare for yourself." He added.

"That might not be a good idea." Ivan answered.

"Why not?" Ron asked.

"The name Potter in our family is viewed in pretty much the opposite to the way the name Weasley is viewed." Ivan said to a suddenly very silent room.

"As it was the Potter family who made the accusations against my father that lead to him being arrested. They were also instrumental in driving through the punishment that was assigned to him. The one that Mr Septimus Weasley did his utmost to undo."

"Yeah? Well maybe he deserved it. Did you think of that?" Ron asked, clearly only thinking of defending his friend.

"Deserved it? How can ANYONE deserve that punishment?" Ivan said as his anger become evident in his voice.

"I gave my son a copy of the documents that detailed his supposed crime and the punishment to show you all how the actions of your Grandfather saved my father. How can you have seen them and make a statement like that." He said with more and more heat coming into his voice.

"Minister Webb", Kingsley spoke up hoping to defuse the situation, "Auror Webb had shown a document listing the selling of your father into slavery only. The other documents had not been discussed when the ambush was discovered and dealt with."

This seemed to have a calming effect on Ivan. As he nodded to Kingsley and then turned to Ron. "Forgive my outburst just now." he asked calming himself down.

"The other documents show that my father was accused of marrying a Muggle woman. For this crime, he was arrested. After a show trial, which was held the day after his arrest he was convicted."

"He was then forced to watch as his wife was executed in front of him by having her throat slit and then pushed through the execution arch in the ministry." He said through tightly clenched teeth.

"He then had to watch as his 6-month-old son was also sent through the execution arch."

"After this they broke his wand. Then they broke him, and sold him into slavery." He finished almost spitting the words.

"Now can you please tell me if that punishment fitted the supposed crime of marrying a Muggle Woman and having a child with her?" he asked Ron.

Ron and indeed the rest of the room had gone quiet. Indeed, quite a few of them had gone almost white with shock.

"They broke him?" Hermione asked. "Please Sir, I don't understand what you mean by that."

Kingsley answered that one, although he did so with reluctance. "The breaking of someone, Hermione is a gruesome event. As it involves the breaking of their connection to their magical core and the forcible removal of the majority of a person's Soul."

"I must admit I had not heard of anyone surviving the procedure." He said looking to Ivan.

"Me neither Minister." Ivan answered, "And we have researched any, and all records that we can get our hands on in relation to this punishment."

"The only similar event we could find was a case of it being performed on a pregnant woman who gave birth not long afterwards. Her child survived, but he was considered an outcast for the rest of his life. With fewer rights than even werewolves."

"His magic was also changed and had become wild and almost uncontrollable." He said sadly.

"How did your father survive?" Kingsley asked.

"We can only guess that the people who carried out the procedure on my father botched the job. As they seemed to have left a slightly larger portion of his Soul behind in his body than was intended." Was the answer.

"What happened to the portion of the soul that was removed?" Kingsley asked with worry beginning to show.

"We do not know for sure. To the best of our knowledge its fate wasn't recorded. Although my father does recall being taunted by the Potter's, with them alternately telling him that they fed his Soul to a Dementor or that they kept it in a Horcrux like device." He added.

"A trapped pure soul, would be a powerful magical object indeed" Kingsley said almost in awe.

"Indeed, it would be. But we have no way of knowing what its fate was." Ivan said sadly.

"What happened when your father died?" Hermione asked in a small voice. She was aware of the fate that Tom Riddle Jr suffered when he died with a torn soul.

"Before my father died, my two sons stepped forward to offer themselves as hosts to support his soul. Until either they died or they discovered the fate of the rest of his soul."

"Eventually they convinced their grandfather to allow them to do this for him out of their love for him."

"So, when he died they took up the burden of being bearers of his soul. However, since the death of my eldest son, Dave has carried that burden alone." He said sadly, unshed tears in his eyes.

"Zat's w'at ee was 'olding. Wasn't it?" Fleur exclaimed.

Ivan looked up at Fleur with an expression of surprise, "Pardon?" he asked.

"When we were working on Gabrielle, Dave said we may see each other's Souls or at least zeir outer shell I zink 'e called it. I remember looking across at Bill and zen Dave. When I looked at Dave I was startled as I zought I saw more zan one Soul zere." She said in a slightly awed voice as she remembered.

"What did you see when you looked at him?" Sandra asked very intently.

"I… I don't zink I can properly explain eet. It was like nozing I 'ad ever seen before." She said.

"Please try." Sandra encouraged her.

"Ze closest I could describe it would be to say it looked like a Dragon." She explained

Eyebrows were raised around the room. Charlie however seemed to be very interested in this news.

"How did it differ to Dragons that you have seen?" Charlie asked. Remembering that Fleur had encountered a dragon during the Tri-Wizard tournament up close and had also watched the champions who came after her deal with their dragons.

"It was different in zat it 'ad four limbs, plus wings. It also looked more regal and alert zan any Dragon I 'ave seen." She stated, "It also seemed to be cradling a figure close to its chest. A figure who was badly 'urt."

"See I wasn't imagining it" Sandra said to her husband, "we know his Patronus is that weird looking dragon he is so fond of. Makes a certain amount of sense that his outer Soul would resemble that also."

"Veela are very perceptive and she has no ties to him. So, it is an objective viewing." She said almost smugly to her husband as though she was claiming a bet.

"'ow did you..." Fleur started to ask.

"Know that you are part Veela?" Sandra finished for her.

"Oui" Fleur responded.

"I can see your wings dear. They look very nice I must add." Sandra answered to Fleur's astonishment.

"Dave said ze same zing earlier." She said in confusion.

"That's surprising" Shelly said.

"Yeah." Fireball agreed. "He's usually as thick as two planks when it comes to do with anything about women. Even Emma…"

"Jasper!" Sandra snapped at her daughter, who returned a sullen look and then went back to her discussion with Natalie, Craig and Healer Jones about his examination of Dave.

"In answer to your earlier question Fleur" Ivan said, "Yes. What your saw being supported by Dave's soul was indeed the remnants of my father's soul."

"He's a Horcrux? Just like Harry was." Ron exclaimed.

"No Ron. He is most definitely not a Horcrux." Ivan remarked.

"The most crucial difference here is that a Horcrux involves magic of the darkest sort. What my father and Dave are doing is just the opposite. It is only possible through love. To willingly give up part of your life force to support another's soul. It is a sacrifice only possible with unconditional love and a pure soul."

"Also unlike a Horcrux, both Souls here are fully aware of each other. They are not fighting for dominance or control. They can also freely communicate with each other."

"Therefore, Dave often seems far older than he actually is. As he has access to a lot of my father's memories and experiences."

"However, this is also the core of a potential problem." He added with his face becoming serious.

"If this Harry Potter you mentioned has any connection to the Potter family that was involved with the accusation, arrest and conviction of my father. Then the last place he should be is around my son." Ivan proclaimed.

"At least until we have had a chance to talk to him as well as Dave and my father."

"For while remembering what happened to my father makes me feel angry. To Dave it will bring not only his own anger, but my father's unbridled fury." He stated.

"I can see how that would be a problem" Arthur replied from the doorway.

"Indeed" Kingsley agreed.

"What names are on that document?" Kingsley wanted to know.

"Henry and Fleamont Potter." Ivan replied.

"We have a real problem then." Hermione answered. "As they are Harry's Great Grandfather and Grandfather."

"We need to move him, before Harry gets back." Ron stated.

"With all the broken ribs he has, if you try to move him before we can properly put him back together you will shred his lungs" Healer Grant replied.

"He is breathing now, but barely. I'm not willing to risk any major movements until we can fix his ribs." He stated rather forcefully.

"Let me in." Fireball exclaimed.

"What are you going to do?" Healer Jones asked

"I'm going to cut his top off so we can see what is blocking your spells." She answered.

"We have tried that already. Whatever that top is made of you can't cut it in a normal manner." He said with resignation.

Clearly frustrated Fireball looked around the room and formed a plan.

"Dad, you Bombshell and Ron gently lift Dave up. While you do that Shelly and I will pull up his shirt and try to lift it over his head and arms." She explained.

Understanding the reasons for it they all got themselves in position. Working together they could remove his shirt with only a minimum of fuss. Although I must admit that it was a blessing in disguise that poor Dave was unconscious at the time.

Once his shirt was off, we could all see the rather strange garment he was wearing underneath it. It looked like an oddly shaped singlet. The material was an off-white colour. But in many places, it was cut through exposing something shinny underneath.

"Could it be?" Shelly said in wonder, "Did he actually get it to work?"

She moved forward and opened the parted the material to expose the underlying layer.

"Stone the crows." Cassy said, "He did get it to work. No wonder that cutting charm didn't stop him in Thailand"

"The question is, HOW he got it to work." Shelly asked.

"Got what to work?" I had to ask as I had no idea what they were talking about.

Looking at the shiny layer I couldn't see anything to explain what they were talking about. It wasn't until Shelly laid her fingers on the shiny layer and moved them up slightly that I could see that the layer was made up with what looked like rather small overlapping scales.

"What are they?" I asked in curiosity.

"Bunyip scales." Fireball answered, a rather fierce note of pride in her voice.

"Oh come ON!" Hermione exclaimed rather forcefully, "There is no such creature as a Bunyip. They are purely Myth nothing more."

She suddenly found herself the target of disbelieving stares from all the Australian's in the room.

"I would beg to differ Hermione" Ivan said giving her a very direct look, "while they are rare they are indeed very real."

"On several of our properties back home we have very large areas set aside for them as reserves to try and provide them with some protections from the Muggles who want to kill them onsite."

"While they are very 'odd looking' creatures, they are extremely magical as well as highly intelligent. They are also very loyal to their family/herd and to those that they accept."

"We are very fortunate in that the various family groups on our property have accepted our family over the years. They permit us to approach them and observe them. Some of us are accepted enough to be allowed to approach their campsites. Dave is one such person."

"We he is awake I fully intend to ask him how he fashioned such a garment. As Bunyip scales, will 'die' when they are picked up and removed from where they have fallen. It is truly remarkable that he has that garment with so many scales on it and that they all appear to be alive and healthy." He said with admiration evident in his voice.

Fireball and Shelly had been examining the garment that Dave was wearing. After a few moments, Shelly grabbed one of Dave's Arms and placed it across his body so that his hand rested on his ribs.

Once Dave's hand was in position a seam could be seen along the side of the garment. She tried to dig her own fingers under it but the seam would not open.

Placing Dave's fingers under the seam caused it to open however.

"Looks like it is charmed so that only Dave can remove it." She said with a smile, "clever little bugger he is at times".

Once the seam was fully undone it was possible to take the garment off him. We were not prepared however for what was underneath it.

When it was removed Dave's chest was exposed, and this caused several startled oaths to be uttered.

His chest was one giant bruise. Black and purple marks extended from one side of his broad and well-muscled chest to the other. They were a deep angry purple and black as well.

Healer Grant let out a gasp as he began waving his wand over Dave's chest, "Almost all the ribs on the right-hand side are broken to one degree or another. With three broken on the left. How he could still breathe I don't know." He said as he set to work.

As my eyes roamed over the rest of his rather broad chest I was struck by the number of scars on it. There was a set of scars that ran in an almost half circle on his left-hand side. Starting near his shoulder, then curving out to just past the middle of his chest then back down to just above his waist.

There were also a set of three rather jagged parallel scars that look like they were from a set of claws that started on the lower right hand side of his ribs and went underneath him.

Toss in a few scars that looked like puncture marks and the odd horizontal slash, and the set was completed.

But apart from the scars the next oddest thing I noticed was that his skin was smooth with no hair. Either this man shared that silly muggle obsession where men shaved their chests, or he was a lot younger than he seemed.

I was not the only one to notice this either. Fleur it seemed had noticed it as well.

"'ow old ess Monsieur Webb?" she asked of Ivan, "As ee looks no older zan Quinze or Seize"

"Pardon? My French is very rusty I'm afraid" he answered.

"He will be sixteen on Halloween", Sandra supplied.

"What? Sixteen?" Kingsley almost yelled.

"How can that be so? No one can be an Auror that that age. It just isn't possible." Kingsley asked of Ivan.

Aware that he was the focus of the room, Ivan replied, "Actually he joined the Aurors at the age of Twelve and Half."

"Why would you allow such a thing? That is one of the most irresponsible things I have ever heard of." Kingsley said very upset.

"Kingsley, are you familiar with the exams both the theory and practical needed to become recognised as a Senior Auror Internationally?" Ivan asked him.

"Yes I am. I still have nightmares about them." He replied.

"Same here." Ivan said with a wry smile. "Would you consider someone who passed them to be competent for field operations?"

"I certainly would. Not only to go on operations but to lead them as well." He answered.

"I agree as well" Ivan said, "that's why when Dave passed them at the age of twelve and a half I had to give in and allow him to join the Aurors."

"We just didn't have any tests left to make him do. His first 6 months we gave him every "cold case" we could find and told him to work on them. It was an effort on our part to try and keep him out of the field." He said with a crooked smile clearly remembering back.

"Eventually we ran out of them as well." He sighed,

"During those 6 months, he had also been paired with just about every Auror we had on our roster as a duelling partner. Some of the other Aurors had obviously hoped to 'teach him a lesson' and get him to quit."

"But the only people he lost to on a regular basis were, myself, my father, James (my eldest son), Shelly and Mick."

"Even then they were only narrow loses, and we all had to stretch ourselves to the very limit."

"Thankfully he is also a very good and talented teacher and readily helped those that he did beat with constructive criticism and instruction so that they could improve for the next time. This gave him the ability to win the respect and trust of Aurors many years his senior."

"It wasn't long before they started asking for him to work with them in the field. Even though I had my doubts at first, the results spoke for themselves." He added.

"But why wasn't he in school?" Kingsley asked.

"He had finished school by the age of 12." Ivan supplied.

"One year of school seems hardly enough to learn what a competent wizard needs to know" Hermione said rather stiffly.

"I agree with you Hermione. However, he started school at the age of 8." Ivan said, "So four years of magical schooling. With 14 Newts at the end of it. I couldn't find a reason to keep him there. He didn't enjoy school very much. Kept on saying he didn't fit in. There were a lot of people that had their noses out of joint thinking he was getting special treatment because he was my son."

"Personally, I think he studied so hard just to get out of there as fast as possible."

"14 Newts by the age of 12?" Hermione said. She looked almost outraged at the thought. "Are your standards different to the ones here?" she asked a little snidely.

"Our schooling requirements align very closely indeed to the British standards I can assure you." Ivan explained.

"What marks did he get?" Hermione asked.

"Straight O's" Sandra answered unable to hide the pride in her voice.

Hermione had gone white, "That's just not possible" she said clearly getting upset at the thought of someone (else) getting 14 Outstanding Newts.

"Given how hard he worked himself over those years, I would say it is indeed possible. Just very unlikely that anyone would want to try it willingly." Sandra stated.

We all took a while to absorb this information about my nephew. Fleur however again seemed to be one step ahead of us all as something else occurred to her.

Pointing to the golden chain that was now clearly visible around Dave's neck and the two rings upon it she asked, "Was 'e really married? As 'e said zat zose were 'our' Wedding Rings."

The looks on the faces of Ivan and Sandra, along with those of Fireball, Shelly and Cassy were enough to answer that question. Even before any words were said.

"Sadly, yes he was." Ivan answered, "Sometimes I still wonder if we did the right thing allowing those two to get married at that age."

Sandra looked at her husband with her heart in her eyes and answered him, "We could have done nothing else. They loved each other as much as it was possible for two people to love one another."

"Emma knew she was dying and it was her greatest wish to be married to Dave before she died." She said with tears standing in her eyes.

Grabbing a hanky, I passed it to her and asked, "What happened?" before I could help myself.

She stared at Dave for a few moments and then she glanced around at the room and took in each of the faces. I wasn't sure if she was going to say anything at all, I remember thinking of ways to try and tactfully change the subject. In the end, she spoke up before I could think of anything to say.

"The only way I can think of to describe them, is that they were perfect for each other. Two halves that made a whole."

"They had known each other all their lives, practically growing up together. As kids they were inseparable, if you found one of them the other was bound to be close by. They always seemed to have a collection of books with them wherever they were also."

"The books were never ones you would have thought appropriate for their ages either. Dave liked reading O.W.L. level text books when he was six years old." She said with a smile for the memory.

Hermione also smiled at this statement. I could easily imagine her as a small child with an ever-present book collection.

"Both of them began to read at an early age. They were veracious in their reading. It was almost like they devoured the books that they had access to. "

"Once they had read all the books in her parent's library they started on ours. We had to send them to school much earlier than is the norm as we couldn't keep up with their learning and the questions."

She looked at her husband with a heart-warming smile and touched his face in such a tender manner, "I still remember when they walked into one of your conferences and wanted to know where babies came from." She laughed at the memory.

Ivan must have remembered it also as he had begun to blush, "Yes they had found an old Muggle first aid manual that covered child birth." He smiled as he recalled the memory, "They were rather confused as to how the baby would have gotten in there in the first place."

"Given that they were only 5 at the time I could understand their confusion." He laughed along with the rest of us.

"The following year they both joined the Nippers at the local surf club. They had both always loved the beach, it was the only thing that could compete for their attention apart from books and each other" she said fondly.

"I remember watching them support each other through that program. How they would work together to overcome the challenges that they faced. Emma's mother remarked to me one day that she was sure that they would end up being married one day and that she was looking forward to seeing it."

"I told her I wouldn't bet against that happening. But I wondered aloud if they were aware of that possibility."

"Jackie (Emma's mother) told me that apparently Emma had given it lots of thought already. Has she told Dave I asked her? Jackie told me she had asked Emma the same question, her exact answer was apparently, 'Dave doesn't need to know right now. I will tell him when he is old enough to understand.'" Sandra was trying to contain her laughter at the memory.

"She's a smart girl I told Jackie. The men in my husband's family tend to be a trifle dim witted when it comes to women."

"Only a trifle?" both Fireball and Shelly spoke up with grins of their faces.

"Now there is an understatement of the year" Fireball added, "I mean look at their track record, Emma had to belt Dave over the head with his own surf board to get her message through to him. Grandma practically had to tie Grandpa up to make him understand she was interested in more than being 'just friends'. And then there's you and Dad…"

"That's enough, Jasper." Sandra chided her. "Your father might have been a little slow on the uptake but he got the message in the end. That's all that matters."

"Hey, I'm standing right here you know" Ivan replied a little hurt.

"Why I do believe you're right dear." Sandra replied with mock surprise to the general laughter of the ladies in the room.

"Once I was aware of Emma's intentions towards my youngest son it was easy to see her plan at work. She had him wrapped around her little finger and all tied up in a pretty little bow by the time he was 8. The poor boy never stood a chance. He didn't seem to mind though, as I could see their bond growing on a daily basis."

"Their bond?" I asked momentarily confused until I recalled Dave's comments from earlier. "Dave mentioned something about being able to 'see bonds' between people before when he argued with that annoying healer."

Healer Grant laughed at that statement, "That's a polite way to describe him." He added while still working away on Dave.

Sandra looked at me and I could again see the golden tint in her eyes, she then looked at the others in the room with her eyes tinted also. "I can imagine he would have mentioned them. There are some very strong and honest bonds on display here." She remarked.

"What is it exactly that you see? When you look at people like that." Hermione asked, her curiosity once more on full display.

"It depends on what you are concentrating on at the time." Sandra replied.

"If you are not focused on anyone thing you will see just random magical energy." She said as her eyes had only the faintest hint of a golden tint to them.

"However, if you change your thoughts to think of family, specifically the love that exists between family members," here the tint in her eyes became more pronounced, "You will begin to see the energy linking between the family members. But only if there is genuine affection between them."

"With my sister's family, I can see the mighty connections between you all. Connections that can only be made with long term and unconditional love." She added smiling.

I couldn't resist looking across at Arthur and smiling a special smile just for him at hearing this. He met my smile and returned it and I could feel my heart flutter just a little bit as well as a slight weakness in my knees.

"Bringing your thoughts to the specific love that exists between two individuals," her eyes turned more golden again, "you will see the connections change once more."

Here she looked from me to Arthur, "The connection between Molly and Arthur is almost painfully bright to look at. Similarly, the connection between Bill and Fleur is also very strong and deep, but much newer than Arthur and Molly's. Fleur's parents in the other room have a connection much like Arthur and Molly's as well."

She turned her gaze onto Ron and he started to glow scarlet much to the amusement of everyone in the room. "Have no fear Ron, I do not intend to embarrass you in front of your family. Today anyway." She cheekily added.

"Is it a soul bond that you are seeing?" Ginny asked her eyes wide with wonder.

"No. Souls maybe connected to one another but they can't ever be truly bonded." She explained almost sadly to Ginny.

"To try and truly bond souls would cause immeasurable amounts of pain to each of them. What is commonly called 'bonded souls' or a 'soul bond' is in reality two very separate souls who have a very strong connection over which they communicate freely."

"While those who are described as 'soul mates' not only have a connection like I described above, they also 'talk the same language' to one another and so even more readily understand and fully accept each other for who they actually are. Not who they wish to be or who they wish their partner to be."

"Dave and Emma were connected thus. Half the times their conversations were almost one sided. As they both understood what the other was trying to say. Almost before the other one finished speaking. It was kind of maddening to watch or listen to at times."

"I fully expected them to develop their connection to the point where they would be communicating by thought alone in a year or two if they had gone on the way they were any longer."

"Does that answer your question Ginny?" Sandra asked.

"I guess" she replied looking a little disappointed at the answer she had received.

Sandra smiled at Ginny "Do not be discouraged Ginny. You are off to a wonderful start with your connection to Harry."

Ginny was surprised by this comment and it showed on her face, "How?" she asked.

"I can see your connection to him, and his connection back. Even though he is not here currently. As you both currently have a very strong and honest connection." Sandra remarked to her smiling.

"Keep on communicating with each other honestly and it will continue to grow."

"Don't talk the poor boys ears all the way off" Ron snickered and received an elbow in the ribs from Hermione for his efforts.

"I didn't tell her to talk to him Ron. But to communicate. Communication takes many forms, talking is only one such form. A simple act of bringing them a cup of tea when they are feeling down and holding them to let them know that they are loved is a very powerful act of communication between two people."

"Encourage him to communicate back with you also. Let him know what he means to you and you will be surprised at how well even rather dense men can communicate." She replied smiling fondly at her husband again.

"But keep him in line also." She added with a wicked little grin that Ginny readily returned.

"W'at 'appened to Emma? 'ow did she die?" Fleur asked, clearly interested in getting the story back on track.

"Oh yes… Sorry I got a little side tracked there, didn't I?" Sandra remarked.

"When Dave had turned 8 he had already completed Muggle Primary School and almost out of pure spite sat the test for the final year of Muggle High School. He was against going so insisted on sitting the test to prove he shouldn't have to go. He can be very stubborn at times."

"So, the decision was made to send him of to Winninnie."

"Winninnie?" I asked.

"It is the Australian school for Magic users." Sandra replied, "Its origins are quite literally lost in time. No one knows when it was started. The local Aboriginal people just reply it has always been there, when they are asked how old it is."

"Thankfully it also has a very open policy towards students. Anyone who shows 'talent' is welcome as long as they wish to study honestly. The school is named from the aboriginal word for 'Meeting of the Clans' as its original purpose was to bring together magic users of all types and from all backgrounds."

"One result of that original purpose is that it isn't limited to only the Study of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Which in the case of my husband's family is a true blessing. As they tend to frequently have talents that lay outside of the 'traditional' area of Witchcraft and Wizardry as you may have noticed." She said shyly.

"We have" Ginny replied with a slight blush of embarrassment at the thought of her earlier misunderstanding with Dave.

Smiling at Ginny Sandra continued.

"Naturally the two of them were more than a little upset when they found out that Emma wouldn't be going to Winninnie with Dave. As she had to wait another year before they could accept her, even on their 'accelerated program'."

"The separation was hard on both of them. Kevin, our Kookaburra got a real workout that year carrying all the letters that they wrote to each other. I think he was happy when Emma joined Dave as at least then he could get a rest."

"Dave threw himself into his studies with a single mindedness that at first impressed his professors and then worried them. He seemed to want to make one year do for two."

"Initially we thought he would slow down when Emma joined him, but that didn't prove to be the case. If anything, they seemed to egg each other on more."

"It was in the summer of Dave's third year (Emma's second) that we got the first hint that something wasn't right. As Emma got sick over the break and stayed like that for most of the holidays. Usually she bounced back from illness very quickly."

"The following year at school she frequented the school's infirmary on a regular basis and no one could figure out why."

"At the end of her third year her parents decided to take her to Melbourne to see a specialist that worked at the Royal Children's Hospital there."

"That's a Muggle Hospital, isn't it?" Hermione asked

"Yes, it is primarily a Muggle Hospital. But like all the major Hospitals in Australia it has a Wing dedicated to the treatment and care of Magical people as well." Sandra answered.

"This is mostly due to Australia's history of initially being several separate and independent colonies. It has led to a few odd hang overs like this. But it seems to work out with having a magical medical resource in each capital city given the distances involved."

"The Healers there diagnosed Emma with a very rare Auto-Immune disorder. What it meant was that her own body was attacking itself as though it was a disease."

"They started her on a treatment of highly specialised potions to try and correct her condition."

"But as time went on the hopes for cure faded and it then became hopes of a treatment aimed at controlling the symptoms, slowing the symptoms until finally all they were trying to do was to make her as comfortable as possible."

"As you might expect Dave didn't take this news well. On top of his already ambitious goals at school he started reading every medical text book he could get his hands on."

"When he was home from school and was not at Emma's side he would seek out and question healers from all around the region who had knowledge of her type of condition and would question them almost relentlessly."

"For a while we were all worried he would work himself into an early grave he was pushing that hard."

"That's not to say he didn't make progress however. At one point he had learnt how to make the body repair itself and he could reverse to a degree the damage that had been wrought. But it was only ever temporary."

"Once he stopped focusing his energy on the damage it would begin again. The effort required of him to repair each small area that he worked on was immense."

"Eventually he got to the point that he could repair or in some cases rebuild whole organs. But the cost was very high, the effort almost drained him to the point that he barely had enough energy to keep his own heart beating."

"At first Emma was very grateful for his efforts. But when she found out the price that he was paying each time he attempted to heal her in this way she forbade him from anymore attempts. Until he was certain that he wouldn't be in any danger from it."

"It was just about the only time I heard them have a serious quarrel. He was more than willing to run the risks involved. But she wouldn't allow it."

"This was around the time that Dave finished his schooling at Winninnie."

"His stated intention was to go off to a specialist school to study medicine and become a healer so that he could try and find a cure for Emma."

"She had other ideas though. She wanted him to take some time off and do something that he had always wanted to do. Something purely for the fun of it."

"Eventually she convinced him to have a go at qualifying for the muggle Rip Curl Pro World Surfing Championships in the junior division. That year they were to be held at Soorts-Hossegor in France."

"Whilst he was competing in the event he was attacked and bitten by a great white shark." she said in a broken voice.

"Is that what that roughly circular set of scars is" I asked pointing to the marks around his chest.

"Yes they are the teeth marks of the shark that bit him. The tooth that is on the chain around his neck is one that had been wedged in his ribs. He asked that it be kept for him as he was taken off to the hospital."

"I still remember all the blood, in the water on the sand it was everywhere. How he could have lost that much blood and lived I still don't know."

"We found out later that when Emma heard about what had happened she suffered the first of the many heart attacks that were to come."

"Dave has never been a fan of hospital, but the 3 months he spent in hospital after being bitten he tolerated better than usual. As he was in a room next door to Emma and got to see her every day."

"It was amazing to watch how they would support each other through their various treatments or physical therapy. I think they became closer in that time than they were before."

"Eventually Dave healed enough for him to be able to go home. But Emma couldn't leave the hospital just yet. She had not yet regained enough strength to enable her to leave."

"She convinced him to go home and begin his training to become a healer if that was indeed what he wanted to do. So we took him home with us. The plan was that we would take him into the Ministry the following day so he could lodge his application to begin to be a Healer."

"Unbeknown to us while he had been in France the then Minister of Magic had changed the laws regarding people like Dave and the 'approved' professions that they could work in."

"W'at do you mean people like Dave?" Fleur asked.

"People with his unique abilities. I believe the polite description is 'Non-standard Magic user' according to all the ministry guff we were sent anyway." Sandra remarked bitterly.

"Ze Ministry controls ze jobs ee can do? Zat is 'orrible." Fleur remarked.

"Yes, very much so. Dave had a few other choice descriptions of the situation, which I won't repeat here." She said to a few chuckles.

"The only jobs that were still on the list when Dave was 12 were Ministry Functionary or Auror. While Dave had quite a few family members who were Aurors his first love before Emma had become sick was to be a craftsman or a teacher of some sort. Becoming an Auror wasn't high on his list of things to do."

"It was his older brother Jimmy and his cousin Joseph who eventually convinced him to agree to join them as Aurors."

"We believe that the Minister of the day had done this deliberately to force Dave to join as he knew he would never be happy working in an office. Knowing how effective his other family members with similar skills were as Aurors the Minister was hoping that Dave would also be very effective in successfully closing cases. Thus, making the Minister look good."

"In a way, he got his wish. As after he qualified as an Auror he was put to work on the cold case collection, one of the first cases that Dave brought to a successful close was for a very old murder. Turned out the guilty party was none other than the current Minister."

"Dave took immense pleasure in throwing him in a cell. His next step was to convince his dad to run for Minister of Magic so that the laws could be over turned and he could try and become a Healer again."

"Whatever the faults of the previous Minister he was VERY good at law making. He had tied these new restrictive laws to the International Statue of Secrecy. So, the only way to have them changed would be to gain approval from all the countries who have signed up to those accords."

"That is rather problematic, as several of the countries still have laws mandating the execution of people like Dave on site. Or their imprisoning for life."

"So, Dave was stuck working as an Auror. He is very good at his job and I believe he has started to enjoy it. It is the fact he has no choice in it however that still grates on him in no small way."

"The life of an Auror is a hard one, more so when you are as young as Dave. The time he spent away from Emma took its toll on him and on her. Even with his ability to travel from one side of the country or even the globe to the other it was still very difficult for him to be able to see her."

"When they were both 13 Emma told Dave that she wanted to marry him. That she had wanted to marry him since she was 6."

"Being a true male of his family, he was caught off guard by this and stunned." She laughed.

Shelly, Fireball and Cassy also got a good laugh out of it as well. Even Ivan had a case of the giggles.

Looking up I could see that Fleur, Ginny, Hermione and even Madame Delacour (who had drifted over to the door of the lounge) were listening intently to the story. They also had smiles on their faces.

"Dave somehow got the notion into his head that if he married Emma while she was still sick he would have been taking advantage of her in some way."

"Stubborn nobility is apparently an occupational trait with our boys" Cassy remarked to giggles from Shelly and Fireball.

"Be nice to them girls. They may be as you describe them, but they do have other redeeming traits." Sandra commented while giving her husband an arch little smile.

"It took the combined efforts of us" Sandra pointed to herself and Ivan, "all his sisters, his brother, Emma's parents, all her brothers and sisters and most of the cousins from both families before we were able to convince Dave that he would not indeed be taking advantage of Emma in any way."

"He proposed to her just after she turned 14. He had organised a trip for her to the Great Barrier Reef, one place she had always wanted to go. While she could not go snorkelling or swimming like she would have liked, he organised trips in glass bottomed boats and even a submarine ride for her to see the fish and the coral."

"She told us that he had proposed to her at sunset after they had come back from the trip in the submarine and were sitting on the pontoon feeding the fish that were swimming around their feet."

Fleur, Ginny, Hermione and Madam Delacour all had tears in their eyes at this point.

"What did he say? When he asked her?" Hermione enquired.

"That's another story." Sandra replied, "I don't want to embarrass the poor boy too much in one day."

"Spoilsport" mutter Fireball under her breath to some naughty sounding giggles.

"The trip to the Great Barrier Reef was to be Emma's last trip outside the hospital. As not long after their return her condition took a major turn for the worse."

"Her immune system had started to attack the major nerves of her body. When she went back into the hospital and found that she had lost the ability to walk unaided she wouldn't let anyone see her for quite a while. She wouldn't even let Dave in to see her."

"She did relent just before Dave had to leave to go back to the UK after his leave was up. This time he had procured a prototype of the mirror phone. While it wouldn't do video as yet, he could at least talk to her and message her while he was away."

"This was a great source of comfort to the two of them."

"Then Jimmy was killed. I had never seen Dave like that, he completely lost it and fell apart. Especially after he found the recording of what happened."

"We practically had to drag him and his sister's home to stop them doing something rash."

"Naturally when we did get him home Dave went straight off to see Emma. We found him the next morning curled up next to her on her hospital bed. Apparently, he had come in during the night and sat in the chair next to her just watching her sleep. When she woke, and noticed him she beckoned him onto the bed and just held him while his heart broke and he cried until he lost his voice."

"When we eventually did find, him he had only just fallen asleep. We tried to get him into a bed next to her, but she would not let him go. She might have been very ill but there was no force on this planet that would have made her let go of him then."

"We left the two of them together like that for the rest of the day. The healers on duty told us that it was the happiest that they had ever seen Emma when she had her arms around Dave like that."

"The next day was the funeral for Jimmy. Dave was one of the pallbearers. But it was like he was on auto pilot. Thankfully we had not planned for him to speak at the service."

"As soon as it was over he again went back to the hospital to see Emma."

"The following day, both we and Emma's parents received an urgent summons to the hospital. Fearing the worst, we all got there as quick as we could."

"Arriving in Emma's room we were met by Dave and Emma who had both somehow gotten themselves dressed up."

"We knew that something serious was going on when Dave was dressed properly. As when he is not working Dave's idea of formal is shoes and socks." Sandra giggled.

"Or his 'formal thongs'" Cassy chortled. Noticing the confused looks Shelly remarked, "I think you call them flip flops here." Understanding (as well as a bit of relief) dawned and the story could go on.

"Emma and Dave both informed us that they were getting married right then and there and wanted us to be there with them when it happened. A Minister then entered the room and waited expectantly."

"We couldn't say no as we knew what it meant to the two of them. We had also been all working so hard to convince Dave that he wouldn't be taking advantage of Emma if he married her. That we would have been the biggest hypocrites in history if we had objected."

"Once we had agreed Dave took the spoons that they had used at breakfast and made them both wedding rings. He was very careful to make them according to the design that Emma had in her mind. He was even able to fashion the sapphires from his own tears and the black opal from her hair."

"It was a very simple ceremony, short on everything but the love between the two-young people who were being joined."

"Dave had even been able to organise a honeymoon of sorts for them. He managed to get Emma's hospital bed and all of its support equipment into the roof top gardens that the hospital had. They spent the day there eating chocolate and enjoying just being with each other."

"By nightfall they had both talked themselves into the ground and were all worn out."

"We altered Emma's hospital bed and made it slightly wider and left the two of them curled up on it together."

"They were still in the same position the next morning. All the next day and the day after, they would not let each other out of their sight, it was almost like they knew what was coming."

"Emma died the following morning. I was just arriving to visit and I could hear her talking to him. Just from the tone of her voice I could tell the end was near. She made him promise to let her go and not to try and revive her as she was so tired. But that she was also so very happy that he was with her."

"Her last words to him were 'Thank you', to which he replied, 'For what?' she smiled at him and said 'For being you.' He kissed her and told her 'Thank you for letting me love you.'"

"She smiled at him one last time and then breathed her last."

"It was as though light had been turned off in the room."

"Dave just sat there holding her hand and not doing anything. I don't think he was even aware of what was going on around him."

"It took his father, Joseph and one of Emma's brothers to get him home. For four days, he did nothing but sit and stare. The life had gone out of him. He wouldn't eat, would barely drink anything. Just sat and stared at the ocean."

"He only moved voluntarily again when it was time for her funeral."

"If I had thought he was on auto pilot at Jimmy's funeral it was nothing compared to how he was at Emma's."

"Once again he was a pallbearer but this time he delivered the eulogy at Emma's request. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when he finished. But that was nothing compared to the singing."

"He has always been very shy about his singing, he would never perform in public or for a crowd. But he would always sing for Emma. The day of her funeral was the first time that most of the family had heard him sing."

"He sang alone performing some of Emma's favourites that she requested. He sang with Emma's brothers and sisters also. It was their last song that left the whole funeral stunned. It was so lovely, no one knew what to say."

"Sadly, he has never sung again since."

"Since her passing he has thrown himself into his work with such abandon it has been almost frightening to watch." She said with tears freely flowing over her cheeks.

Not knowing what else to do I went over to her and hugged her and her husband both.

"I know that the work he has been doing is very important and is helping a great many people. But sometimes like now, when I look at him all I can see is my little boy. Who I just want to take home and let him be a normal teenager and only have to worry about normal teenage things." Sandra said the longing evident in her voice.

"Unless he is very different to everyone else, I'm afraid no one will be taking him anywhere for a while." Healer Grant said very tiredly.

"What do you mean?" Ivan asked.

"Minister we have only just got your son put back together. I'm not going to risk him travelling by magical means for a while. When was the last time he saw a Healer?"

"Why?" Ivan and Sandra asked almost at the same time.

"He has been carrying some major injuries for quite some time. Just about every major bone in his body appears to have been broken, quite a few of them multiple times."

"If I didn't know any better I would say he had healed them himself." He said with a sigh.

"He most likely has." Fireball said looking at Healer Grant. "He hates hospitals. The only way you can get him inside one is when he is unconscious. Even then he will sneak out as soon as he can move."

"I see" Healer Grant replied, "Skill has been shown in the healing he has received. But you can't set your own bones properly when they are as badly broken as most of his have been at one point or another."

"We had to re-break a good deal of them to get everything back how it should be. I'm still also worried about his internal injuries. They will need to be watched. To ensure that we have caught all the damage."

"Right now, he is in a very fragile state. He needs rest and a lot of it." Healer Grant said a little forcefully.

"We can't take him home?" Sandra asked with almost pleading eyes.

"Where is home?" he asked.

"Australia" she replied.

"Australia? I'm reluctant to move him from this couch, I'm certainly not going to agree to move him to the other side of the world." Healer Grant said in a kindly tone, but one that also conveyed that he would not be argued with.

"Could we get him to the consulate in London?" Sandra asked her husband.

"If he can't travel by magical means it will be a difficult trip for him." Ivan replied, "But it could be arranged."

"He could stay here." I said after looking over at Arthur with a question on my face and getting a nod of agreement.

"Here?" Sandra said looking a little worried, "But Ivan said we should keep him away from this Harry you mentioned. At least until we have had a chance to talk to Dave and Harry separately."

"Stick him in his tent." Fireball offered.

"Honestly I sometimes think he prefers his tent. Even over his house that he has been building since forever."

"If we can pitch our tents in the field over there we can charm them so that no one will ever see or find them." She offered.

Everyone looked at fireball like she had gone a little crazy. Especially Ron, who we had learned had ended up hating the tent that he had shared with Harry and Hermione while they were on the run.

"Who would prefer a tent, even a magical tent over being in a house?" Ron asked clearly confused.

"Someone who has always loved camping, and has spent years working on the design of his tent." Fireball replied.

"I must admit I'm not a huge fan of tents. But even after living in our tents for the better part of two years, I can honestly say I don't mind them." She explained.

"I'm going to tell Dave that when he wakes up. He and 'Q' are going to be gobsmacked that you said nice things about their tents" Shelly exclaimed while smirking at Fireball.

"If you do I will deny it." Fireball replied.

"Too many witnesses to try that one FB." Shelly retorted clearly happy at out manoeuvring her sister.

"You are more than welcome to set up your tents in the yard, inside our wards." Arthur replied, "There will be no need to hide your tents at all. I will ask Harry to keep away from them until we have had a chance to chat to him."

"Charlie, can you take Jasper, Shelly and Cassy outside and show them where they can put their tents?"

"Will do dad." Charlie replied. With a grin at the girls he said, "Ladies if you will follow me." And headed out of the lounge into the kitchen.

"It's been a while since anyone called me a lady" Fireball replied with a smile, while eyeing Charlie's behind as he headed out of the room.

"Yeah and it's for good reason too." Shelly replied while grabbing Dave's wallet and following the two of them out of the room, "Keep your thoughts out of the gutter FB. Remember he is your cousin."

"Well he isn't MY cousin" Cassy replied under her breath as she followed the crowd out of the room.

"I hope he knows how to keep himself safe in the face of dangerous females" Ivan asked Arthur with a grin.

"He should, he works with Dragons." Arthur replied also smiling.

"I get the feeling he has yet to meet 'Dragons' like them." Bill said a little absentmindedly, then he blushed slightly when he realised that he said that out loud.

Ivan however found it highly amusing and laughed at the comment, "You could be right there Bombshell. You could very well be right."

In short order Charlie and the girls were back inside letting us know that the tents were all setup and ready. Charlie seemed to be a little hot under the collar for some inexplicable reason.

George must have noticed as he was mercilessly asking Charlie why he was blushing. Bill raised an eyebrow at the conversation. But demonstrating that discretion was the better part of valour he wisely decided not to get involved. At least until Fleur was out of ear shot.

A stretcher was quickly conjured and Dave was carefully levitated onto it. His clothes and vest were placed on top of him

Then Ivan, Bill, Charlie and Kingsley carried him out of the lounge. Healers Grant and Jones followed them out.

As they passed through the kitchen Gabrielle was sitting up on the table. She watched them carry Dave through the kitchen with a very strange expression on her face.

I was still trying to decide what her expression was when she spoke to Fleur rapidly in French, "Qui est-ce sur la civière?"

"Monsieur Dave" Fleur replied with a curious look at her sister.

"Très mignon" she muttered under her breath, then blushed to the roots of her hair when she realised that Fleur had caught what she said.

Recovering quickly, she replied, "Je l'ai vu auparavant, il était sur une couverture de magazine."

"Vraiment?" Fleur replied with a slightly disbelieving look on her face.

"Oui vraiment." Gabrielle answered.

"Je pourrais encore avoir une copie du magazine" she added a little defiantly to her sister.

"Pardon me, but what did she say?" Sandra asked.

"She said she thinks she has seen Dave before. But on the cover of a Magazine." Shelly replied, "She also thinks that she may still have a copy of it."

Both Fleur and Gabrielle were caught by surprise, as they hadn't realised Shelly spoke French.

"No, I meant before that." Sandra replied, then she curiously asked, "When was Dave on the cover of a magazine?"

"She was asking if that was Dave on the stretcher." Shelly answered while giving Gabrielle a very direct look that conveyed clearly that she had caught ALL of her previous comments.

Gabrielle blushed even more.

"I see" was Sandra's only comment.

Trying to control her blush Gabrielle said "I 'ave seen 'im on a Surfing Magazine, I'm sure of it. Ze scars on 'is chest reminded me of it. 'ee was doing well in a competition before 'e was bitten. I remember 'ee was even voted ze number one LCB." She added.

At this comment Natalie, Fireball, Shelly and Cassy collapsed into gales of laughter. Everyone else was very confused at their behaviour.

"Was this back in 1994?" Fireball asked

After a moments' thought Gabrielle answered, "Oui, I zink so."

"Makes sense in 94 the comp he was in was in France" Fireball added "He was also the only one who was bitten that year. Must admit I had forgotten about the LCB part though." She said while trying (unsuccessfully) to hide a smile.

"LCB?" Fleur questioned.

"Petit mignon bum" Shelly replied.

Fleur had a small attack of the giggles and gave her sister a very cheeky little smile that made her blush even more. Madame and Monsieur Delacour were also having a bit of a chuckle at their daughters' predicament.

"So, what is LCB?" Sandra asked Shelly.

"Don't worry mum it's a surfing term, you wouldn't understand." Shelly replied, managing to keep a straight face that time.

"Somehow I don't quite believe you." She told her daughter as Gabrielle had laid back down on the table and covered her face with her hands.

Letting the matter drop Sandra continued out to the yard with the rest of us in tow. Fleur followed, after helping her sister off the table so that she could follow along with her parents.

Outside in the yard there was a collection of tents setup close to the rock wall on the far side of the yard. It was a good spot for them as they were out of the main traffic areas and had plenty of space.

Each of the tents looked like an elongated dome shape. They were also covered in some sort of silvery material.

We followed the stretcher into one of the tents, which I presumed was Dave's one.

I was used to magical tents, having stayed in them many times over the years. But they were tents only intended for short term stays. These tents were a different manner, they were clearly set out with long term stays in mind.

After hearing the earlier stories, it only took one look to see that this was indeed Dave's tent. There were books everywhere. They were not haphazardly left just anywhere, they were all neatly arranged on shelves.

The first room held a good-sized kitchen, a dinner table and chairs. There was a lounge area with a very comfy looking couch and two reclining chairs a fireplace and a strange black object on the chimney above the fireplace which I couldn't work out what it was. There were also the numerous book shelves I mentioned earlier.

The walls were covered in what I first took to be paintings. But they turned out to be photographs but on canvas instead of paper.

All of the photos were of landscapes, most of which were of the beach. All of the photos were also moving which added to the feeling that they were more like windows than photos.

Off the main area there was a door to what looked like a bathroom. There was also a door into the bedroom. We could see the boys in there placing Dave into his bed.

Curiously there was also a door that went nowhere. Behind it was just a blank wall.

I turned to my sister and was about to ask what this door was for. She anticipated my question and said, "That is to give Dave a place to anchor his doorways to. Much like he did with the door in your scullery."

"That makes sense" I said to myself.

"Where are the places in these photos?" Hermione asked, "They look gorgeous."

"Dave will be able to tell you all about them, as he took the photos. It is one of his hobbies." Sandra answered.

"This one I can tell you about though." She said pointing to a photo showing a gorgeous looking white sandy beach viewed from the broad veranda of a house.

"Where is that? I would love to go there." Hermione said with longing. A few other people gathered around to look at the photo as well.

"Don't worry, you will." Sandra replied.

Hermione gave her a questioning look.

"That's home." Sandra said simply, "that is taken from the veranda in front of our kitchen."

"When we take you back to Australia to restore your parent's memories we will have to take you there. As the guest rooms your parents have been staying in are just off to the left of that view."

Hermione smiled happily and then gave Ron a dirty little smile that I don't think she intended for anyone else to see.

"All zee's photos were made by Dave?" Gabrielle asked Sandra.

"Yes, he loves taking photos, especially landscapes like these. His house has an enormous collection of photos scattered all through it." Sandra replied while looking around at the different photos. Eventually she stopped in front of one of them that showed another beach scene.

"This one is taken from the veranda of the house that he is building." She said pointing up at a photo that hung near the fireplace.

The photo showed a beach as well, but unlike his parents place this beach hand larger more powerful looking waves. A rocky headland jutted out at one end of the beach and there were fewer trees in the photo, but they were significantly larger than the ones in his photo of his parent's place. It also didn't look to be as tropical in its location either.

Our contemplation of the photo was interrupted by the procession of people leaving Ivan's room. Sandra immediately went over to Ivan and asked, "How is he?"

"Knackered." Was Ivan's response, "But he is at least sleeping now. His healing abilities seem to be taking effect. But even with them it will take a large effort to make himself properly whole again."

"I have placed a monitoring charm on his bed so we will know when he wakes."

The two of them embraced clearly relieved that Dave was on the mend.

Chief Williams entered the tent carrying a collection of parchment and cleared his throat loudly to get the attention of the two of them.

"Minister, I have a preliminary copy of the interrogation report of the prisoners. I thought that you might like to see it as soon as it was available." He said in a very business-like manner.

"You thought correct, Chief Williams." He replied reaching for the report, "Thank you for the quick action on this." He said as he began to read.

"If you all will excuse me, I will organise something quick for you all for lunch as we seemed to have missed it. I also need to start organising dinner if you are all going to be staying." I said as I made my way to the door.

I was very surprised when Chief Williams stepped out to stop me from leaving. "Actually, Molly you should really stay to hear this as it concerns you." He said his eyes showing his concern.

At his words, Kingsley and Arthur moved to join Ivan as he sat at Dave's dinner table.

The three of them quickly read through the report. Once they were done Kingsley and Ivan turned to Arthur who had gone deathly pale.

"What is it Arthur?" I asked, as I felt the icy tentacles of fear begin to encircle my heart. "Who were they after? Is it Harry? They are after Harry, aren't they?" the questions coming rapidly before I could stop them.

Arthur got up and came over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. I could see his fear and worry showing clearly. "It's you Molly. They are after you." He almost cried before enfolding me in a very fierce and protective embrace.

"Me? Why would they be after me?" I asked him.

"Rodolphus Lestrange has placed a price on your head because you killed his wife." Arthur said his voice almost breaking.

"What's the bounty?" Fireball asked, concern showing in her eyes.

"Five Million Galleons" Kingsley said as Arthur broke down in tears. I could feel them running onto my neck and soaking the shoulder of my dress.

"Five Million Galleons?" Everyone seemed to say at the same time.

"That's going to get some rather high level attention." Fireball remarked, concern now clearly evident on her face.

"High level attention?" I asked her while still holding onto Arthur

"With a bounty of that size every criminal in Europe is going to start looking for you. Some professional assassins from other regions might also be interested." She said very clinically but with her concern still showing.

Turning to Ivan she said, "It's a shame Jimmy isn't here he was one of the best at this sort of job."

"True" Ivan replied, the sadness in his voice unmistakeable. "But don't sell Dave short, he gave even Jimmy a run for his money in these jobs as well. Not even Joseph, or Cameron and their teams or even Doug's team could catch him in training and simulations."

"Dave?" Fireball replied, "True he was better at offence side, but we are looking for defence here."

"The best defence." Ivan replied in a manner that made me think he was giving an old often used speech.

"Is a good offence." Shelly, Cassy, Fireball and Chief Williams replied automatically.

"Pardon me" I asked again "but what are you all talking about?"

"Assassinating the assassins." Ivan replied in a very serious tone of voice, "Jasper is right, with a price like this on your head you are going to get the attention of some very professional individuals."

"Unless Dave, or one of his legends has been offered the contract we won't have an inside line on the 'competition' we will be dealing with." He said deep in thought.

"Are you saying Dave ees an assassin?" Gabrielle asked in shock

"No, he isn't an assassin, Gabrielle" Ivan replied, "but he does frequently hunt them down and neutralise them."

"Administratively only" Shelly told Gabrielle "at least so far." She added with a slightly worried look at Ivan.

"If you are thinking of turning him lose on hunting down whoever is going to be coming for Aunt Molly you are going to have to craft some clever rules of engagement for him. As you know full well what he is like when someone threatens family."

"He may not be willing to operate administratively." She stated.

"What do you mean 'administratively'?" Gabrielle asked.

Chief Williams spoke up here and answered Gabrielle's question, "An administrative assassination doesn't involve the target actually being killed."

"While a body (or parts of one) will often be found, it will be a copy of the target. The actual target is taken away and depending on their crimes and willingness to co-operate is either thrown into jail, for life. Or they are placed into witness protection."

"Enough evidence is left behind on purpose for them to be 'declared dead' by the government of the country in which they are found."

"Dave is VERY good at this sort of operation. Although he doesn't willingly accept them. He prefers to 'legitimately' catch them as he calls and then have them publicly thrown in jail."

Gabrielle seemed to be very relieved at this news.

"Steve" Ivan said startling Chief Williams by the use of his first name, "Contact Drunkmouse have him check all of Dave's cover legends to see if he has been sent an 'expression of interest' in this job. Also check any of Jimmy's that might still be active and could possibly have been offered the contract."

"Also request him to have my staff send out communications to the other Ministers in our region to ask them if any of their operatives have been contacted."

"No worries mate. It will get done." Chief Williams said and left pulling out his mirror phone as he went.

Ivan looked over to Kingsley, "Do you have any similar contacts amongst the local criminals here that might be active on a job this high profile? Can you ask around the Ministers from your neighbouring countries as well?"

"We have lost a lot of people recently, so we don't have our usual resources. But I will 'ask around' as best we are able to."

"I have good contacts in the French Ministry of Magic, Minister" Monsieur Delacour offered to Kingsley "I can approach them on your behalf if you wish?"

"That would greatly speed things up. Thank you." Kingsley said to Monsieur Delacour.

"My thanks to you all also." Arthur said to the three men after he composed himself.

"After losing Fred recently I don't think I could survive if I were to lose Molly." He said while looking at me with those adorable eyes of his.

"Who was Fred? If I may ask." Sandra said a little tentatively.

With the grief, still clear on his voice Arthur replied, "He was one of my sons. George's twin."

"He was killed in the recent 'Battle of Hogwarts'"

At this news, Sandra came over to embrace both myself and Arthur, as words were not enough to express her feelings at that point. Even Ivan gave us both a good squeeze. Merlin that man is strong, I was worried for my ribs for a while there.

Ivan seemed to be deep in thought for a moment and then he spoke to Kingsley saying, "Minister, in the light of recent events and with your permission, I would like to offer you the services of the Australian contingent of our team that is currently operating in here in Europe."

"For the immediate purpose of removing the threat to Molly Weasley here, as well as to continue tracking down the records of those individuals that they helped leave the country previously."

"I can't promise the contingents from New Zealand, Fiji and New Caladonia at this point as I will need to consult with their respective Ministers. But given the mission I don't see them complaining too much."

Kingsley appeared as though his Christmas had come early, "Minister Webb, I would be greatly honoured to have the assistance of your team in these roles. As our own Aurors have suffered many deaths and many more injuries."

"Knowing the capabilities and training of your Aurors I would most humbly accept your offer."

"If you agree I would like them to work directly with Arthur here as he is the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and given the current demands on my time has free reign in running his department."

"That is acceptable to me Minister." Ivan replied, "I also don't think Dave will have any issues with it either. At least once he wakes up he won't."

"You have my thanks Minister." Kingsley said with a smile as he shook hands with Ivan.

"If I may ask one more favour of you Ivan" Kingsley said a little hesitantly, "would it be possible to ask your Aurors to help train both our existing Aurors and the new recruits we hope to be getting shortly. They seem to have a unique way of approaching the job as well as some unique abilities that I for one am very interested in learning."

"Has Dave been showing off again?" Ivan asked his daughters who looked at him with looks of manufactured innocence. Getting no answer from them be turned back to Kingsley.

"Teaching is one of the primary roles of this particular team." Ivan said. "I'm sure they will be more than happy to assist you in that regard."

Openly grinning Kingsley replied, "Thank you Ivan. I have a feeling that this could be a very entertaining and enlightening time for us all."

"You're very welcome Kingsley. Let's see how entertaining you think it is after going through some sessions with this lot. The Fijian minister didn't talk to me for a week after a practise duelling session with Jimmy one time." He chuckled.

"We will see Ivan. We will see." Kingsley replied with a sly smile.

"Brave man" was all Ivan said, also smiling and patting Kingsley on the back.

Chief Williams re-appeared and said "There is a young man who looks very familiar at the gate asking to come in. He says he lives here and wants to know what's going on and why we are all doing here."

At this news, Ginny was off out the door as I'm sure she knew exactly who it was. Strangely Gabrielle seemed to have no interest in following her to go see Harry.

Fleur also seemed to have noticed this seeming sudden disinterest in Harry from her as well. For she was looking across at Gabrielle with a very direct and enquiring expression.

Gabrielle for her part was doing her best to ignore her older sister's unspoken questions. As well as the looks she was getting from her parents.

Shelly and Fleur exchanged a knowing look between them before Fireball remarked, "This could be an interesting deployment in more ways than one." Before she, Shelly and Fleur had a small case of the giggles.

True to form the men in the room completely missed all of that exchange. Instead they were listening to Kingsley and Arthur who were giving both Ivan and Chief Williams a very quick summary of Harry's recent past and his achievements to date.

"Are you coming?" I said to the people remaining in the tent as I went to follow the crowd back to the house.

Gabrielle had stayed seated on the couch and was showing an intense interest in a book that had many photographs of Australia its places, people and animals. It also seemed to contain a good bit of information about the country in addition to the photographs it contained.

Noticing that Gabrielle had not moved from the couch Fleur called to her, "Il dormira probablement jusqu'au matin."

"I told 'er zat 'e is likely to sleep zrough until ze morning. Zis ez correct? No?" Fleur explained.

"I believe that you are correct in that assessment Fleur." Sandra replied with only a small smile showing.

Gabrielle looked up a little disappointed, but nodded put the book back on the table and went to get up and follow.

"If you like the book, I don't not think he will mind if you would like to borrow it." Shelley said struggling to contain the smile that wanted to run across her face.

Smiling gratefully Gabrielle returned to the coffee table and retrieved the book. Then we all made our way out of Dave's tent leaving him in peace.


	13. Family Interactions

I quickened my pace to catch up with the others and we proceeded to the gate where Ginny was 'greeting' Harry. As we got closer we could catch snippets of conversation from the two of them. It appeared that in between kissing him she seemed to be providing an abridged version of what had occurred since he left for St Mungo's in the morning.

It truly warmed my heart to see the two of them together. The glow on their faces when they were around one another was unmistakeable.

As we got closer I could hear Ginny say, "Here they are."

Harry looked up and saw Kingsley, Arthur and Chief Williams. But when Chief Williams stepped aside and Harry laid eyes on Ivan and Sandra I thought his eyes were about to fall out of his head.

Apparently even being forewarned by Ginny wasn't enough to stop the shock he was clearly experiencing.

Kingsley stepped forward, "Harry it is good to see you again. I hope everything went well at the hospital and you are officially on the mend?"

"Kingsley. Yes, thanks the healers say I'm recovering well but they still want me to take it easy for a time." Harry replied while eyeing both Ivan and Sandra wearily.

"That is great to hear Harry." Kingsley answered, "Harry I have some people here that I would like to introduce to you. This is the Australian Minister of Magic Ivan Webb and his wife Dr Sandra Webb."

"Minister." Harry replied as he stepped forward to shake hands with Ivan. The look on his face clearly indicating that he had a great many questions about this very familiar looking person who he was greeting for the first time.

"Mr Potter." Ivan replied while shaking hands with Harry, "It is a pleasure to meet you. Kingsley and Arthur here have been bringing me up to date with your recent exploits. It seems that you have been very busy of late. I'm very pleased that you survived your recent ordeals." He added with a slight smile.

"Thank you Minister." Harry replied, his mistrust of political figures seeping through. Ivan seemed to have picked up on it also, judging by his following statement.

"A healthy suspicion of political figures can be useful at times. However it is best reserved for those who chose to be politicians, rather than those who do the job to protect those that they love and those who can't protect themselves." Ivan replied.

"Which one are you?" retorted Harry.

"I would like to think I'm the later. But for an objective view you will need to ask someone else." Ivan replied thoughtfully

"Based on recent news and events" Kingsley said in his deep slow voice, "I WOULD say you are both."

Harry seemed to take this information on board as some of the stiffness went out of his stance.

"Harry, this is Dr Sandra Webb, she is Ivan's wife and as we recently discovered Molly's older sister." Kingsley said smiling.

"Sister?" Harry asked his eyes wide as he looked at Sandra.

"Yes." Sandra answered, "It was quite a shock, as my family threw me out and disowned me when they thought that I was a squib. The one time I tried to visit many years later during the first rise of Tom Riddle Jr they tried to have me killed. My younger brothers Fabian and Gideon died protecting me. I never knew I had a younger sister and she was never told about me either."

"When I first saw her tonight I thought it was a trap by the Prewitt family to lure me out by hurting my son. Thankfully it was nothing of the sort." Sandra said with a smile. She looked over to me and I could see the longing in her eyes, "I think we have a great deal of catching up to do."

"I must admit that I'm looking forward to that journey" she said smiling at me. I couldn't help but return the smile.

"I'm very pleased to have met you Harry." She said extending her hand.

"Same here Sandra." Harry replied shaking her hand, "I hope your son is well also." He added.

"He is getting better, as he pushed himself too hard against the Dementors earlier and then the effort of healing Gabrielle drained him more than it should have." She said.

"He is currently resting in that tent over there." She pointed to the tents behind her.

"Ginny briefly mentioned him just now. Could I meet him?" Harry asked.

"You already have apparently." Fireball added stepping into view.

"Ginny?" Harry asked while looking quickly between Ginny and Fireball.

"W… W… What? H… How?" Harry stammered while trying to gather his thoughts.

"You have already met me before also Harry." Fireball said. "I'm Jasper Webb, the two people you just met are my parents."

"We've met?" Harry questioned, "When? How?"

"Your little stunt at the Ministry back in September." Fireball explained. "We were there looking to 'obtain' records. But thanks to the actions of you, Ron and Hermione we were able to make off with a large number of Muggle-Borns before they were processed."

"You kidnapped them?" Harry asked showing a little anger.

"We DO NOT Kidnap people." Fireball shot back her own anger showing, "We rescued them from your bloody Ministry and got them safely out of the country."

"Jasper." Sandra said laying a hand on Jasper's arm to calm her down. "Harry here is coming into this story half way through. Let's get him inside so he can hear the WHOLE story. Then we can figure out how we can best help each other. Ok?"

Jasper nodded and headed off back to the house.

Harry while he also looked startled also nodded. Hand in hand with Ginny he walked back up to the house as well.

Once we were all in the kitchen and Harry had greeted the members of the DA who had arrived to help earlier and were now feasting on scones and tea. Harry was introduced to Chief Williams, Shelly and Cassy in addition to several other Aurors from Dave's team.

We told him how everyone came to be here today. He was very relieved to hear that Hermione's parents were being looked after so well and was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were currently on vacation.

The news of the ambush shocked and angered him. He tried to hide it but I knew the signs well enough.

"Were they after me?" he asked "Am I putting my family in danger by my being here."

At this Ginny reached up and grabbed his hand and looking in his eyes said to him very forcefully, "It wouldn't matter if they were after you, we wouldn't want you to be anywhere else Harry."

Shelly leaned over to Cassy and smiling said in a 'slightly too loud' voice, "Your right their similarities run more than just skin deep."

This caused Ginny and Jasper to giggle and stare at each other curiously.

"No Harry, they are not after you." Arthur answered him. "Ginny is right, even if they were after you we wouldn't want you to be anywhere else."

"Then who were they after?" Harry asked.

"Me" I replied.

You could see the blood drain from him face and the worry begin to show in his eyes.

"No!" he exclaimed.

"We all thought rather the same thing actually." George replied to the room with a smile.

"What is being done about it?" Harry asked his eyes straying to Kingsley looking for an answer.

"Minister Webb has graciously offered us the services of the Australian Aurors currently assigned to the team that has been operating here. After he speaks to the Ministers of the other countries that have provided Aurors we may gain their services as well. These Aurors are part of the Australasian Auror Service, Special Operations Command." Kingsley answered before continuing.

"They have a formidable reputation both in their region and around the globe. I have worked with them before and found them to be both very professional and highly competent in their work."

"Although they do employ very different methods to us. But that could very well work in our favour in this case."

"What? They had a team here and they didn't help? What are they Aurors or bloody cowards?" Harry almost bellowed.

At this comment Fireball, Shelly, Cassy, Chief Williams and all the Aurors outside were on their feet and with thunderous expressions on their faces. Chief Williams had even drawn his wand. The others likely didn't need theirs.

"Stand down, NOW!" bellowed Ivan and everyone seemed to be startled back to their collective senses. Although I noticed that they all kept their eyes on Harry for quite some time afterwards.

Turning to face Harry Ivan continued, "There has apparently already been one misunderstanding over the role of our team here tonight."

"I do NOT intend for there to be another." He said in an icy cold voice while looking at everyone in the room. Although he did linger on Fireball for a moment longer than the others.

"Harry, this team is primarily focused on covert missions. Intelligence gathering, Surveillance, Sabotage, Extraction, Hostage Rescue and missions of a similar nature. While they possess formidable offensive firepower that is not the focus of this teams role. We have dedicated Assault teams who fill that requirement."

"They were originally sent here with a mission to rescue citizens of our member countries who wished to leave the country but were unable to do so."

"The original team leader carried out those orders very satisfactorily."

"As the situation here deteriorated their mission statement was amended to allow them to assist Muggle-Borns and Muggles to escape the country. Very quickly afterwards it became a 'assist any and all who wished to leave' type mission"

"Part way through this mission I tried to contact an Auror that I had worked with many times over the years. Someone I knew and trusted without question."

"Unfortunately that person was killed in action only a few days before the scheduled meet."

"Who was it?" Harry enquired.

"Mad Eye Moody." Ivan answered with a slight tightening of his eyes as he remembered his friend.

"He died trying to get me safely away from my Aunts house." Harry replied.

"I see." Ivan answered, "He was a good friend to me. I deeply mourned his loss."

"Mad Eye being who he was had arranged an alternate for the meeting in case he was unable to make it for any reason. When word reached us of his death the team leader tried to schedule a new time and place. But the alternate contact wouldn't allow it. So the meeting took place as planned."

"In that meeting, the leader of our Team here was betrayed by Mad Eye's alternate contact. He was captured and brutally murdered. The meeting was recorded and we have a copy of the recording. You can hear it happening."

"Who?" Harry began to ask.

"The team leader that was murdered was Senior Auror James Webb. My eldest son." Ivan answered with unshed tears in his eyes.

"The contact that he was meeting was a British Auror by the name Nymphadora Tonks. We currently have an international arrest warrant for her, and I for one am very keen to question her as to why she betrayed my son to his death." He said in tones that clearly conveyed his conviction to track her to the ends of the earth.

"Y… you can't." Harry stammered, "She's dead. She was killed in the battle of Hogwarts alongside her husband."

"What?" Ivan asked shocked, "Dead?" he said as he sat down.

"Yes Minister, I can vouch that she is indeed dead. As I helped carry her body down to the great hall." Kingsley answered.

"I was going to try and explain to Chief Williams and Dave earlier. But things got a little tense when Ginny tried to Hex him from behind." He said with a wiry smile at Chief Williams.

"You WHAT?" Harry exclaimed to Ginny as he almost fell off his seat in surprise.

"It was an accident Harry. I was so upset when he said that he wanted to arrest Tonks. I still hadn't admitted to myself that she was dead and I acted without thinking." Ginny answered looking slightly ashamed of herself.

"What happened?" Harry asked almost fearfully.

"He caught it." Ginny answered.

"Oh Merlin, Gin" Harry exclaimed, "What's going to happen? Attacking an Auror is a serious offence." He said very worried.

"Nothing" Chief Williams replied.

"Nothing?" Harry asked.

"Correct. Nothing is going to be done to Ginny. As nothing happened to Syd, I mean Auror Webb." Chief Williams answered.

"When Ginny said he caught it, she doesn't mean he got hit by it. He caught it in mid-air and froze it in its tracks. He then modified the Hex slightly and showed it to her at rather close range." He said to some nervous giggles around the room.

Chief Williams proceeded to then give Harry a run down on that event and the conversation that followed it. The emotions on Harry's face were interesting to watch. He was naturally angry at someone threatening Ginny. But he couldn't deny that she was in the wrong, he seemed slightly amused at the same time that Dave had used Ginny's own Hex to do the threatening. His offer of duelling her also seemed to take him off guard as well.

But he was clearly relieved when the issue was resolved through an explanation and a 'reset' of their introductions.

"He seems to be a rather 'interesting' man, this Dave." Harry offered. "I would definitely like to meet him."

"I would be happy to make the introductions myself Harry." Ivan offered. "But before I do, I would like to have a chat with you myself. First off I need explain something about Dave, myself and our family to you. As our two families, have crossed paths before."

"They have? When? How?" Harry asked before he could help himself. As he was always keen to find out more about his own family.

"How much of your own family history are you aware of Harry?" Ivan asked. "I understand that your parents were killed by Tom Riddle Jr when you were around 18 months old."

"Not a lot Minister." Harry answered.

"I know a few names of the family tree and that my family links up to the Pervell's in a distant connection. But other than that not a lot."

"Hmm. Ok then." Ivan answered. "When you meet Dave be sure to tell him that."

Seeing the questioning look in Harry's eye Ivan explained, "It will become clearer as you find out about the interaction between our families."

Looking to Chief Williams, Ivan asked "Did Dave show any of the documents I gave him before he left?"

"He did Minister. I believe that they are on the kitchen bench over there behind Charlie." He answered.

Charlie looked behind him and grabbed the documents and the necklace of teeth and placed them on the dinner table in front of Ivan and Harry.

"What's this?" Ivan asked holding up the necklace.

"Teeth from that Werewolf Greyback." Fireball answered.

"Really? What are they doing here?" Ivan asked Fireball.

"After their 'altercation' Dave collected the items that Greyback left behind. He strung the teeth into that necklace in the hope of showing it to Greyback if he ever got the chance to see him again."

"As Dave REALLY wants another go at that Furry SOB when he doesn't have to protect a couple of kids."

"His hoping that showing Greyback his own teeth being used as a decoration will goad Greyback into attacking him so that Dave can properly nail his oversized furry ass to the floor." Fireball said with a smile.

"I see. I do believe I'm going to have to have a word to Dave about this." Ivan said pocketing the necklace.

Looking over to Chief Williams, he said "Tell Dave if he wants this back he needs to justify his plan with me. Ok."

"Yes sir." Was the disappointed reply.

"Chief, we don't want to condone or encourage him in things like this." Ivan replied with a serious expression.

"Even if the furry S.O.B. does deserve it." He added with a slight smirk.

Ivan placed the documents out on the table. The entry of the slave ledger on top.

"These are copies of my Father's 'papers' from when the British Ministry sold him into slavery" Ivan explained.

Harry's face showed his outrage at the thought, "Why would someone do this?" he asked.

"Many reasons Harry. It is by no means an isolated case either. Dave's team has rescued a great many people during their time here. Some before they were sold others after. The ones who were sold have papers much like these ones here." Ivan explained.

"In the case of my father the 'official' reason is that he married a muggle. But the punishment that was dished out far exceeds that for even a capital crime."

"This document here shows the date of his 'arrest', 'trial' and conviction. As you can see they occurred in a very speedy manner. 4 days between arrest and conviction with the punishment being the day after."

"This fact alone made my father highly suspicious of what was really going on. I must say I agree with him."

"So would I" Kingsley replied nodding.

"Thank you Minister." Ivan answered formally.

"As is shown here, my father was initially written up as being sold into perpetual and hereditary slavery."

"Fortunately for our family, he had the luck to cross paths with one Septimus Weasley who worked for the Wizengamot."

Harry looked up at Arthur with a question clear on his face, "Yes Harry, he was my father" Arthur answered

"Mr Septimus Weasley apparently didn't agree with the punishment handed out to my father. As he altered the official records before they were signed which would then make the contract binding."

"The alterations are up here. The Hereditary component was cancelled out. The perpetual condition was also changed so that he could be freed by an owner if he so chose to do so."

"Mr Septimus Weasley also somehow arranged for my father to be sold to people who had the same distaste of slavery as he did. As the records show, my father was only sold a few times and each time it was to a person who was able to help him get further away from England. Eventually my father made it to Australia where he was freed shortly after by a Mr Byron Black."

"Mr Black then took my father in, almost adopted him you could say."

"Was this Byron Black, connected to the Black family here?" Harry asked.

"I would say that is very unlikely. Byron Black was a Muggle Born Wizard. His family were Blacksmiths by trade that is where the Black in their name came from." Ivan answered.

Harry nodded his understanding and indicated for Ivan to continue.

"Once he was freed, my father tried to continue on with his life. However, a great deal of damage had been done to him. He could remember nothing about what he did before he was arrested. So, he did not know if he had a trade at all or any other type of skillset, other than a few skills he considered as Hobbies. He also had absolutely no idea of what family he had belonged to"

"Why was that" Harry asked.

Giving Harry a long steady look Ivan explained what had happened, "When my father was first arrested, he had a wife and a child."

"Had?" Harry enquired, catching the use of the past tense.

"Yes. Had." Ivan answered with a very grim voice, "He was forced to watch as his wife had her throat slit and was then pushed through the execution arch in the ministry."

The shock and outrage was plain to see on Harry's face as he fought to control his emotions, "That is the same Arch that Sirius went through, isn't it?" he asked Arthur and Kingsley.

"The very same." Kingsley answered with sadness.

"Who is Sirius?" Ivan asked.

"Sirius Black was my Godfather." Harry answered, "He died fighting Death Eaters in the Ministry. He was hit with a killing curse and then fell through the veil of that Arch."

"He sounds like a good and brave man." Ivan answered, "I'm sorry for your loss Harry."

"Thank you Minister." Harry replied with a subdued voice, "what happened to the child you mentioned?"

"The child who was only 6 months old was also sent through the arch while my father was forced to watch." Ivan answered grimly.

"That's horrible" was Harry's stricken reply.

"Yes it was. But worse was yet to come." Ivan said in a voice that struggled to hold back his emotions, "My father's wand was snapped, he was then 'cast out' of his family magically. This is what caused him to lose any and all knowledge of his family connections."

"After this was done to him the final indignity was carried out. My father was magically broken as well." Ivan said with a tear running down his cheek.

"Magically broken?" Harry asked confused, "What does that mean."

"It means Harry, that a person's connection to their magical core is broken. Often the vast majority of their soul is also removed as well." Kingsley answered to give Ivan a few moments to compose himself.

Ivan seemed to have noticed this act of kindness from Kingsley as he gave him a small smile before continuing.

"Kingsley is correct Harry. We believe that the people who performed his hideous act on my father botched the job somehow. As although he was greatly damaged and hurt by this process, he was not an empty shell as happens when someone is 'kissed' by a Dementor."

"He could also still perform magic with a wand. Although it was to be quite a while before he was able to obtain one for himself again though."

"What happened to his Soul? The part that was removed." Harry asked.

"We do not know for sure." Ivan answered, "My father had memories of his accusers telling him that they had kept it and locked it away in vessel for all eternity. Stopping it from moving on after his body died."

"He also has other memories of them telling him that they fed it to a Dementor." Ivan said sadly.

"Neither one of those options sounds like a good choice." Harry lamented.

"You sound just like Dave." Ivan said with a smile, "He said that he would try and find his Grandfathers soul even if he had to destroy every Dementor around and extract the souls that they have taken."

"No one could convince him it was impossible." Ivan said in resignation.

"I think he has figured out how to do just that Dad." Shelly said in an almost awed voice.

"What are you saying Shelly?" Ivan asked.

"When we were fighting the Dementors earlier, each time Dave destroyed one you could see all these strange lights appear from them. This lights were all feeble and dim, several of them seemed to be very shaky as well."

"When they appeared Dave drew them to himself and into himself. Then once all the Dementors were destroyed, he just sat down for a few moments and then he began to glow. After a short time, all the lights that he had brought into himself earlier re-appeared only brighter and stronger. They then rose up into the sky and were gone."

"I was standing quite close to him when he did that and I would swear that I could hear voices coming from those lights and that they were thanking him." She said clearly still awed by the memory.

"That's… That's not possible." Ivan said a little disturbed by the news, "It's not possible, isn't it?" he said to his wife.

"I really can't say. It is beyond anything I have even heard of, let alone read about." Sandra answered.

Ivan looked to Kingsley for his views, "I'm afraid that I can't add anything to this, Ivan. I must agree with your wife here on her comment."

Nodding he said, "I guess it will just have to be added to the list of questions that I have for him when he wakes."

"It's getting to be a long list" Kingsley chuckled.

"It does seem that way." Ivan agreed with a chuckle also.

Harry seemed to be struggling with something while the others were talking, during the lull in the conversation he blurted out, "He destroyed a Dementor?"

"Yes he did. Several of them. Well except for the one that I got." Fireball replied.

"I thought that was impossible. Dementors are supposed to be indestructible." Harry stated.

"It's possible. Just very difficult and dangerous." Fireball answered

"How do you do it?" Kingsley asked with a very interested look on his face.

"As Dave explained it to me, you need to have an 'edge' on your Patronus." Fireball said before adding, "You also need to be able to cast it very fast. That usually means non-verbally"

"An edge? How do you have an edge on your Patronus?" this time the question was from Harry.

"By having your happy memory you use to cast the Patronus to also be an equally unhappy one. The trick is to be able to feel both emotions at the same time in equal measure." Fireball explained.

"That would be painful, wouldn't it?" Arthur asked.

"It was for me. I don't know about Dave though." She answered, "I do know that he isn't all that happy after he has taken them on. Jimmy used to get really grumpy whenever he destroyed one. Had to raid the closest supply of chocolate before he even thought about cheering up." Fireball answered.

"Do you know who taught Dave how to do that?" Ivan asked Fireball.

"He didn't say. I do know that he had just about every single book ever written about Dementors in his library. He also has been incessantly asking questions about them to just about anyone who will listen to him." She answered

"When we were in China, just before we were sent over here he spent every spare moment he had talking to a very aged Wizard there who was telling him all about some ancient legends of heroes who destroyed Dementors."

"He and Jimmy also practised on any Dementors that were sighted back home. I would guess they are the prime reasons Dementors are now very rare at home except for in Tassie." She said with a slight note of pride.

Ivan and Kingsley exchanged a 'look' between them, "Another one for the list Minister?" Kingsley asked smiling.

"I believe so." Was the reply.

"If your father's soul wasn't fed to a Dementor does that mean it is a Horcrux?" Harry asked.

"It would be similar, but very different at the same time." Ivan answered

"The soul it contained would not be there by choice. It would also be actively wanting to get back to its remaining parts to become whole again." He explained.

"It would also be a powerful magical object in its own right" Kingsley commented, "Who ever had possession of it would guard it very carefully."

"Is your father still alive?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No sadly he passed away a few years ago." Ivan answered.

With a look of horror on his face Harry exclaimed, "That means he ended up like Voldemort did."

"Calm yourself Harry. My father's soul has not yet 'passed on' it is currently being cared for." Ivan explained.

"How?" Harry asked.

"My sons offered themselves as bearers for my father's soul before he died. They promised him that they would sustain his soul for as long as they could or until they could re-unite them once more."

"Now that Jimmy is dead that burden is now Dave's alone. A huge burden for one so young. Yet he seems to bear it almost with ease."

"'ow old is Dave?" Gabrielle asked startling a few people who seemed to have forgotten that she was there.

"He is 15 years old, 16 at Halloween" Ivan answered.

Both Harry and Gabrielle were unprepared for that answer. Although Gabrielle did appear to be approving of this new information about Dave.

Harry was the first to recover though and he asked, "How can he be an Auror at 15?"

This prompted Ivan and Sandra to retell the abridged version of Dave's story. While the others had heard it previously they still listened to it. Although both Harry and Gabrielle were both paying very close attention to it.

Fleur seemed content to watch her sister throughout the telling of the story though. She had an odd look about her as she contemplated her younger sister.

"That's remarkable" Harry exclaimed once the story was completed. "I'm still a little confused as to how my family fits into it however?" he asked.

Leaning forward Ivan spoke in a very calming voice, "We are now getting to the heart of the matter Harry."

"Dave has been nominated as the person best suited to track down those people who are likely to be trying to collect the bounty on Molly."

"This means that he is going to be around here for a while yet." Gabrielle had a small smile at this statement.

"I don't see a problem with that" Harry offered, "I'm actually looking forward to talking to him"

"The problem Harry, lays with the people who accused my father of the 'crime' that lead to his arrest."

"Who were they?" Harry enquired.

At this Ivan swapped the sheets of paper around and pointed to a set of names and signatures at the top right.

"Do these names look familiar to you at all?" Ivan asked Harry with a questioning look.

Harry glanced over at the document, while he didn't say anything you could see him go pale. More pale than I had ever seen him before. He had goose pimples erupting all up and down his arms and he began to shake.

He staggered to his feet and with tears in his eyes bolted for the bathroom where we could hear reaching.

Ivan looked to Arthur with a concerned expression on his face.

"He is a good lad, young Harry. It is a sign of his strength that even with all he has seen and gone through that he can still react that way to troublesome news." Arthur replied.

"I agree, it takes a certain type of strength to maintain your humanity and emotions and not let them get damaged in difficult times." Ivan said thoughtfully.

Sandra looked over to Ginny and said, "Perhaps you should go up to him. Take him some water and help calm him down. He is most likely terrible embarrassed by his reaction."

"Please tell him that none of us think any less of him because of it. Quite the contrary in fact."

Ginny nodded and then went up to the bathroom with a glass of water and a fresh towel for Harry.

After several minutes the two of them came back down stairs hand in hand. Harry sat back down at the table next to Ginny still holding her hand.

"I'm sorry for that…" Harry said, not knowing what else to say.

"Harry there is nothing to be sorry for" Ivan explained, "The price of an intact and pure soul is to keenly feel injustices. Some more than others."

"Frankly I'd be worried if you hadn't acted like that." Ivan explained.

"You… You don't hate me? For what my family did to your father?" Harry asked tentatively.

"While I am very angry about what happened to my father. I'm not about to lay the blame at your feet Harry"

"It happened long before you were born and it's very clear you knew nothing about it."

"Members of my family are keenly aware of what it is like to be accorded the blame for the 'sins of the father' as they say. So we try VERY hard not to perpetuate the cycle of blame."

"Thank you" Harry said, "I've had some experience of that myself over the years."

"Do you think your son will blame me for this?" Harry asked.

"Dave? No he will not blame you. Like me he will be VERY interested in finding out the WHY of the situation. He will also be extremely interested in any records both official and personal which may exist about my father's arrest, trial and punishment."

"He will also be extremely keen to try and recover his grandfather's souls if indeed it was kept."

"No the problem lays with my father's reaction to you." Ivan said cryptically, "the fragment of my father's soul that Dave supports can talk to him and him to it. If Dave loses control of it (or allows it to) my father's soul can speak to us through Dave."

"It possess him?" Harry asked.

"Not exactly. The fragment of my father's soul is small enough that it can't fully possess and control another person."

"Dave can assist my father's soul however, so that it can take control of his voice and see through his eyes." Ivan answered.

"They can also freely 'talk' to each other. Often if you catch Dave with a 'detached' look on his face you can almost always safely bet that he has been talking to my father."

"Before my father passed away they often spent a great deal of time chatting on just about any topic when they were together. It comforts me that they can still do this now."

"This is one reason why Dave often seems much older than he actually is. Because he can access my father's memories and experiences if he chooses to do so."

"The downside of that being is he sometimes picks up my father's temperament as well." Ivan chuckled.

"My hope, Harry is this. If I can explain to my father's soul that you are an innocent party in this and that you will help us by sharing any records your Grandfather or Great Grandfather may have kept or made of the incident with my father. It may enable him to let go of the unbridled rage that I know he feels over the incident."

"At least in connection to you that is."

Ivan and indeed the rest of his family that were present watched Harry very closely but not in an overbearing way. They were clearly very interested in his response but they were not going to press him for one. They gave the impression of being quite content to just wait for Harry.

"I do not know what records may or may not be in my family vault about this. But I would be willing to see what I can find out." Harry offered.

The gratitude on Ivan's face just melted my heart. He got up and walked around to Harry and picked him up and embraced him with such warmth I was almost reduced to tears. After he put him back down Sandra also embraced Harry as well.

Even Natalie, Shelly, Fireball and Cassy had slightly moist eyes at the scene in front of them.

"Thank you Harry. That is more than we could have dared to hope for." Ivan said beaming down at Harry.

"Your welcome" Harry replied, "Could I ask you something?" he enquired.

"Anything." Ivan answered.

"You said that your father doesn't remember anything about the family he came from." Harry began.

"But you have such a striking resemblance to my own father, I can't help but wonder if there is a possible family connection there somewhere. I have a photograph of my father if you would like to see it." A hint of longing was evident in his voice at this statement.

At this Ivan looked rather embarrassed and even slightly ashamed if that was possible.

Sandra placed her arm around Ivan's shoulders and said to him, "It's alright dear. I do believe you can tell him. Neither him nor any of his family here will judge you or Dave because of it."

This statement got the attention of everyone in the room. What could he be worried about I wondered as I'm sure all the others were as well.

Ivan nodded to his wife before looking to Harry, "I'm afraid Harry that showing me the photograph of your father will not help."

"Why?" Harry asked a little hurt.

"You see Harry, I have absolutely no idea what I look like." Was Ivan's very surprising answer.

Harry's eyes widened in disbelief.

"It may be easier to show you than to try to explain. But I will warn you if I show you what I see when I look at myself or in the mirror it is not a pleasant sight." He explained.

"Please show me, if you are willing." Harry asked.

"Molly, could I trouble you for a mirror and a wide bowl of water?" Ivan asked me.

"Of course you can" I answered, "Just give me a moment."

In short order, I had given Ivan a hand-held mirror and filled a serving tray with water and placed it on the table.

While he waited for the water to subside Ivan looked over to his daughters. "Girls if you do not wish to look you do not need to do so. I know you are aware of the results of this 'condition' but I also know that you have not seen it before. I will leave the choice to you."

His girls just nodded to him, looking slightly worried.

Ivan raised the mirror to his face and then waved his hand over the water in the basin. Slowly there appeared an image in the water.

Even with Ivan's warning Harry wasn't prepared to be faced with an image like that. Ivan looked extremely uncomfortable and Sandra was doing her best to comfort him.

"Is this what you see when you look in a mirror?" Harry asked

"Yes" was the reply.

"What about photographs, paintings?" Harry tried again clearly troubled.

"The same" he replied.

"If you look at your hand what do you see?" Harry asked.

Ivan lifted his hand and stared at it for a moment before answering, "Basically the same, although not as bad."

"What about Dave?" Arthur asked also looking quite shocked

"He sees the same as the image in the water" Ivan very nearly cried.

"What?" Arthur exclaimed, "He has never seen your face?"

"No he hasn't. Neither mine or his own." Ivan said with tears running down his face. "I never saw my father's face, my boys have never seen mine."

"I never got to see Jimmy's face either" he said as his voice finally broke.

As I got the chance to look into the water I had to struggle not to let out a scream. As the face in it staring back at me was that of a skull covered in rotting flesh. The eye sockets were empty and the teeth were not covered by lips any more. What hair there was present was very patchy and matted.

I reached over to Ivan and got him to put the mirror down and then I hugged him. I didn't know what else to do. For a parent, not to know what their child looked like, or for a child not to know what their parent looked like was a terrible fate.

"Your daughters?" Arthur asked showing his concern.

"Thankfully they are unaffected. This only appears to affect the direct male descendants of my father." Ivan explained.

Ivan's daughters quickly joined me around their father offering him their support.

"What…" Harry tried to ask, as he struggled to get his voice back.

"What has caused that to happen to you?" Harry finally managed to get out.

"No one really knows for sure, Harry." Ivan said still a little embarrassed, "we believe it is directly related to my father being magically broken."

"Because that process is (thankfully) seldom used no one knows a great deal about its effects. Especially its effects on decedents of someone who has been broken."

"Another side effect of being broken is that we have a very different type of connection to our magical core than most magical folk. This leads to some unique abilities."

"Magical core?" Harry asked

"Yes Harry, all magical beings and I'm including, Goblins, House Elfs, Centaurs, Unicorns, Dragons and the like in this, have a magical core."

"Some beings have only a slight connection to their core, others are more profound. While yet others may have more than one."

"Wizards and Witches?" Harry asked

"How about a demonstration? It might make things a bit easier to explain." Ivan offered.

He scooped a handful of water from the basin and then stared at it for a moment and it became a triangular shaped object that looked to be made of glass.

"Did you study physics at a muggle school before going to Hogwarts Harry?" Ivan asked

"Not that I remember." Answered Harry looking curiously at the object in Ivan's hand.

"I did" Hermione volunteered.

"Excellent, do you remember what this is called?" Ivan asked.

"It's a prism" she answered

"Correct" Ivan said smiling, "a prism is used to bend light, and we are going to use it to break lights into its component parts. But to do that we need to black out the windows for a moment."

With that he waved his hand at the windows and they were all covered by heavy black curtains plunging the kitchen into darkness.

"Excellent now we need just a tiny bit of light." He said as a small hole appeared in one of the curtains making a very small beam of light that shone onto the kitchen table.

"Next we place the prism so that the beam of light travels through the outer edges to display the visible spectrum of light" he said as he placed the prism in the light and twisted it so that a rainbow appeared on the table

"The way it was explained to me many years ago Harry is this. If you think of magical energy as daylight or 'white light' the areas of that energy that the different magical creatures can access could be thought of as the colours."

"Goblins with their mastery of metal work might be the Violet light here. House Elfs with their own brand of magic might be the Red light here."

"While witches and wizards could be this large green area roughly in the middle."

"Now some witches and wizards might be able to touch on some areas of magic that go into the other colours. However the majority of them can only have a connection to one other area."

"Say something like 'wandless' magic for instance. It could be more into this Blue area."

"While someone who is a Metamorphmagus might have a connection to the Yellow area."

"Does that make sense so far?" he asked Harry

"Yes it kind of does." Answered Harry.

"My old school teachers will be proud." Ivan chuckled to himself.

"Now someone like my father could be described as someone who had very strong connections to the Violet, Blue, and Green areas shown here."

"While some of his daughters were more to the Red and Orange end of the spectrum."

"However very occasionally someone like Dave comes along. Someone who has not only a connection to just about every colour area here. But an extremely solid connection to them as well."

"He possibly even has connections to areas that are not part of this spectrum."

"The trouble is almost nothing is known about magic that lays outside this spectrum. So, it is very dangerous to experiment with it. Not even Dave who has a thirst for knowledge like none I have ever seen, will willingly stray outside those boundaries." He said very gravely.

"What lays outside those boundaries?" Harry asked quietly.

Taking a moment to compose his thoughts before he answered, Ivan banished the heavy black curtains that had blocked the windows moments before.

"We don't know for sure." Ivan answered, "All I know is Dave says that it 'doesn't feel right' on those occasions when he felt himself getting close to them. He is also very reluctant to go near them."

"It is probably a good thing. As I'm not keen on him doing too much experimenting until he has got full control of his full strength in the areas he will connect with."

"What do you mean full control?" Kingsley asked a little worried, "You mean he can't control himself?"

"No. Not at all, Kingsley. Probably a poor choice of words on my part. I should have said, 'full mastery' of his current abilities." Ivan added.

"He still seems to be growing into his abilities, as he is always learning new things that he can do. I know he loves to learn, especially magical craft skills as he gets a joy that has to be seen to be believed out of making things. Especially if the thing he is making is going to be useful for someone."

"I remember when he was in Kindergarten, he and some of the students broke a table as they were dancing on it. He was very upset at breaking it, but the teachers were more worried that the kids might have been hurt. He ran outside and came back in with a bunch of tree branches and wove them into this table like none I have ever seen. It is a very simple looking table, but is has this unique beauty about it that you can't help but admire."

"He was so happy that he had been able to make something useful that everyone seemed to enjoy and even like. He was smiling for days just at the memory of it."

"That same table is still being used by his old Kindergarten and it hasn't got a mark on it since the day he made it." Ivan reminisced.

"Like wise with his skills, his strength still seems to be growing. Sometimes alarmingly. Our biggest saving grace here is that his own strength frightens him a little so he almost never uses it. We occasionally need to organise special training sessions for him to push him to make him test and explore his strength so he has a better understanding of it, and more importantly control over it."

"But it can be a challenge. I'm starting to think for his next re-qualification session in duelling we are going to need to do it eight onto one. Or make him do it blindfolded." He said with a slightly forced chuckle.

"Just what exactly ARE his current limits?" Kingsley enquired very intently.

"I can give you a copy of his personal file if you would like Kingsley. But I must ask that it be kept eyes only to you and Arthur as he will be working directly with you both while he is here." Ivan offered.

"Thank you that would be greatly appreciated." Kingsley answered his excitement at reading Dave's file evident.

"No problem. Just please keep it secure as there is an ever-growing list of criminals who would dearly love to get their hands on it." Ivan reminded Kingsley as he turned to Dave's mirror phone on the table.

"Drunkmouse, I'm guessing that you're still listening in here?" Ivan asked with a smile.

"Yes Minister I most certainly am." Came the reply.

"Can you place a copy of Dave's personal file into my tray for me?" Ivan requested.

"It's there now Minister as I guessed you would make it available when you gave Dave away to the Pom's." Drunkmouse replied with a small amount of cheek.

"He wasn't given away Drunkmouse. He is on loan." Ivan chuckled, "I'm pretty sure that they won't want to keep him anyway." He said winking at Kingsley.

"That's a safe bet" Fireball said to Shelly with both sharing a chuckle also.

Ivan extracted a wallet much like the one Dave had used before and opened it up. Reaching in he pulled out a surprisingly thick folder of parchment.

He put it on the table and placed his hand on it for a moment before sliding it over to Kingsley. "The file is charmed to only allow yourself or Arthur to be able to open it and read the contents."

"I understand fully, as I'm sure Arthur will also." Kingsley replied, while Arthur nodded.

"It is a lot thicker than I was expecting"

"It has his school records, as well as the usual Auror service records and a case history summary as well."

"Given Dave's rather unique talents, there are also some extra records in there relating to testing and training of those abilities as well." Ivan answered.

"It sounds like it is going to be an interesting read." Kingsley said to no one in particular.

"Minster? Can I ask another question?" Harry asked Ivan.

"Certainly you can Harry, and my name is Ivan. All those 'Minsters' grate on my ears as I get older." He said smiling.

Harry returned the smile, "Thank you Ivan."

"You mentioned before that your team here were carrying out rescue type missions primarily."

"I did." Ivan answered

"Do you know how many people that they rescued?" Harry asked nervously, "I ask as several of my friends had family members go missing during the war and they have had no news about them at all. I was hoping that maybe your team might have gotten some of them."

Ivan regarded Harry favourably for a moment before once more speaking to the mirror phone, "Drunkmouse, do we have a total count on the number people that have been through our operation over here at all?"

"We do Minister." Drunkmouse answered.

"Can you please tell us?"

"It's classified Sir." Drunkmouse answered nervously.

"What? Who the bloody hell did that?" Ivan asked very annoyed.

"You did Sir." Drunkmouse replied even more nervous, "you said under no circumstances is that information to be given out without written approval from you."

"Crikey, I did to." Ivan answered feeling a little shame faced. He quickly scribbled a not and signed it and placed it I his wallet.

"Check my tray Drunkmouse you will find the required note from me." Ivan said a little impatiently.

"Got it Minister, give me a moment." The voice came back,

"Total number of people through our operation was, Fifteen Thousand Three hundred and Forty-Two people" he said to a stunned room.

"Five house Elfs, one vampire, and four Centaurs." He finished.

None of us knew what to say. The looks around the room were of disbelief and almost denial.

"They kept themselves busy, didn't they" Kingsley said to Ivan who seemed quite surprised himself.

"It would appear that they did." He replied while deep in thought.

"Drunkmouse, did we hear you correctly before. You did say Fifteen Thousand, didn't you?" Ivan inquired

"Yes I certainly did Minister." He replied.

"Do you have a breakdown on that number at all?" Ivan requested

"Not an exact one Minister as a lot of the people we have under our care are still too traumatised to admit their true status. There are some people who are obviously muggles, but keep on claiming that they are wizards as they fear that they will be killed otherwise."

"I also don't have a break down by nationality locked in, as a lot of these people are not giving honest answers as to where they have come from for the same reasons. They are still extremely afraid that they will be further targeted if they admit to their country of origin. It is a slow process to convince them otherwise Minister."

"Understood, please give us the best you have on the breakdown of overall numbers then."

"Yes Minister, the numbers are: 15,342 total. 9,205 muggles, 6,137 magical. Of the magical number, we have 450 confirmed supporters of Tom Riddle Jr who are in custody. There are a further 207 classified as 'snatchers' (or supporters of opportunity) also in custody."

"657 Voldemort supporters who were not at the final Battle at Hogwarts" Kingsley exclaimed while looking directly at Harry.

Harry could only nod his reply, as he was clearly thinking about what might have happened with those extra numbers on the side of Voldemort.

"Harry if you can get me the names of the people that you know are missing, or the name of the family that they belong to I will organise for Drunkmouse and his team to locate them if they are under our care." Ivan offered.

"Thank-you very much, Ivan" Harry replied happily.

"Could I ask a question?" Arthur said hopefully.

"Certainly you can." Ivan answered

"Do you know how many of that number were assisted by my son Percy? Or 'Mr P' as Dave called him." Arthur asked the mirror phone.

"One moment sir." Was the reply, "We have 'Mr P' listed as directly involved in the cases of 6,809 people and 2 House Elfs." Drunkmouse answered.

At this news Percy turned so red I thought he was going to catch fire. But Arthur looked like he was going to swell with pride.

Arthur quickly went over to Percy and embraced him fiercely. After he released him he looked him in the eye and said, "I know we had our disagreements over your actions in the last few years son. But if those disagreements enabled you to be where you could do that much good then they were worth it. I'm proud of you my son." He said as he hugged him again.

The rest of us joined him in that embrace.

After he disentangled himself from the impromptu family hug Arthur spoke with Ivan quietly, "Would it be possible to see the recommendation that Dave wrote for Percy?"

Ivan quickly conveyed that request to Drunkmouse and was soon extracting a copy of the recommendation from his wallet. We he handed it over to Arthur he advised "Read it when it is a little bit quieter, as it might embarrass Percy to read what has been written here."

Arthur nodded in agreement.

"You can share it with Molly however, as you two deserve to know what your son has been up to." Ivan added.

Standing up Ivan spoke to his Aurors, "I don't want to sound like a grumpy old man, but I do believe it might be a good idea for those of you who are going to be staying here to get some sleep. As you have all been up for close on 24 hours or more."

He was met with a few good-natured grumbles from his team as they began to make their way towards their various tents.

"But all of you should be aware that I am extremely proud of the efforts you have put in while you have been here and I'm in awe of what you have accomplished as well."

"All of you will be receiving letters of commendation in your personal jackets from me and when I speak to the other Ministers as well I'm confident that they will agree also."

"I will also be pushing for yet another unit citation." He added with a smile.

"Shelly, Fireball, can you please check in on Dave before you get some sleep yourself?" he asked.

"Will do" they replied together before heading off to the tents.

While Ivan had been talking to his Aurors, Sandra had gone across to speak to Harry. I couldn't hear what they discussed but he quickly left the room and returned with the photo album that Hagrid had made for him in his first year.

He opened the album and showed it to Sandra saying, "This one is of my parents James and Lily on their wedding day."

"They do look like a lovely couple don't they." Sandra said smiling and looking between the photo and her husband.

"I agree with you Harry. There is a strong similarity between the two of them." She said, "If Ivan had Brown eyes instead of his mother's grey ones the similarities would be even stronger."

Everyone seemed to gather around Harry's album and were looking between the photo of James and Ivan.

"I feel like a specimen in a Zoo being examined by trainee vets" Ivan remarked to Kingsley who had also joined the throng around the album.

"Do you?" Kingsley asked with a smile before adding "can you turn a little to the left please."

"The odd requests that I get at times" Ivan replied good naturedly as he turned in the requested direction.

"It certainly is a strong likeness. But there are distinct differences as well." Kingsley replied.

"The height and build he got from his mother's side along with his eyes" Sandra answered, "His jaw is also a little heavier than on James. But yes everything else matches, even the expressions."

"Who is Ivan's mother" I asked Sandra.

"Her name is Lillian." Sandra answered, "Her family had been amongst some of the earliest pioneers in Australia apparently. She does love to tell stories of the 'early days' as she calls them." She said smiling.

"Is? Do you mean she is still alive" I asked.

"Yes she is 89 years young as she puts it." Sandra said a little proudly. "She will soon be turning 90"

"89? That is a good run." Arthur said, "What's her secret?"

"Good beer, good laughs, good pranks, good times, good family and good chess apparently." Ivan said with a chuckle.

"Good Pranks?" George added with a twinkle in his eyes. "You mean pranks can extend your life?"

"Depends on who your pranking George." I told him with a slightly stern look at him. He had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed.

"Unless you are at the top of your game George I don't recommend taking her on. She might look like a sweet little old lady, but believe me that is only a well-practised front. She has a wicked sense of humour and loves to prank family members." Ivan said surveying George with a professional eye.

"Sounds like a challenge eh?" George said nudging Ron in the ribs.

While keeping a perfectly straight face Sandra turned to her husband and said "Five Galleons on Grandma"

"No bet." Ivan replied

"Don't you have faith in your mum?" George teased.

"Oh no, I have more faith in her than you know. I just don't like seeing lambs lead to their slaughter without at least some fair warning. Or a chance to size up their opponent or opponents." Ivan replied now struggling to keep a straight face.

"Lamb to the slaughter eh? Never have I been so in…." George tried to say before a thought struck him.

"Did you say opponents?" George asked.

"Yes I did." Ivan said smirking.

"Who is the other one?" George requested.

"Her partner in crime, the one who taught her just about all she knows." Was the reply.

George had a slightly confused look on his face.

"Her mother George. Or as Dave calls her, Great Grandma Vogt." Ivan answered.

"Blimey. How old is she?"

"She just turned 112 years young in February." Sandra answered.

"This could be even more fun than I thought with the two of them…" he started to say before Arthur cut across him asking,

"You aren't seriously planning on pranking the 89 year old mother and the 112 year old Grandmother of the Australian Minister are you?"

"No I'm seriously planning on pranking my new Uncles Mum and Grandmother" George replied loftily

"He is ambitious I'll give him that" Ivan said to Arthur with a smile.

"That he is" Arthur answered also smiling.

Surprisingly Bill said to "How long has your mother in-law been playing pranks?"

"Just about all her life" Sandra replied.

"201 combined years of experience up against 21" hardly seems fair he said to Fleur.

"Oui" she answered, "I'll bet 5 Galleons on Grand-mère Webb and Arrière grand-mère Vogt" she said to Sandra while ignoring George's look of mock hurt and Bill's chuckles.

"Shouldn't we let the poor boy at least meet his opponents before he decides to embarrass himself?" Ivan asked the room.

"Nah" was the almost universal reply.

"Betrayed by my own family. I'm both shocked and stunned" George said while trying to appear hurt. But the grin on his face at the thought of the upcoming battle couldn't be completely hidden.

"Would your mother know any more about your father's family?" Harry asked Ivan

"I do not think so Harry. As she would only know what my dad could have told her. He has told me all he knows and that isn't much. He wasn't even 100% sure of his name that is listed on his documents. He always insisted that Douglas never felt completely right to him. One reason why he wouldn't let me name either of my boys after him."

"The only hard evidence we have of his life before is this key" Ivan said while extracting a key from a golden chain about his neck. The chain looked almost exactly the same as the one Dave wore. Only on this chain there was only one item a small key.

Ivan tugged on the key gently and it came off the chain and he held it out in the palm of his hand for Harry to see.

Bill came forward and looked closely at the key, "That's definitely a Gringotts key he said."

Looking to Ivan he pointed to the key and asked, "May I?" seeing the hesitation he added "I work for Gringotts and may be able to discover more about the key for you."

Ivan passed the key to Bill who held it in his hand for a moment while muttering something under his breath. He then held the key up to the light and examined it closely.

"It isn't a main key to a family vault, it is definitely a key to a secure room within a family vault though. Not many vaults would have rooms like that and it would have to be an old vault to have multiple rooms in it." He said thoughtfully

"If you come to Gringotts with me we might be able to identify the main vault that this key belongs to." Bill offered.

"That is a very interesting offer Bill. One I'm sorely tempted to take you up on." Ivan said hopefully, "However there is a small flaw in that plan."

"What flaw?" Bill asked.

"Goblins do not take kindly to people like me and my children. Our particular skills make them feel threatened." He replied.

"Threatened? How so?" Bill asked.

"Gold and Jewels are very important to Goblins are they not?" Ivan asked him

"Of course they are. Goblins are very protective of their treasures both their own and those under their care."

"They are protective because of the value of the treasure?" Ivan asked, prodding for a specific response.

"Agreed and it is valuable because it is rare." Bill offered.

"Correct. So how do you think they would react to people who have the ability to make their treasure common place?" Ivan enquired.

Seeing the look of slight bafflement on Bills face Ivan reached over to a plate of scones and tossed one to Bill. However when bill caught it the scone was now solid gold.

Holding it up Bill looked at it in amazement. Everyone else gasped astonished.

"I can do that with gold and silver, most of my girls can do the same also. Dave can do it with just about any type of metal as well as jewels. Dave can also work metals and produce results very much like Goblin wrought arms and armour." Ivan explained.

"Although I do believe his favourite materials to use are wood and stone." Ivan said smiling.

"All it takes is a glance at his house to tell you that darling." Sandra agreed.

Bill was still staring at the scone Ivan had thrown to him. He started to talk a few times but could find no words.

"Back home the Goblins in our Wizarding Banks become very worried each time we visit. They seem to think that if we can turn just about any object into gold then we can turn their gold into more common materials." He said with a chuckle.

"Can you?" Ron asked curiously.

"Would you?" Bill asked seriously.

"Not willingly. As we have no desire to undermine the Wizarding economy." Ivan answered also seriously.

Bill nodded and then asked, "Can Dave really work metals like that? Goblins guard those secrets very closely. If they think that he has stolen those secrets they will never rest until he is dealt with."

The look on Ivan's face showed that he was very clearly aware of the Goblins views on such matters.

"You are correct in your assumption Bill. The Goblins back home also expressed those views when they first saw some of Dave's handiwork. He had to give them a demonstration of sorts to give them an idea as to how he worked the metals. He was able to convince them that while the results were very similar the methods were very different." Ivan explained.

"Your wife and her family are wearing examples of Dave's work. I can see from here that the metals are as pure as they can be. They are also almost totally impervious to damage and will never need cleaning."

"There are also some very powerful protective charms and wards on them that will afford some serious protection." He added seemingly impressed.

Monsieur and Madame Delacour along with Fleur were now looking at their bracelets in wonder. Gabrielle raised her wrist to look at her bracelet also, although she seemed to be noticing it for the first time. She had a most curious expression on her face.

"Quand est-ce que j'ai eu ça?" she said rapidly in French, before catching herself and asking "When did I get this?" while holding her wrist up.

Fleur's eyes widened when she saw the bracelet on Gabrielle's wrist. Unlike the ones worn by Fleur and her parents Gabrielle's one was studded with numerous bright blue Sapphires.

"I put it on you Gabrielle once your physical injuries had been healed but before the last curses were removed." Monsieur Delacour explained.

"However it did not have any sapphires on it then." He said with a look of curiosity on his face.

"What is it for?" she asked with a questioning expression on her face.

"It is a Talisman, a bit like this one" Bill answered her as he touched the fang earring that he always wore.

"Their purpose is to provide protection for you from curses. In the case of the Talisman that Dave made for you, Fleur and your parents it was to specifically protect you from the curses that were on that the knife that stabbed you."

"They also carry a measure of the love from your family in it." Bill said impressed.

"I see" Gabrielle replied now very interested in it.

"You said Dave made it?" she asked Ivan.

"It has all the hall marks of his work yes. But I did not see him actually make it though." He answered

"We saw 'im make zem Gabrielle. Eee took some old rusty nails and some of our 'airs and made zem right in front of us. I 'ad never seen anyzing like eet" Fleur answered.

"Rusty nails and my hair?" she asked in disbelief.

"Oui" Fleur answered smiling.

"Incroyable" she exclaimed also smiling.

"Dave did say you needed to wear yours for two more days before you could take it off." I told her.

"Do I zen need to give it back to eem?" she asked with obvious reluctance to part with it.

"No dear, knowing Dave he would not accept them back from any of you as he made them with your own hairs" Sandra answered her to Gabrielle's relief.

"But I would advise you all to take care of them as they are truly priceless."

"Inestimable?" she said with her eyes widening in shock, while her parents and Fleur also wore similar expression of surprise.

"I wouldn't argue with that." Bill agreed, "Knowing what it cost me for this Talisman" he said again indicating his fang ear-ring.

"I would hate to hazard a guess as to the value of those ones." He said pointing to the bracelet on Fleur's wrist, "Let alone the one Gabrielle is wearing."

Looking a little shocked now Gabrielle began to say "I can't wear something zat is worz so much. I couldn't afford to pay 'im for eet…"

"My dear, do not be worried. As I know what Dave will say if you said that to him." Said Sandra while looking at Gabrielle kindly.

"He would say that next to someone's life such an object has no worth, not unless it is helping them" she replied. "Dave is not one to stand on ceremony nor is he one to seek the spotlight for his actions. He much prefers to go about his job in quiet and have his team be appreciated for their efforts."

"When he does things like this" at this she indicated the bracelet, "there are absolutely no strings attached to them. Indeed to even suggest that there might be would be taken as a major insult to his team and by extension himself."

"If you feel the need by all means tell him you are grateful for the efforts of his team and what they did. But as you fought alongside his team to defend others he would have viewed it as dishonourable to NOT help you for YOUR efforts to help his team." She explained.

"Does that help to explain how he views things?" Sandra asked her.

"Oui" Gabrielle replied managing to look both relived and impressed at the same time.

With Gabrielle calmed down Ivan and Bill were able to continue on with their conversation.

"Bill, if you can convince the Gringotts Goblins that we are no threat to them or their treasure I would be very happy to visit and bring the key for them to examine and see what they can find out about it for us." Ivan offered.

"I will see what I can arrange" Bill answered while offering the golden scone back to Ivan.

"Keep it." Ivan told Bill, "It might help with your explanation to them."

Bill nodded in agreement.

"Harry, if the Gringotts Goblins can find out anything about that key I will be sure to let you know." said Ivan warmly.

Trying not to look to hopeful Harry replied, "Thank you."

"I must ask you Harry to try and not get your hopes up too much about this. As I have been told many time before that I or my father have a resemblance to people from a particular family."

"Further investigation of these claims usually shows no actual link exists and that it is just coincidence that the resemblance exists at all." Ivan explained to Harry.

"I understand. Thank-you for explaining that to me." Harry replied.

"On that note I think we should be going dear. We have intruded far more than I had intended to do so upon these good people." Ivan said to his wife as he stood up.

Arthur and I started to protest saying that they are more than welcome to stay and that we would love the opportunity to get to know my sister and her family better.

Ivan replied saying, "We would both be deeply honoured to stay and talk the hours and days away with you all as well. However I do have some official business to take care of back home. I also need to organise a few things with the New Zealand, New Caladonian and Fijian Ministers so we can borrow some of their Aurors for the work here."

"But I would like to ask for permission to visit tomorrow morning (your time) when Dave wakes up if that is possible." He asked hopefully.

"There is no need to ask Ivan, you are more than welcome here at any time." Arthur responded before I could.

"You have my most humble thanks, Arthur and Molly." He replied.

"Once again I would love to extend my invitation to you and all your family, and your adopted family members as well" he said looking to Hermione and Harry "to visit with us. We have more than enough room to comfortably accommodate you all"

"Perhaps when Sandra or Dave brings Hermione over to lift the memory charms on her parents you will all be able to visit for a time? I know the rest of the family would love to meet you all as well." Ivan offered.

I could see the hopeful looks in the eyes of Hermione and Ron as well as the rest of the family. Gabrielle also entertained a hopeful look as well which didn't go unnoticed by Fleur.

Arthur had clearly been put on the spot, I could see his desire to go and visit family fighting with his desire not to impose himself or his family onto others doing war with one another. I could feel the excitement within myself as well at the prospect of going to visit with my newly discovered big sister as well.

Surprisingly Percy stepped in to help Arthur make his decision.

"You know Dad, Dave has told me all about one of his Brother-in-laws who works on Muggle Aeroplanes and is a qualified pilot. I'm sure he would be able to answer all those questions you have about them you know."

"Really?" Arthur said with genuine surprise and delight on his face. I knew then that Arthur had made his decision and that we would all be off on a journey soon.

"If Dave was referring to Colin I'm very certain that he would not only be happy to answer your questions he would offer you a few rides as well." Ivan said grinning.

"In that case I would be very happy to accept your kind offer Ivan." Arthur said while holding out his hand to Ivan.

"Wonderful, just wonderful" Ivan said grinning while he shook hands with Arthur.

"Shall we say we will collect you about 9pm on the 20th? As that would make it 8am on the 19th at home." Ivan offered before saying to Arthur, "It's easier to adjust to a longer day than a shorter one"

"If that is convenient to you we will all be ready then." Arthur said excitedly.

Fleur quickly spoke up at this point and asked, "Could I please bring my sister Gabrielle along? As she 'as never been to Australie"

Ivan looked a little confused by the request, but Sandra quickly covered for him, "If it is ok with her parents we would be more than happy to have her come along as well."

Gabrielle raced to her parents and began to speak to them excitedly in rapid fire French. After a quick conversation with Sandra they readily agreed to allow Gabrielle to accompany Fleur and Bill to Australia.

Gabrielle hugged her sister in thanks and I distinctly heard Fleur say to her "You owe me one."

I tried my best to stifle a smile at that comment.

A round of hurried goodbyes ensured after that. Ivan said he would be ready by the door at 9am our time tomorrow. But that if Dave woke up earlier than that to have someone call him and he would be ready earlier.

With a final round of Hugs and Kisses Ivan and Sandra, along with Natalie and Craig went back through the door and with a final quick chat to Arthur about how to close and lock the door way, they closed the door behind them.

Once Arthur had turned the key on the closed door, we heard a distinct click. When he next opened the door I could see only the usual scullery behind it.

"Now that was an interesting day if ever there was one" Arthur said to me. Everyone else was in agreement with him as well.

Chief Williams mentioned that he too needed to leave as he had reports to get finished before tomorrow now that he knew his minister was going to be back in the morning. He did say he would be back in the morning if it was ok with us (it was). I tried to get him to stay for dinner but he politely declined and said he did need to get back to the embassy.

With his departure it left just my family, the Delacour's, Kingsley and a few members of the DA for dinner. It was a typical noisy and chaotic family dinner with guests and I loved every minute of it.

After dinner was done and the dishes were cleared away, our guests had also departed. We sent the Delacour's along with Bill and Fleur off to bed. As they had had a very eventful day. George and Charlie had also headed off to bed early as well.

Arthur and I sat down to read Percy's nomination that Dave had written for the Australian Distinguished Service Cross.

While Dave had a plain spoken almost blunt approach to his writing he was also lavish in his praise of Percy's efforts as well as that of this mysterious woman Audrey that had been mentioned before.

"Well that was most certainly a VERY interesting read I must say." Arthur remarked once he had finished it.

I was in full agreement with Arthur once I had finished reading it as well. There were even tears in my eyes as I realised how proud I was of my once wayward son.

"You know dear, if they wish to honour Percy like this for his work, we really should speak to Kingsley about formally recognising the efforts of Dave and his team also for their work over here."

Arthur looked at me and his smile just melted my heart, "You know Mollywobbles that is a fantastic idea. I will certainly raise it with him tomorrow."

"But now I feel that we should get ourselves off to bed as tomorrow promises to be as interesting as today was."

"After you" I told him as I followed him to the stairs.

I said goodnight to Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione who were all still in the lounge talking as we went off to bed.


	14. The Next Day

**15th May 1998 (Friday)**

The next morning when I awoke I wasn't sure if the events of the previous day had been a dream or not. I know I certainly had experienced some rather strange dreams during the night.

It wasn't until I got up and looked out the window to see the collection of tents that were being used by Dave and his team that it all came flooding back to me.

I couldn't help myself, I had this giddy feeling inside of me at the thought of having an older sister. Knowing that I was going to get to see her today was also an exciting thought as well.

Quickly getting dressed in something that I thought was more presentable than my attire from yesterday I went down stairs to the kitchen to get breakfast going.

Once in the kitchen I got the kettle going and was getting the rest of the breakfast things out when I noticed movement out at the tents. Wondering why they would be up so early I went out to see them.

I hadn't made it half way to the tents before I was met by a familiar face, "Good Morning Mrs Weasley" Cassy said very cheerfully to me as she passed tying her hair up.

"Good Morning Cassy." I replied, "What gets you up so early this morning."

"Early? I'm afraid we have all slept in a bit today and are running a little late. Shelly and Mick are a little upset that we have slept in and I think that they are organising a special PT session for us to make up for it." She answered.

"PT?" I asked a little confused, when a voice behind me explained, "Physical Training. Nothing like a small 5 mile run to wake you up and get you thinking straight."

Turning around I saw Shelly walking towards me with a wicked little grin on her face as she looked over to Cassy.

"Good Morning Shelly." I said warmly "please tell me you are not making Dave run 5 miles this morning after what he went through yesterday."

"Good Morning Aunt Molly" Shelly said turning her smile on me and surprising me momentarily.

"Goodness me. That comes as a pleasant surprise" I told her as I gave her an appropriate hug which she readily returned.

"Don't worry about Dave, Aunty. We are under orders to let him sleep, for this morning at least." She said smiling.

"I will organise a test for him later today to see if he can join in normal PT tomorrow morning." Shelly almost purred at the thought of it.

"When will you all be back? As I was about to get breakfast going for you all." I asked her, when suddenly there were several heads poking out of tents enquiring about the offer of breakfast hopefully.

"We should be back in less than an hour. But there is no need to make breakfast for this mob." She said looking back over her shoulder at the suddenly disappointed faces.

"They are more than capable of cooking their own meals." She stated.

"Now don't be silly dear. It is no trouble at all to make breakfast for an extra 12 people. I can't have family and friends starting the day without a proper meal in them, now can I?" I told her. There seemed to be some cheering from the tents behind her when I made this comment. I did manage not to smile at the response I must say.

Giving in to the inevitable Shelly relented but not before her inner drill sergeant made an appearance, "All right you lot if you would like to join the Weasley's for breakfast you have one minute to be ready and we need to be back here inside record time."

"Your time starts NOW." She added while struggling to hold back an evil grin.

"You know I think that they might just break their record today after all." She remarked as they all assembled inside the allotted time.

"We will see you soon." She said as they took off running in formation.

I watched them head off on their morning run with a mixture of gratitude and worry. Gratitude for the work that they had already done and were doing. But also worry for their safety as they were in a dangerous line of work.

As tempting as it was to check on Dave I decided to let him sleep and headed into the kitchen to continue with the breakfast preparations. Entering the kitchen I found Arthur making a pot of tea and looking at me with a question on his face.

"Shelly has taken them for their apparently normal morning run and physical training session."

"Didn't see Dave in the group. Did he go earlier?" he asked.

"No apparently she was under orders to let him sleep." I replied.

"After the day he had yesterday I'd say he has earnt a sleep in."

"He certainly has." I agreed, "I invited Shelly and the others to join us for breakfast when they get back from their training."

"That will make for an interesting breakfast I'm sure." Arthur said while smiling, "I was going to ask you if we should invite them in but seems you beat me to it." He said while planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Isn't it a bit early for that sort of thing?" a voice asked from behind us.

Turning to face the stairs I could see our youngest son looking at us with a slightly apprehensive look about him while two emotions battled. One was the desire for food the other a desire to avoid watching his parents snogging.

"When you're with the woman of your dreams Ron, it's never too early." Arthur advised his son, "something I'm sure you would agree with if Hermione was down here alone with you. Hmm?"

Ron didn't answer but his ears did change colour and he made his way to the table only a little sullenly. The desire for food having won the internal battle.

In short order I had bacon sandwiches on the table and the smell of them quickly drew down several other occupants of the house. Bill, George, Charlie, Harry, Hermione and Ginny were all soon around the kitchen table Monsieur and Madam Delacour had also come down soon after. I could hear the shower running upstairs. I was wondering who it was when Fleur came into the kitchen.

"Gabrielle should hurry up if she wishes to get any breakfast" I told Fleur, "at the rate this lot are eating there will be nothing left when she gets down."

"She will be 'ere shortly" she said just as the shower cut off.

The conversation around the breakfast table quickly shifted to the events of the previous day. "Bill, did the two of you sleep ok after yesterday's events?" Arthur asked.

"I think I was basically asleep before my head hit the pillow. The next time I opened my eyes it was morning, so I must have slept like a log."

"Was very stiff when I got up though like I had been playing Quidditch all day." He remarked.

"How about you Fleur? How are you this morning?" Bill asked his wife

"About ze same." She answered, "I don't zink I even recall falling asleep. I just remember laying down and zen ze sun was shining in zrough ze windows." She offered.

"I can imagine that. I was exhausted just from watching you all." Arthur said still amazed at yesterday's events.

"How about you Julian and Apolline I hope you slept well?" enquired Arthur.

"Oui. We both slept very soundly thank you." Julian replied.

"Glad to hear it." Arthur said happily, "How about Gabrielle?" he ask Ginny and Hermione. As the three girls had been forced to squeeze into Ginny's room last night.

"I think she slept ok last night Dad." Ginny answered with a smirk, "But I did hear her talking in her sleep quite a lot. I couldn't make out what she was saying though."

"It didn't sound like it was a nightmare, but I just got the feeling she was worked up about something."

"Wouldn't you agree Hermione?" Ginny asked with a perfectly straight face, one I had seen on her many times before when she was playing innocent.

Hermione very nearly chocked on her juice and the ensuring coughing fit required Ron to deliver a few heart felt blows to her back to help her recover. "Yes I would Ginny. But I also couldn't understand what she was saying very well. It seemed to be mostly in French though."

Fleur and I seemed to be the only ones who caught the undertones in that exchange and I wouldn't bet against Fleur having a quiet discussion with the both of them and Gabrielle when the occasion presented itself.

Gabrielle arrived in the kitchen soon after and she seemed to be in good spirits.

"Did you sleep well dear?" I asked her.

"Oui" she replied.

"No dreams?" Ginny asked with her unnaturally straight face.

"Non." She answered looking a little confused.

"It's just I thought I heard you talking in your sleep last night. But couldn't quite make out what you were saying. Just wanted to make sure you weren't having any nightmares that's all." She asked with the strain of maintaining the straight face giving her away to Arthur.

"Merci, but zere ez non need to be worried. I don't recall any 'aving any cauchemars." She answered quickly finding herself some juice and a sandwich.

At this point we could hear a set of voices growing louder in the distance, it sounded like a group of people coming up the lane from the village.

Arthur got up and looked out the window.

"Looks like Shelly and the others are back from their morning run." He replied while going back and sitting down.

They were soon in the yard and heading for their tents to wash up before they had a chance to eat.

Far quicker than I thought possible Shelly and Fireball were walking across the yard to the house.

"That was quick." I remarked to Arthur caught off guard, thinking I had more time to make the next round of meals.

Just as the girls were coming in through the door I was trying to shoo everyone away from the breakfast table.

"Please don't chase people away from the breakfast table on our account Aunty Molly." Shelly said, and I could tell the form of address didn't go unnoticed by the others in the room.

"It's no bother dear" I told her still trying to get Ron to move from the table.

"Please Aunty we are all very happy to eat outside, it is a beautiful morning so we were just going to put some tables up and use those." She offered, then looking over at Ron and Charlie who were still enthusiastically attacking their breakfasts she added, "Besides if your boys are anything like ours it isn't usually safe to get between them and their food." She said smiling broadly.

"It's not just the boys that are attached to their food." Bill smirked at Ginny until she smacked him on the back of the head and Fleur elbowed him in the ribs.

"So I see" Shelly answered.

"We were just wondering if you all would like to join us outside, as I think there might be more room for us all and we also picked up some fresh supplies coming back through the village." Fireball invited.

Seeing the sense in having the group of us outside we quickly transferred breakfast from the kitchen table to a set of tables outside with enough room for us all to be seated comfortably.

Fireball and Shelly quickly handled the introductions of the Aurors from Dave's team that we hadn't yet met. They were an interesting mix of Australians and New Zealanders. The most surprising thing for me was that they were more like a large extended family. I had expected them to be more like Arthur's co-workers at the Ministry. But they were obviously a very tightly knit unit of people.

I could only imagine how they would have taken the news of the death of their team leader.

The members of Dave's Team in addition to his sisters and cousin were from the Australian contingent: Michael 'Mick' Winmar he was the teams scout and tracker as well as their liaison with the Australian Aboriginal Magical Community, Arron 'Rowdy' Brennan, Russell 'Guz' Chambers, and Ryan 'Goose' Colbert.

From the New Zealand contingent there was; Jonothan 'Jono' Marshall he was the 'leader' of the NZ contingent as well as the liaison with the New Zealand Maori Magical Community, Isabella 'Izzy' Christian, Oliver 'Olly' Jackson and Abagail 'Abby' Cartwright.

The contingents from Fiji and New Caledonia were not currently with Dave as they formed his dedicated surveillance team. They were currently on a stakeout and we were promised introductions later.

Once the introductions were complete we all sat down to enjoy breakfast complete with the fresh supplies that Shelly and her team had brought up from the local village.

"Ez Dave not joining us?" Gabrielle asked with an almost forced casualness that seemed to have caught Fireball's, Fleur's and Ginny's attention.

"No he isn't" Shelly replied to Gabrielle's quickly masked disappointment.

"I was given orders to let him sleep this morning. As after expending that much energy and having that many bones re-broken and then set correctly he will need all the rest he can get."

"Even with his remarkable healing abilities it will still have taken a lot out of him to deal with all of that."

"Having broken a few of my own bones a time or two I can certainly say it does take it out of you when they are healed." Harry replied almost without thinking.

"Not to forget the time that Lockhart made the bones in your arms disappear." Added Ron.

"Why did he make the bones in your arm vanish?" Shelly asked baffled.

Chuckling Ron answered, "The stupid git thought he was healing Harry's broken arm. But he messed up the incantation and poor Harry suddenly had no bones in his right arm."

"How did such a ding bat get to be a teacher?" Fireball asked confused.

"No one else wanted the job." Harry offered, "Thanks to him I had to spend the night in hospital getting doused with that disgusting 'Skele-Grow' potion every few hours."

"It was one of the worst nights of my life, certainly one of the most uncomfortable." Said Harry with a shudder as he remembered that night.

"Don't you like your ancestral brew then Harry?" Fireball asked him with a lopsided smile that wouldn't have looked out of place on Harry's face.

"What do you mean ancestral brew?" Harry asked her.

"You mean you don't know about your link to it?" Fireball asked now genuinely surprised. Everyone else around the table had now started paying attention to the conversation as the table was now set for breakfast for the combined groups.

"I'm afraid I don't have a huge amount of information on my family. My parents were murdered when I was only 18 months old. After that I was raised by my muggle Aunt and Uncle who absolutely hate anything to do with magic." Harry said, still with a trace of bitterness in his voice at his past.

"Oh, I see. I'm very sorry to hear that." Fireball added with a quick glance at Shelly that strangely seemed like a whole conversation.

Sitting down she fixed Harry with a very direct look that seemed to be measuring him for something. Ginny noticed her attention on Harry and was obviously unsure about what it implied. After her eyes (and Shelly's) had flashed Golden quickly another silent conversation occurred between the two of them. This time a decision seemed to have been reached as Fireball began to speak.

"Skele-Grow has a link to your family Harry as it was created by the 'Original Potter' I suppose you could call him" Fireball explained.

The look on Harry's face was priceless. His jaw almost hit the table. Ginny, Ron and Hermione were equally stunned. The rest of the Weasley's not to forget the Delacour's were also caught out by this comment.

"Are you really sure." Harry asked with intense interest.

"Very sure" Fireball answered. "After my Grandfather was freed he had a raging fury at what had happened to him. But the only thing that could match his fury was his desire to know why. As he never bought the official line of what had happened and why." She explained.

"So he began to research the Potter family, with a hope of learning why they had decided to single him (and by extension his family) out for such treatment. There are quite a few book cases at Grandpa's place dedicated to your ancestors. Fairly interesting reading they are too."

"I don't know what to say. I'm stunned that someone would have such information on my family. But at the same time I'm also grateful that the knowledge still exists somewhere as well." Harry added still coming to terms with this new information.

"Have you seen these books on my family?" Harry asked Fireball.

"Seen them? Yes, I've seen them. Read most of them too. They are a mixture of old newspaper stories, birth and death notices as well as official documents like Marriage records, Birth Certificates, Death certificates. There are also some interviews that have been recorded and even quite a few letters that have been purchased or copied from libraries over the years. Photos and paintings of people are few and far between though." She added.

"That sounds like a lot of work for someone to put in just to work out why something happened." Harry said before quickly noticing the bristling look he got from both Shelly and Fireball.

"Don't get me wrong, what happened to your Grandfather was a truly horrific event. But his reaction with that sort of research isn't normal." Harry explained.

"One thing you will learn about our family Harry is that the word normal isn't applied very often." Shelly smiled while she said this.

"Grandpa Webb was a very unique individual. He believed in being thorough with his research and knowing his enemy." Shelly said looking very directly at Harry.

This last statement caused a bit of concern around the table. When Harry didn't respond past a slight nodding of his head Shelly continued.

"When Grandpa met and eventually married Grandma she tamed most of his 'rough edges' and added an extra belief to the list above. This new entry was to curb his more 'hot headed and impulsive' nature." She said still focused on Harry very intently.

"It was 'Be sure of your target'. It can be interpreted in many different ways, but the upside was Grandpa expanded his research significantly trying not only to identify the members of the family that had targeted him (and who he believed at that time might still come looking for him). But to also learn about them as best as was possible."

"So you could say that Grandma Webb was the prime reason for the more 'human' side of his research. That in turn caused Grandpa to get to know the Potter family better and 'took the edge off' his rage. It also turned up some of the more interesting aspects of the Potter family." She remarked.

"Like the creation of the Skele-Grow potion." Harry said

"Yes, exactly. And the pepper up potion as well. In fact they were created by the same person" she offered.

"W… Who was that exactly?" Harry asked.

"If memory serves me correct it was a Mr Linfred of Stinchcombe (also known by the nickname The Potterer). He was a wizard in the 12th Century, a keen experimenter and potioneer and is credited with inventing many Medical Potions." She replied as though reading from an old school report.

"I always seem to come across people who know more about my family than I do." Harry said still intrigued by this new information but also annoyed by his own lack of knowledge about his own family.

"Be comforted by the fact that you know which family you belong too." Fireball said while devouring her bacon sandwiches while still giving harry a measuring look. "As I can assure you that not knowing where you come from is worse than not knowing much about where you come from"

Harry thought about that for a while before he ended up agreeing with her.

"Was my family history required reading in your family or something?" Harry asked with a shy smile.

"Not exactly" was the answer, "but in the absence of much information on our own family we would often do our school reports on family history about yours instead as we knew much more about that topic." Fireball remarked.

"Some of our Teachers/Professors thought it a little morbid. But most understood it." Fireball said around a mouthful of bacon sandwiches.

"I can see it being a difficult topic to explain at school" Harry offered.

"W… Would it be possible to see these books about my family at all?" Harry asked nervously.

"That's two red jelly beans you owe me Fireball." Shelly laughed at her sister, who was a little miffed at losing their private bet.

Focusing back on Harry she added, "If Dad can convince Grandpa of what you two discussed last night. Then I believe Grandma will be happy to show you the information that she has at her place."

"Thank you" Harry said gratefully.

"I think the thanks will be a two way street Harry if we can locate any records here." Shelly offered.

"Agreed" Harry replied.

"Two Red Jelly Beans? That doesn't sound like much of a bet." George remarked.

"Just what should we have bet then?" Shelly asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A good bet is about 5 – 10 Galleons depending on how sure you are of the result." He replied.

"I see", Shelly replied, then placing her hand on the desk she asked, "Is this enough for a serious bet then?" while she lifted her hand revealing a stack of golden Galleons underneath it.

"How?" George started to ask while looking at the pile of coins.

"Our family have some unique abilities that tend to make others rather nervous. This particular ability makes Goblins very nervous?" Shelly asked now openly smiling as she banished the galleons. Ron let out a groan of longing as the gold disappeared.

George's eyes widened in understanding. "I guess that would cause a good deal of trouble with family bets then wouldn't it."

"Yes it does, once it gets to the point of betting whole rooms full of conjured gold the bets lose all sense of fun." Shelly answered.

"It was Grandma Webb who suggested the use of Jelly beans instead. As food just can't be conjured and Jelly Beans keep better that chocolate. Besides you can enjoy them in ways you can't with gold." She smirked.

Bill lent over to Charlie and commented, "We need to get a supply of Jelly Beans and soon."

"Agreed" Charlie answered chuckling.

"And just what sorts of bets do you two Gentlemen have in mind? Hmm?" Cassy asked with a very direct look at Charlie.

"You never know what opportunity will present itself, so it is good to be prepared. Don't you think?" he answered returning her direct look.

"I think you're pretty well prepared right now. As I'd be happy to bet against your…" here her eyes began to roam over Charlie, "Let's say shirt. That seems like a good place to start." She said smiling.

Charlie wasn't ready for that reply and took a moment to compose himself, while Bill had a good laugh at his brother's predicament. Shelly must have taken pity on him as she just then spoke up, "No making unfair bets with family members Cassy. You should know that rule by now." She smirked as she spoke.

"How do you know I was planning on making an unfair bet with him?" she asked with a perfectly straight face.

"Because I know you. I've known you all my life." She remarked with an evil grin showing.

At this point there was a strange beeping noise coming from Shelly, Fireball and Mick. They all pulled out their Mirror Phones, after checking them quickly they all just looked at each other briefly before Shelly and Fireball excused themselves and headed over to Dave's tent.

Mick however tapped on his Mirror Phone for a few moments before he spoke to us.

"Dave has just woken up." He said, "Shelly and Fireball are going in to check on him. I have just notified the Minister and Chief Williams who I expect will be arriving shortly."

"I'm glad he is awake" I said, "Should I make a tray of breakfast for him and take it in?" I asked.

Chuckling Mick answered, "Dave isn't one to enjoy having people fussing over him. He is probably going to be mortified that he has missed the morning PT session."

"Given also that his jaw was one of the bones that had to be re-broken and set again last night it is probably best that we let the Healers check him out before we offer him anything to eat." He said.

"Makes sense" I answered just as I noticed Shelly come striding out of Dave's tent towards us.

"Dad has just notified me he is ready at home and would like to come over here if he can. He has Andrea with him and wants her to check out Dave thoroughly before he gets himself into any more mischief."

"Could one of you unlock the door for me so I can open it for dad to come though?" She asked.

"Of course, I will go and unlock it now." Arthur replied as he got out of his seat.

Shelly followed him back to the house and they were soon striding over to Dave's tent with Ivan, Sandra and a woman I hadn't yet met. Both Ivan and Sandra waved warmly to us but I could see that their focus was on their son so I motioned for them to go direct to Dave first.

They both seemed grateful for this and continued on their way to the tents without stopping.

I noticed the eyes of Dave's team tracking them all the way to the tents. They all seemed to have slightly concerned looks on their faces.

Arthur re-joined us shortly afterwards.

"Poor Dave seems a little out of sorts at being confronted by a Ministry Healer first thing in the morning. Even if it was one of his sisters" he chuckled.

"'ow ez ee?" Gabrielle asked Arthur with genuine concern.

The whole of Dave's team seemed to be waiting intently for Arthur's reply.

"He seems very stiff, going from the way he was moving when they got him out of bed. The bruises that covered most of his chest yesterday seem to have almost completely disappeared."

"He was complaining good naturedly about Andrea's cold hands as she was examining him. So he seems to be in good spirits as well." He answered.

You could see all of Dave's team visibly relax at the news. The rest of the table also seemed happy with the news as well. Gabrielle seemed to be in good spirits also going from the way she was chatting with Fleur and even Ginny.

Kingsley and Chief Williams turned up shortly after the arrival of Dave's parents. While they came over to say good morning, they also politely refused the offer of breakfast saying that they had already eaten. They seemed to have been up very early going over transcripts of the people who were captured yesterday.

They quickly went over to Dave's tent to join the others.

Kingsley came out a short time later to collect Arthur as they were apparently going to try to talk to Dave's Grandfathers soul as Ivan had promised last night.

Kingsley felt that having someone there who had known Harry for a long time would go a long way towards helping convince Dave's Grandfather that he wasn't aware of the incident and that he had offered to help.

Conversation around the table was light hearted, but you could see everyone sneaking looks at Dave's tent every so often. Looks of apprehension evident on their faces.

A cry of "YOU WHAT…" came from the direction of Dave's tent in a voice that no one recognised before some obviously hasty silencing charms were thrown up to silence the noise.

I quickly glanced over at Harry and found him to be holding hands with Ginny and staring intently at Dave's tent with a slightly nervous look on his face. Ginny was whispering something in Harry's ear in an attempt to keep him calm.

Eventually Sandra came out of the tent and made her way over to us. After exchanging greetings and hugs (I found that I enjoyed hugging my sister) she spoke with Harry.

"They are asking for you in there. Ivan has spoken with his father's soul as you may have heard." She said smiling.

"Ivan has talked him around somewhat and I actually think he is more curious than anything right now. But I would like to offer some advice if I may before you go in." she offered.

"Please do Mrs Webb" he replied.

"No need for the formality Harry. Just Sandra will do." She smiled at him. "Both my husband and my sons have the same approach to forming an opinion on someone. They learnt it from the way his father made his assessments."

"They do it through observing how someone interacts with those around them."

"I don't know if you have noticed that or not. But they tend to be the quiet ones in the room, especially when they are trying to make up their mind about someone. You can kind of even forget that they are even there. Which is a neat trick given their size" she remarked.

"Even Dave?" Bill asked.

"Especially Dave." Sandra replied with a smile, "He is famous for it. There are ministers in a few different governments who employ watchers just to keep track of him at functions so that he can't watch them without being watched himself."

"Does it work?" this time it was Charlie asking.

"Only when he wants them to think it does." She chuckled.

"Why do they do that?" Harry asked his curiosity evident.

"You see they are so often faced with people trying to 'butter them up' for one reason or another that they tend to form their opinions on someone by watching how they treat others. Both those above, below and on the same level as them. Do you take my meaning?" she asked.

"I do" he answered.

"Excellent. To that end I would like you to bring in Molly, Ginny, Charlie, Bill and Fleur with you." She requested.

"Why them?" Harry wanted to know.

"They bring out different aspects of behaviours in you. All of which my father in law needs to see if he is to see who you really are." She answered.

"One final piece of advice Harry. Don't be afraid to give blunt answers. A blunt HONEST answer is always valued with my boys, as well as my girls." She explained (with a quick glance at Charlie). Harry nodded his acknowledgement.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but why are you being so helpful?" Harry enquired.

Sandra smiled at Harry before answering him, "A perfectly reasonable request." She began.

"For my father-in-law being cast out of his family caused him more pain than he cared to admit. Even more than his being sold into slavery did."

"That pain has travelled down to my husband and to my sons. By 'stacking the deck' in his interactions with you I'm hoping I can get him to let go of his rage, as I believe it will help heal his pain. Then by extension the pain of my husband and son"

"I will do anything within my power to try and reduce that pain in my family. I also much prefer to encourage people with differing views to actually talk to one another. It is far more productive than the alternatives." She said with a strong hint of steel in her voice as she looked Harry in the eyes.

"I couldn't agree with your motives more." Harry answered as he got up to go to Dave's tent. With the rest of us following close behind.


	15. Dave, Doug and Harry

Upon entering into Dave's tent we found everyone gathered around the table in the kitchen area.

The two Ministers, Kingsley and Ivan were seated at each end of the table with Dave sat in the middle on one side.

Dave was flanked by, Shelly, Fireball, Andrea and Sandra (when she sat down). While on Harry's side there was room for Him, Arthur, me, Ginny, Bill, Fleur and Charlie.

I noticed that Dave was in his natural form when we entered, he still seemed almost shy to be like this. When Harry entered Dave locked onto his face and his bright blue eyes almost seemed to glow with a light of their own.

Harry on the other hand was clearly surprised by what he saw. As he just stopped and stared at Dave for a few moments. Ginny was going to encourage Harry forward when Sandra indicated that she should just leave him be for a few moments to allow him to gather himself.

I noticed Dave's sister Andrea was also absorbed in Harry's face as well. Although she seemed to be displaying more of a professional interest than a personal one.

Bill, Fleur and Charlie took seats on the far side of Harry while Ginny, Arthur and myself took the seats on the near side of him. From my vantage point sitting at the corner between Arthur and Kingsley I could easily see the two of them facing each other.

I remember thinking a runaway thought, "If I didn't know any better I would have thought that they were family of some sort. Especially when they are together like this. But the differences are also interesting as well...", then I jumped when Kingsley replied quietly "I agree". This surprised me a bit and I realised I must have spoken my thoughts aloud. That brought a blush to my cheeks.

Harry had just sat down and before even introductions could take place Dave spoke, although he didn't seem to be speaking to anyone in the room, "He has known Friendfyre" he said smiling.

"Pardon Dave?" Arthur asked, "Who were you talking to?"

"Sorry I was talking to my Grandpa. I didn't realise that I have spoken aloud." He replied.

"What did you mean 'He has known Friendfyre'?" Harry asked "What is Friendfyre?"

"You know what Fiendfyre is?" Ivan replied

"Yes" Harry answered.

"Think of Friendfyre as its polar opposite." Dave answered

"I think I understand" replied Harry, "so why the smile then when you said it?"

"Because if you were truly evil Mr Potter or had true malice in your heart, and you had used Friendfyre you would either still be on fire yourself or dead." Dave answered in a slightly chilly voice.

This statement rocked everyone back on their chairs for a moment. Some worried looks were exchanged as well.

"I take it from that re-action the others were not aware that you had used Friendfyre before." Dave asked intently.

"No they were not. I wasn't either. I have no idea of the incantation for it." Harry replied.

"Very interesting. Very interesting indeed." Dave watched Harry for a few moments before continuing. "There is no incantation for Friendfyre, Harry."

"Why is that? All magic has an incantation." Harry said confused.

"There in lays your answer." Dave said still staring into Harry's eyes, "All MAGIC has incantations."

"I still don't follow you" Harry replied.

"Are you saying this Friendfyre isn't magic?" Kingsley asked.

"By the definitions you use here it isn't no." Dave answered.

"Do you recall what I showed you in the kitchen Harry with the prism and the beam of light?" Ivan asked.

"Yes I do. It was very interesting and a real eye opener." Harry replied.

"You showed him the spectrum explanation?" Dave asked his father, who nodded.

"Ok that will help." Dave said then he explained, "Friendfyre exists in a region of the spectrum located between what is referred to as Magic here and another region that is commonly (but incorrectly) referred to as Sorcery."

There were a few startled reactions to that statement and Kingsley let out a low whistle. Harry's eyes however went as large as saucers.

"You mean I'm a sorcerer as well as a wizard?" Harry asked.

"For your sake I should hope not." Dave answered very seriously.

"Why?" Harry asked a little hurt.

"If you were indeed a sorcerer then Kingsley here would be required by law to execute you here and now." Dave answered very calmly.

"What? Why?" almost everyone exclaimed at the same time.

"Silence!" Kingsley boomed, but I could see the shock on his face as well.

"Please explain your comment Auror Webb." Kingsley almost commanded. The use of Dave's title indicated that Kingsley was becoming a little worried by the conversations direction.

"The current laws for Magical English citizens states that it is a crime punishable by death (or Dementors kiss) for them to be Sorcerers or try to become Sorcerers." Dave replied. "The law was written back in the 1600's before much was known of wandless magic. When it was first introduced just about anyone who could do wandless magic was killed."

"It is limited to English citizens because as at the time they needed assistance from a group of foreign (mostly German) sorcerers." Dave explained.

"Does that exclusion apply to you as well Dave?" Kingsley asked.

"I wish it did. It covers my father, sisters and cousin though. Along with a few other members of my team." He replied. Noting the confused look from Kingsley Dave elaborated, "According to your laws here, I don't classify as a Sorcerer. I'm much further down the list, I'm classified as a 'Broken One'."

"'Broken One'?" Kingsley asked, "I have never even heard of the term before." Looking around the room he got similar looks of confusion from the others as well.

"I'd be surprised if you had." Dave answered, "There isn't much said in the law books about people like me. About all they say can be summarised as the following."

"Broken Ones have no place in Wizarding Society. It is perfectly legal to kill them onsite by any means necessary." He said is a very calm voice while there were some genuine cries of alarm and outrage from those of us in the room.

"Broken Ones are to be afforded none of the rights and protections granted to Wizards and Witches and other magical creatures."

"We are specifically excluded by English wizarding law. The intent was to make sure we have no rights and protections. But the unattended consequence of that is, we are 'outside the law'. For all intents and purposes 'untouchable' in a legal sense." He said in an emotionless voice looking at his hands on the table.

"Are you sure of this?" Kingsley asked obviously shaken by what he had heard.

"Very sure." Ivan answered "When we first became aware of this possibility I asked Madam Bones to look into it for us. It took her a while but she eventually confirmed the legal status of my son over here."

"Once that was known I wanted to bring him home. But by that point the operation here was in 'high gear' as they say. So I explained the situation to Dave. He didn't want to leave with the job 'half done'."

"He acknowledged the risks but was willing to continue to operate knowing that he was not protected by the laws of the country that he was operating in." Ivan said with pride for the actions of his son.

"Knowing what your status would be while you are here Dave, why did you decide to stay?" Kingsley asked interested.

Dave raised his gaze to meet Kingsley's and he looked at him for a moment before speaking, "I'm intimately aware of what it is like to be cast out by society. How it feels, how it affects your self-worth and how it continually eats at you."

"There is no way I can stand by and watch that happen to other innocent people. And I sure as hell will not watch from the side lines when that happens to kids." He said with the steel clearly evident in his voice.

"I agree with your choice Dave and very happy that you did choose to stay." Kingsley replied, "I merely wanted to understand your reasoning behind your decision."

Dave continued to study Kingsley for a moment before Kingsley began to speak again.

"I do believe that is another law that will need to be looked at and rather soon." Kingsley said thoughtfully.

"Looking to train some Sorcerers are you?" Dave asked with a crooked grin at Kingsley.

"Absolutely I am" Kingsley replied, "If training some of my Aurors in those capabilities can help us make our world a safer place then I'm all for it."

"But I will not ask people to learn new skills and abilities if it will put their own safety at risk." He added seriously.

Dave nodded his agreement to Kingsley, "Just make sure you have some good teachers when the time comes." He said in a very professional voice, "As the 'usual safeguards' used for training of wizards don't always work when applied to sorcery or other abilities."

"Do not worry on that score Dave. I fully intend to have some of the best around available to help teach us." Kingsley said smiling to him.

Without missing a beat Dave turned to his father and remarked, "How many of us did you sell off?"

"I hope you at least got a good price for us" he said with an amused look at his father.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Dave." Ivan replied with a perfectly straight face.

"There was no monetary exchange involved at all." He said still with a look of innocence on his face.

It was Kingsley who gave the game away as he was obviously enjoying the exchange between father and son. When Dave glanced over at him he had to quickly hide his smile.

"The Minister is quite correct Auror Webb. No money was exchanged at all." Kingsley said in attempt at a formal response that fooled no one.

"So it is a 'Good Will' deployment focusing on rebuilding and retraining then?" Dave asked his father.

"Correct Dave that will be one of the main aims of your team here. The other aims we will discuss shortly once the required reports and dossiers arrive." Ivan answered.

"I'm fine with that" Dave replied relaxing, "Teaching deployments usually offer better 'office hours' anyway." He said chuckling while Shelly and Fireball nodded in agreement.

"Glad to have you and your team with us Auror Webb." Kingsley answered with a smile.

"Thank you minister. It's nice to be 'officially here' as they say." Dave chuckled along with the majority of us.

Dave now turned his attention back to Harry.

"Can you describe to us when you made use of Friendfyre?" he asked Harry.

"I'm afraid I still don't know what it is or how to recognise it, so I couldn't tell you if I have used it" Harry answered still a little confused.

"Fair point." Dave replied before getting up and walking over to a set of shelves. He came back carry a small wooden box which he gave to Fireball and asked, "Will you do the honours?"

Fireball nodded and opened the box then sat waiting.

"Ok, I'm going to give you a bit of a demonstration in a few moments." Dave said looking at us all, "As well as a bit of a test. I will ask you all some questions and would like you to think honestly about your answers before you give them."

"Everyone will have a different experience with what I'm going to show, but you will NOT be in any danger from what I show you."

"Your different experiences will not be an indication of different magical strengths. But more of 'natural talent' in different magical areas."

"Natural talent alone however isn't enough, it only indicates the likely hood of how readily you will take to the training required. Even without natural talent perseverance can succeed as well." He explained.

"Make sense?" he asked.

A chorus of "Yes" answered him.

"Ok let's begin." He said raising his hand and holding it palm up.

Suddenly a flame appeared a short distance above his hand.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Fire" we all answered

"What do you feel" he asked.

"Warmth" was the most common answer.

"What is this?" he asked as the flame came together into a ball.

"A Fireball" Harry replied a moment before the others.

"Correct." Dave replied, "Does it feel any different to you?" he asked us

"It feel more intense, like it is more focused and almost driven compared to the flame you had before" Harry answered.

Dave was openly grinning at that answer from Harry.

"Anyone else?" he asked.

"I was going to say if felt less cheerful than the other flame. More like it had a job to do." Bill answered with a frown.

Dave also seemed very happy with this answer.

Looking over at Fleur he asked a question with a raised eyebrow.

"It is faint, but it feels to me like it has a purpose to it, but it has yet to have been made aware of what it is." She answered.

Dave also seemed happy with this as well.

"Charlie?" Dave asked.

"I'd agree with Bill in how it feels." He answered also getting a smile from Dave.

He looked over to me and Arthur, "It just feels warmer to me" Arthur replied.

"It feels hurtful" I answered.

"Same with me." Ginny answered, "I feel that it wants to hurt or destroy something"

"Kingsley?" Dave asked.

"It feels to me like it a tool. Something created to get a job done" he said, getting a large smile from both Dave and Ivan in the process.

"All very good answers" Dave said clearly happy, as he put out the ball of fire by closing his hand.

"How about this one then." He said as he raised both his hands with the palms facing each other.

With a look of extreme concentration on his face a ball of flame appeared between his hands. Immediately I was struck with a wave of revulsion from it, I could also see what looked like creatures in it and almost hear a scream coming from it.

Looking over at all the others I could see similar reactions from them as well.

Dave glanced around at everyone in the room and saw the same thing for he quickly put out the ball of fire.

"Do you know what that was?" he asked.

"Fiendfyre." Kingsley answered, getting a few shocked looks in the process.

"But it was also very tightly controlled and rebelling against its restraints." He said sounding impressed.

"It was. Very strict limits were placed on it. You are correct." Dave answered breathing heavily from the exertion required to conjure and control the Fiendfyre.

"But how did it make you feel?" he asked us all.

"Revolted." I answered before thinking. But all of the others quickly agreed.

"That's a relief" Dave answered earning a few chuckles from the group.

"Ok, now for another one." Dave said as he once again raised his hand palm up.

This time a flame sprang up above his palm that had a blue base and the most brilliant yellow and red finger like flames.

"What is this?" he asked.

Everyone looked at it in confusion. The only exceptions were, Harry, Fleur and Charlie. They all had looks like they recognised it but were too shocked to say anything.

Eventually Charlie burst out saying, "It's Dragon Fire" with a look of wonder on his face now.

"But how?" he asked his own face afire with curiosity.

"Correct Charlie. It is Dragon fire, or as close as we can get without an actual dragon in the room." He chuckled.

"How does it make you feel?" he asked Charlie

"A sense of wonder, but also wariness" he answered

"Is that the flames making you feel that? Or your own thoughts about Dragons?" Dave asked him.

"Truthfully? A bit of both" replied Charlie with a grin.

"Fair enough." Dave responded, "Anyone else?"

We all gave answers that agreed with how Charlie felt, but with only slight differences.

After getting our answers Dave put the flame out and then turned to look Harry directly in the eyes.

"Do you recognise this?" he asked Harry as his hand was enveloped with the same Golden Flames that he showed us yesterday.

Upon seeing the flames Harry's eyes went wide with recognition but there was also wonder expressed on his face, "Yes. Yes I do recognise it." Answered Harry still staring intently into the flames.

"Can you tell me when you last saw it?" Dave asked still looking intently into Harry's eyes.

"It was when they were moving me from my Aunts house. Hagrid was taking me on the motor bike that used to belong to Sirius."

"We had been ambushed and were fighting our way out of it. Hagrid and I had escaped from most of the Death Eaters. But when we narrowly missed two Avada Kervada curses Hagrid jumped from the Motor Bike onto the broom that the Death Eater was riding. Then they both fell from view."

"I then remembered feeling a Death Eater behind me as well as Tom Riddle, my Scar was blazing with pain. Pain so bad I had to close my eyes."

"The next thing that I was aware of was that my wand had dragged my hand around and it shot Golden Flame at Tom Riddle."

"He seemed to almost be terrified of those flames. Apparently the flames destroyed the borrowed wand he had been using and he broke off the attack and tried to find another."

"The next thing I remember clearly was forcing the bike into a dive to try and catch Hagrid before he hit the ground."

"Did the flames you cast ever touch your skin or any part of you at that time?" Dave asked with his eyes still locked on Harry's.

"No they didn't. They appeared at the end of my wand and came no closer to me than that." Harry answered looking away from the flames and into Dave's eyes.

"Does your wand have a phoenix feather in it at all?" Dave asked.

"It does. Why do you wish to know?" Harry asked.

"Friendfyre seems to be closely related to the Phoenix's fire, although we are still unsure as to the exact relationship. Still it is very interesting that you were able to produce it." Dave remarked.

The two of them sat there looking into each other's eyes with rather intense concentration for several minutes. Eventually Harry spoke saying, "I'm not sure exactly what I was feeling. Why does it matter?"

"It matters a great deal. I can't tell you the why until you tell me what you were feeling when you cast the flames." Dave answered.

Harry closed his eyes and rubbed his temples for a few moments.

"Panic, worry and a powerful need to try and protect my friends who were risking so much to help me." Harry replied.

"Then Harry that is the answer to your earlier question." Dave said smiling.

"What question was that?" Kingsley asked.

"I asked how to cast those flames." Harry said to Kingsley.

"When?" Kingsley replied.

"Just now while we were talking" Harry said slightly annoyed.

"Harry you went quiet for several minutes. You never said a word from when you said the flames never touched you till you asked Dave why your feeling at the time were important." Ginny said with some confusion.

"I can't have." Harry remarked, "We were talking, both of us were asking questions of each other." He said looking at Dave.

"You are correct Harry, we were talking. But we were not speaking aloud for several minutes like Ginny said." Dave said.

"We were reading each other's minds?" Harry said slightly worried.

"No we were not." Dave replied.

"You were so intense with your questions you were in a very real sense throwing your thoughts at me. I only accepted your offer and invited you into my mind for a chat." Dave said to the astonishment of Harry and just about everyone in the room.

"You may be surprised to learn that we were only silent for about 3 minutes. Not the 15 you thought it to be."

Harry now looked at Dave with disbelief and had to check with the others to confirm his statement.

"How?" He asked Dave.

"When conversing as we just did it is far more efficient than normal talking. As you are using your actual thoughts and emotions not just the words."

"It is also extremely difficult (as well as painful) to lie or deceive when communicating in that manner." He said very calmly to Harry as though trying to convey extra meaning.

"What does this mean then?" Harry asked Dave.

"When combined with the knowledge that you were able to cast Friendfyre with no conscious knowledge of it?"

"I would say that it means you have many latent talents and abilities that you are yet to discover. These have most likely been suppressed by the fragment of Tom Riddle's soul that you carried for such a long time."

Here we were all surprised as none of us had told any of my sister's family about that.

"I would also go so far as to say there is a very high probability that you do have natural Sorcerous abilities. Most likely that you have inherited from a relatively recent ancestor." Dave said still looking at Harry very intently.

Harry was clearly shocked by all of this new information. To buy himself some time he asked a question of Dave.

"Why was it so important that the flames I conjured during that fight with Tom Riddle never touch me?"

"Let me show you." Dave replied and looked over to Fireball and nodded to her.

Fireball extracted a match from the box in front of her and floated it over to the flames coming from Dave's hand.

"You are familiar with Muggle matches?" Dave asked Harry.

"I am" Harry replied.

"What do you expect to happen when I put that match into these flames?" Dave asked him.

"It will ignite and catch fire." Harry answered. Dave only smiled at him and moved his hand so that the match was in the flames.

Nothing happened to the match. It just sat there.

Dave moved his hand away from the match and it was obvious that there wasn't a mark on it. He then indicated to Fireball to remove the match.

Once the match was back in the box Fireball floated a small rock over to Dave.

"How about this Harry. This is a piece of granite that has a very minor curse on it. What is your prediction as to what will happen?" Dave asked him.

"Same as with the match. Nothing. As rocks don't burn." Harry said confidently.

Once more Dave only smiled his response and moved his hand over to the rock.

Before his hand had even made it all the way to the rock the flames leapt from Dave's hand and latched onto the rock. It then ignited with a rush and a great tongue of flame.

The flames rapidly consumed the rock leaving nothing behind.

To say we were all astonished would have been a vast understatement.

"What? How?" Harry began to ask.

"That Harry is how Friendfyre reacts to Dark Magic. It is also the reason why it was very important to know if it had touched you in anyway when you first cast it."

"If it had touched you while you were carrying a portion of Tom Riddle's soul you would either still be burning or dead by now." Dave said matter-of-factly.

"And now?" Harry asked Dave.

"That is the question isn't it." Dave answered, "I have my suspicions. But I want to ask you first, how do these flames make you feel right now?" He said as he held up his hand with the golden flames still on it for Harry to see clearly.

Looking into the flames Harry answered, "Peaceful. Calm almost relaxed."

If Dave had grinned any wider I think his head would have split in two. Seeing his reaction Harry asked, "I take it then that is a good thing?"

"Yes Harry it is a VERY good thing." Dave answered.

At this point Dave stood and held out his hand to Harry as though to shake hands with him. Before any of us could say a word Harry also stood and firmly grasped Dave's hand. The flames that had been on Dave's hand expanded to fully engulf the two of them.

"My name is David Fabian Gideon Webb, I'm an Auror with the Australasian Auror Service in the Special Operations Command. And I'm very pleased to meet you Mr Potter." Dave said in a formal introduction, albeit with a smile on his face.

"Harry James Potter, recent school dropout and Auror hopeful." Harry said with a slight chuckle at his own expense. "I'm also very pleased to meet you. Please call me Harry though."

"As you wish Harry. But I do believe that there is more to you than that." Dave responded with a smile, "If indeed it is your goal to become an Auror I hope to be able to assist you on that journey Harry. And please call me Dave." He said as he let go of Harry's hand and sat down.

"I do believe that I will take you up on that offer Dave." Harry said also smiling.

"That's one way to make an introduction memorable." Arthur remarked to no one, but everyone got a laugh from it all the same.

At this point Ivan turned to look at his still madly grinning son.

"What's made you so happy?" he asked.

"I've just won a bet with Grandpa, while at the same time utterly destroying all his arguments as to why we shouldn't listen to or even trust Harry here." Dave replied.

"Now that is something to smile about" Kingsley said also smiling.

There were murmurs of agreement around the table.

"What would have happened to Harry if your Grandfather had been correct?" Ginny asked with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

Dave either didn't notice her expression or was completely unfazed but it as he happily explained.

"If my Grandpa's suspicions were correct and Harry had knowledge of what had happened to him and did nothing about it then that would have left a 'dark scar' on his soul."

"A scar of that sort would have reacted adversely to the Friendfyre. Even the act of showing it to Harry would have made him feel ill at ease and uncomfortable."

"The fact that he said it made him feel Peaceful, Calm and Relaxed indicates that he doesn't have any scars on his soul of that sort."

"Then when he was willing to shake hands knowing that it would mean coming into contact with Friendfyre that was the final proof that he didn't and doesn't harbour any ill intent towards us (or just about anyone else)."

"If he had he would now be in agony on the floor." Dave explained.

"I see" Ginny replied still looking slightly annoyed.

"Ginny, I do not deliberately endanger people. Even those that I have been sent to hunt down."

"If I had intended to cause harm to Harry I would have told him of my intentions and then nailed his arse to the floor." Dave replied in a calm voice that was all the more frightening because of it.

"Why do all the men in my family have to be so bloody frustrating?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Pardon me?" Dave asked clearly very confused, both at Ginny's comment and the general laughter around the table.

"Got you there didn't I." Ginny said now openly grinning at Dave's complete bafflement.

"What have I missed here?" Dave asked looking to his parents.

"Yesterday after you passed out, an Auror down alert was issued. Naturally knowing which Auror it was your father and I needed to get to you."

"We rang Steve and he asked Shelly to open a doorway for us. As I stepped into the kitchen in Arthur and Molly's house I nearly has a heart attack. As I recognised her as a member of the Prewett family."

"I then thought that this was an elaborate trap by them to lure me back and finish off what they didn't achieve the last time I was here."

"I'm afraid I might have over reacted a bit." Sandra said looking at me clearly embarrassed by her reaction yesterday.

"There is nothing to be embarrassed about. It was quite a shock for all of us." I told her.

"What was a shock?" Dave asked trying to get the conversation back on track.

Sandra smiled at Dave and went on, "You know your middle names are in memory of my two younger brothers who died protecting me from my family when I was last here?"

"Yes I do. You have told me the story many times mum."

"Well Molly here also had two OLDER brothers called Fabian and Gideon who died on that same day." She said and then sat back and watched Dave.

The expression on his face were highly entertaining to watch. The expression on his face when he turned to look at me just melted my heart.

"Your mum's little sister?" he asked me, with surprise and awe showing on his face.

"Yes I am." I replied

"Aunty Molly?" Dave said with the goofiest grin on his face that I had ever seen. I couldn't help but smile back at him and nod.

Dave was very quickly out of his chair and picking me up and giving me a hug the like of which I had never experienced before.

People often tell me my hugs are bone crushing, but I have got nothing on Dave. He is stronger than even his father, who had nearly broken all of my ribs. But it is also a highly disciplined strength that can only make you feel safe and comfortable in his arms. In fact the women in my family have to love Dave's hugs almost as much as we have come to love him.

Eventually Dave put me down. I noticed that Sandra, Andrea, Shelly, Fireball, Ginny and Fleur all had tears in their eyes at the scene.

"Uncle Arthur?" Dave asked as he next shook hands with and then hugged a very surprised Arthur.

He then went on to shake hands with and hug a very surprised, Bill and Charlie. He next went and picked up little Ginny and gave her a hug as well. She seemed very embarrassed by this but she also didn't complain. Even Harry got a laugh out of her reaction.

After he had put Ginny back down Fleur held out her arms to Dave as well and got the same treatment. Although Fleur managed to surprise Dave, by planting two very French kisses on his now flaming red cheeks as well. This caused another round of enthusiastic laughter.

When Dave eventually sat back down his cheeks were still flaming red but he didn't seem to care. He was obviously thrilled to discover these new additions to his family.

"Stone the flaming crows that was a surprise." He remarked once he was back in his seat.

He looked down at his dad and with a huge grin on his face said, "Looks like we finally got some more boys in the family at long last."

"I still think you're going to be out numbered though" Ivan said with a laugh at his son who seemed to agree with his dad.

"Just how many girls are in your side of the family?" Ginny asked.

"Well you know I have 6 sisters." Dave said starting to run numbers through his head while Ginny nodded.

"What you don't know is that I have 45 female cousins." He said with a look of mock despair on his face.

"What?" Ginny said with her eyes nearly falling out of her head.

"Yup, 45. Dad has 7 sisters and they each have between 6 – 8 kids."

"So Joseph, Justin, Tim and myself are majorly out numbered."

"But we are always happy for more re-enforcements" he said grinning at Bill and Charlie.

"I bet Christmas at your place is an interesting experience." Charlie chuckled.

"We call it 'The Horde' when the whole family gathers at Grandma's. When her brothers families turn up we could probably invade some small countries." Dave said with a smile while his parents and sisters all chuckled.

"That many women gathered together all in one place is dangerous. It's no wonder us boys are all in jobs where being able to disappear is a key skill." He chuckled before Shelly smacked him on the back of his head.

"Any more comments like that and we will have to tell everyone about your 'super powers' hmm…" she said with an evil chuckle

"Feel free if you want to." Dave replied with his own evil grin, "I'll just share your baby photos with a certain French Auror who is currently serving as our liaison officer?"

The two stared at each other for a few moments before Sandra asked, "Who is this now?" looking at her daughter with a knowing grin.

"It's none of his business, and nothing for you to worry about either mum." Shelly replied fighting back a blush.

"Of course it isn't, you just became VERY proficient in French all by yourself very quickly without the need for any translation spells." David said clearly enjoying himself.

"Takes some serious motivation to rapidly learn a second language doesn't it?" Dave asked Fleur who only smiled and laughed at him then glanced over to Bill who was also enjoying the moment.

"Although private lessons also go a long way to gaining proficiency as well." Dave asked needling his sister some more while she was busily fighting her ever increasing blush.

Fireball was also having a laugh at Shelly's expense, "Got caught did you?" Fireball asked her.

"You can talk FB." Shelly replied.

"Of course I can. I'm free and clear." She smirked at her sister.

"At least until you catch up with a certain Quidditch player." Dave smirked at her.

"Why you little…" Fireball started to remark before Dave cut her off.

"Did you think I wouldn't figure it out? You do know what I do for a living Fireball."

"Even to someone as dense as me all those questions of yours were just too obvious." He chuckled.

Looking across to Charlie and Bill he said, "Helpful hint for survival in this family, gather as much blackmail material on the girls as fast as you can or you won't last a day."

"If you need help we have a 'starter pack' of selected baby and school photos that usually form the basis of a good defence for new arrivals." He said with a vicious grin directed at his sisters.

Both of them laughed while looking slightly nervous at the same time. I think they might have felt the death stare that Ginny was giving them.

"Dave, don't go frightening them all off they are probably still adjusting to the shock of the situation." Ivan said with a straight face to his son.

"You can continue to embarrass you sisters later. Right now we need to talk to dad. Can you arrange that?" Ivan asked his son.

"Yes I can. He has been listening with intense interest to these discussions."

"Give me a moment and we will swap over." Dave said as he sat back and closed his eyes.

"Swap over?" I asked Sandra.

"He is going to allow his Grandfather's soul to look through his eyes and use his voice. He doesn't do it very often as it is very tiring on them both." She answered.

Not knowing what to say I turned to look at Dave and watched him waiting to see what would happen.

Eventually Dave sat up and opened his eyes, we were all a little shocked to see that they were now a Golden Brown colour. The eyes swept over all of us, I could see endless curiosity in them, as well as a sparkle of mischief a well.

But when those eyes spotted Arthur they locked onto him and went wide with recognition and a kind of wonder.

"Are you young Arthur Weasley? Septimus's boy?" A strange voice spoke from Dave's mouth.

"I am." Arthur answered equally fascinated but also a little hesitant at the same time.

"It is truly a pleasure to meet you Sir. An honest to Merlin pleasure."

"Your father was one of the bravest men I have ever known. Also one of the most honest and decent ones as well." The voice said to Arthur who was beaming with pride at hearing this news.

Dave next looked down at his hand and his brow furrowed while the voice coming from him said, "Let go of your arm" with a touch of frustration, "because I wish to shake hands with young Arthur over there that's why. I thought it would have been bleeding obvious."

Ivan and Sandra had smiles on their faces and Shelly and Fireball were also smiling, so I could only assume that this was to be considered normal for this situation.

Eventually Dave's right hand began to move although it was a set of very awkward and rather jerky movements. Dave's face was focusing on his right hand with an intensity that was rather amusing to watch.

"He has let go of his arm, but I swear he has left his clumsiness behind in it." He chuckled, along with the rest of us.

Looking over to Ginny and Fleur he remarked, "Ladies if you ever have the misfortune to dance with my Grandson make sure you have steel capped shoes or at the very least good cushioning charms."

Both Ginny and Fleur burst into laughter at this.

"The boy can sword fight while standing on a tight rope in a high wind. But put him in dancing shoes and suddenly he had two left feet." He exclaimed.

Everyone had a good laugh at this comment, Dave's other hand even attempted a one arm shrug before it tried to assist with the right hand.

"Leave off you young buck, I can manage this without you interfering." The voice exclaimed.

Eventually Dave's right hand made it over to Arthur who had been patiently waiting. He grasped Dave's hand warmly in both of his and the two of them shook hands.

"Douglas Webb, at your service Mr Weasley" came the voice.

"Arthur Weasley, at yours. Please call me Arthur." He replied.

"Thank you Arthur. Please call me Doug." Said the voice of Doug. While Arthur nodded in response.

"If I may be so bold Arthur, may I ask a favour of you?" Doug asked.

"Of course you may ask." Arthur replied curiously.

"When you eventually do meet your father again, please tell him that I kept my promise to him." Doug said in a voice thick with emotion.

"I can certainly do that for you Doug. But I'm sure that you will be able to tell him yourself one day won't you." Arthur replied.

"There is no guarantee of that Arthur. If we are unable to find the rest of my soul I'm afraid that I will not make it to the other side at all."

"Oh… I see" said Arthur with concern showing on his face, "May I ask what the promise was that my father asked of you?"

"You may." Was the reply, "Many years ago your father placed into my care a young girl who had been cast out of her family for her perceived lack of magical ability."

"Her family's matriarch was deeply ashamed by this and was determined to cover it up. She planned on throwing the girl out of the house during the winter in the hope that she would die before her lack of ability was widely known."

"However a distant relation of hers came to the young girls rescue. She spirited the girl away from her family and got her to your father."

"Your father decided that getting her out of the country would be the best thing for her. So he made arrangements for her to be sent with friends to me."

"He asked me to care for her and to see to her education and help her find her way in this life."

"I did that to the best of my ability, as it allowed me to repay some small measure of the kindness and compassion that your father had shown to me in my time of need."

"I continued to guide and nurture this young lady as best I could. I tried my best to in still in her a belief in herself as well as some good common sense. As well as good judgement."

"However despite all of my best efforts, she ended up falling in love with my only son." He said to shocked gaps around the room.

"So I stumbled on the final hurdle." He chuckled.

"Dad!" Sandra exclaimed very shocked by the news, "Why did you never mention any of this before?"

"I was asked to not say anything until after you had made contact with your family again." He said looking over to Sandra with his heart in his eyes.

"I can only hope you can forgive an old man who tried to do his best for an old friend and for a young lady that I came to love as one of my own."

"Of course I forgive you. I know the hardships you had just to stay alive. But I also know the love and support you gave to us all." She replied with her own love for her father-in-law showing clearly in her eyes.

"Thank-you my dear. You have made an old many very happy." He said while smiling at her. Dave was also trying to make some sort of gesture to him mother as well with his hands to indicate his support for her and his grandfather also.

It was a strange thing to watch, almost like a puppet being controlled by two different operators who were trying to work together but had different ideas on how to do so.

Dave/Doug turned back to look at Arthur and said "Please pass on my message."

"I certainly will." Arthur replied "From where I'm sitting I think you have more than fulfilled the promise you made to my father. Indeed if your family here is anything to go by I would say you most likely exceeded his wildest dreams."

"You have my most humble thanks Arthur." He replied.

Dave now turned to face Harry and the brown eyes in Dave's face studied Harry's very intently for a few moments.

"So you are the young Mr Potter that everyone has been so nervous about me meeting?" the voice remarked.

"I am" Harry replied still slightly on edge.

"They tell me you had no knowledge of what your family took from me until you were told about it yesterday. Is this true?"

"Correct Sir."

"Don't Sir me young man. There is no need for blasted formality here."

"Yes Si… I mean ok." Harry finally managed to say.

"What were your thoughts and feelings when you were told about it?" he asked.

"Sickened and horrified." Harry answered.

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Yes why were you sickened and horrified?" he asked.

"It was a truly terrible thing that they did."

"The thought of that being done to a person, anyone is horrendous. I was also deeply ashamed that it was members of my family that carried it out." Harry answered.

"What would you have done had you found out about it before meeting any of my family?" Doug's voice asked.

"I honestly don't know. I don't even know what can be done about it." Harry replied while Doug's eyes intently watched Harry from Dave's face.

"I… I would like to think that I would have tried to do the right thing, to try and find out why that happened. Then maybe try and set things right. Or at least as right as they could be given the circumstances." Harry answered thoughtfully.

Doug's eyes continued to study Harry's for quite some time. Harry calmly met his gaze and returned it showing no signs of discomfort or worry.

"I do believe that is the most honest answer I have ever heard young Harry. We would all like to believe that we would do the right thing. But to admit it openly, that takes courage."

"My son tells me that you have offered to look through your family records to see if there is anything mentioned in them about what happened to me. Is this true as well?"

"Yes it is." Harry answered

"Again I ask why?"

"I can only refer you to my earlier answer. If by looking for those records it enables me to try and set things right I will do what I can. I can't however promise what if anything will be found." Harry replied calmly.

"Another honest and heartfelt answer there young Harry."

"Tell me, why is it that you know so little of your own family history?" Doug's voice asked.

At this point Harry began telling his own story. He explained about how his own parents had been murdered when he was little and how he had to go and live with Muggle relatives who hated magic and by extension him.

He talked about finding out about being a Wizard and Magic and Hogwarts through meeting Hagrid. The whole time he talked Doug's eyes intently followed the conversation.

Because Sandra had keyed me into it earlier, I could see how Doug's eyes watched not only Harry but also how he interacted with the others in the room when they contributed to his story.

Doug also seemed very interested in Harry's relationships with Hagrid, Remus, and Fleur. As well as how he felt about Dobby, Kreacher, Firenze and Buckbeak.

"You are a very unique Wizard Harry." Doug said at the end of Harry's tale.

"Why after the treatment at the hands of your blood relatives did you not become bitter in your dealings with other people?" Doug's voice asked

Harry thought about this for quite some time before he answered, "I chose not to."

"After experiencing that sort of treatment I had no desire to inflict it on anyone else." Harry answered.

"It seems that my now overly smug Grandson was right about you after all." Doug's voice replied while Dave's hands both gave the thumbs up gesture and waved about his head in celebration to the amusement of all in the room.

"Ok Dave calm down. You may have been correct this time, but don't get too smug about it." Doug's voice said to the room.

"I'm a firm believer that it is our choices that define who we are Harry. Even more so than where we came from. To that end I will listen to my Grandson and Son in their assessment of you. That you are a decent and honest person who does his best to try and do the right thing."

"You have my heartfelt thanks for your offer of assistance." He said bowing his head to Harry.

"You also young William have my thanks for your offer to help try and learn more about my key." He said once again bowing his head to Bill who returned the gesture.

Looking down the table at his son Doug's voice said, "I believe we will take Dave's advice when he says we no longer need to fear any further attacks on our Family from the Potters"

Ivan's face split into a wide grin, along with the rest of his family. You could see a good measure of tension leave them at this announcement.

"He has been telling you that for some time Dad. I'm very glad you finally decided to take his advice." Ivan said smiling broadly.

"The older one gets the harder it becomes sometimes to let get of old hurts and wrongs and try to move on." He said sounding a little embarrassed.

"I don't think I would have achieved even this much if it wasn't for your son's almost infinite ability to love and see the best in people. Even after all he has seen and been through. Thank you also." He said smiling at Sandra while Dave's hands seemed to be almost blushing.

"You're welcome dad. You truly are. I'm so very grateful to you for all you have done. And also to these wonderful people here as well." She said while smiling at us all.

Looking down at Dave's hands she said, "I think we should wrap this up before poor Dave dies of embarrassment. As I don't think I have ever seen anyone's hands actually blush before." Before she began to laugh at her son's predicament.

The rest of us joined in the laughter once we realised what she was referring to.

Dave quickly removed his hands from the table.

"If we want to embarrass Dave that is easy" Doug's voice said with a smile, "we just need to discuss his adventures in the art of co…" he started to say before Dave's hand re-appeared and place themselves over his mouth cutting off any further words.

This of course only caused more laughter from everyone in the room.

Doug looked back over to Harry, "Thank-you for taking the time to talk to me today young man. I appreciate it more than you know." He said with a warm smile directed at Harry.

"You are very welcome. I'm glad to have been able to help. I will let Dave know what I find and I'm sure he will pass it on to you." Harry answered.

"Once again my thanks." Doug replied.

"I have some books at home about your family that I think you may find informative. If you would be interested I would be happy to make arrangements for you to have access to them?" he offered. It sounded very much like a peace offering for a long held grudge that only one side knew about.

"Yes I would most certainly be very interested in seeing them, and thank you." Harry replied warmly.

We then got to witness a repeat performance of Doug trying to use Dave's arm to shake hands with Harry. While they seemed to do a better job of it this time it was still very awkward to watch.

"It has been a very interesting and enlightening experience to meet you all. But now I think I had best let Dave get back in the drivers seat again. Once again my thanks to you all." He said before sitting back in the chair and closing his eyes.

When Dave's eyes next opened they were indeed his bright blue eyes that looked out at us all.

"That is always such a weird feeling to do that." He said as he looked at his own hands confirming that they were indeed under his own control again.

With a look of unbridled mischief on her face Fleur caught Dave's attention and asked him "So, just 'ow bad is your dancing Dave?"

With a groan of despair Dave dropped his head onto the table and covered it with his own hands in an attempt to hide his clearly flaming cheeks from view.

The rest of us of course thoroughly enjoyed the resulting rounds of laughter.

After the laughter had died down a bit Dave looked up, "Now that that is over would it be too much to ask for something to eat? I'm starving" he almost pleaded.

"I'm seeing the similarities with Ron more and more." Ginny remarked to Charlie as they got up from the table.

"As well as you too Gin" Charlie replied with a grin, while she tried to elbow him in the ribs.

"Follow me dear and we will get you taken care of" I told Dave. He was soon on his feet and following me out of the tent.


	16. Magic both ancient and new

We walked back out to where the tables had been setup for breakfast. Once the members of Dave's team saw him they were quickly on their feet and at his side.

It was interesting and enlightening to watch. It was more like a family gathering than a boss being re-united with his employees. Dave seemed far more concerned with the health and wellbeing of those in his team than he was with his own.

The members of his team seemed used to this however as they quickly updated him on how they were, before they began to pester him with questions about his own wellbeing.

Dave seemed to be trying to down play the extent of his injuries, so that they wouldn't worry about him. Sandra quickly stepped in and told them all that Dave is well on the way to being fully mended.

However, he would have to have a 'movement assessment' at some point to assess his suitability for field operations. This seemed to placate his team more than Dave's own comments.

After finding that out Mick asked Dave very directly how he felt.

"When I woke up I felt like I have been a dozen rounds each with the 'Iron Lady' and 'Master Yoda'." He replied with a bit of a grimace, but to which Mick only smiled broadly.

"However now that I have been moving about a bit, I'm starting to feel a lot better." He answered Mick.

After giving him a long look Mick eventually nodded and embraced Dave again and then let him move on to the others.

"Who are the 'Iron Lady' and this 'Master Yoda'?" I asked Sandra.

"They are nicknames for two of his favourite instructors from the Auror Academy back home." She replied with a smile.

Eventually Dave made it passed his own team and was introduced to Monsieur and Madam Delacour. Monsieur Delacour was the first to great Dave with a hearty handshake followed by a warm embrace and some very French kisses on his cheeks which Dave clearly wasn't used to.

"Ah Monsieur Webb. Thank you for saving our bébé Gabrielle." He remarked while still holding tight to Dave's shoulders and beaming at him.

"You are very welcome Monsieur Delacour" Dave replied still clearly very embarrassed by the attention, "It was very much a team effort from all involved. Including yourself."

"You are too modest Monsieur Webb. Your sœur Natalie told us in great deal just how much effort was involved for you to do what you did. You have our eternal gratitude for the life of our little Gabrielle." Monsieur Delacour said smiling at Dave.

"Once again Monsieur Delacour you are very welcome. Your Daughter is a very brave young woman who willingly stood up to defend others at great risk to herself. That sort of bravery should always be rewarded, I could not in good conscience stand by and do nothing after seeing that." Dave replied.

"Merci Monsieur Webb. Merci. You do us great honour with your words." Monsieur Delacour said with very moist eyes.

"No Monsieur Delacour the honour is mine. I'm extremely grateful for the help your daughters willingly gave us yesterday. They are both very special and brave young women you should be very proud of them both. And please call me Dave."

"Merci Dave. Merci" Monsieur Delacour said once again hugging Dave.

"Does Dave realise that Gabrielle was standing right next to him while he was saying that about her?" I asked Sandra who had been standing next to me along with Fleur.

"He might but I doubt it. He tends to speak his mind before he thinks too much about the consequences. It gets him into trouble from time to time. But today I think it might be getting him into a different sort of trouble." Sandra replied as she looked over at Gabrielle with a smile.

Fleur and I looked over at Gabrielle while Dave was being hugged and kissed by her mother. She was clearly very happy with what she had heard Dave saying and was looking forward to her own turn at greeting him.

"Oui, I do zink zat 'e 'as caught Gabrielle's attention. I just 'ope it is for ze right reasons." Fleur remarked thoughtfully.

"From what I can see" Sandra replied with her eyes once again displaying that golden tint, "she has an honest interest in Dave. Steaming not from what he did for her but from what she saw and what he said to her before the attempt was made."

Sandra looked over to both myself and Fleur and then asked us both, "Just what exactly did Dave do before he tried to heal Gabrielle?"

"I remember 'e asked permission from papa to talk to Gabrielle's soul. As 'e wanted to get 'er permission and support for ze attempt."

"'e seemed very nervous and even slightly embarrassed about doing zat even with permission." Fleur answered.

Sandra's eyes widened in surprise, "You mean he stood before her soul core with no defences in place at all?" she said with a touch of awe in her voice.

"What do you mean by defences?" I asked.

"When we interact we other people we all want to display the best possible version of ourselves, to try and make a 'good impression' on others."

"If Dave did what you said he did, he would have had to stand in front of the core of Gabrielle's soul with no defences in place and she would have seen him as he truly is. No sugar coating on anything, all his scars, insecurities, fears, worries, hopes and dreams would have been wide open for her to see and question him about."

"He would have also been bound to answer her questions without deception as well." Sandra explained to us.

"Shelly did say zat she was questioning 'im about 'is wife when we noticed zat 'e was crying." Fleur replied.

"So she has seen the core of his soul uncovered then." Sandra remarked while staring at Dave, then across to Gabrielle.

"What does zis mean?" Fleur asked a little concerned but also very interested in the answer.

"If they have both seen the core of each other's soul and been able to successfully communicate on that level, it will be extremely difficult if not impossible for them to deceive each other. As they will have an understanding of each other on a very fundamental level."

"It will also make it very easy for them to talk to one another as well." She said smiling.

"Why are you smiling like zat?" Fleur asked Sandra

"The men in my husband's family are notorious for being rather dense about women. As well as for their 'skill' in talking about their feelings."

"My mother-in-law describes them a bit like nuts." She said giggling.

I have to admit here that both I and Fleur joined in the laughing at that analogy. Many more of the women in the family have found it rather apt over the years as well. It has become something rather like an inside joke.

As unbelievable as it may sound the boys still have not picked up on that 'inside joke' that us girls all share about them.

"Nuts?" I had to ask. I could see Fleur also bursting with curiosity as well.

"Yes nuts. As according to her once you finally get past the rather dense outer layer, you discover the true treasure that lies within." She said smiling, clearly remembering her own journey with Ivan.

"Is zat what you found?" Fleur asked.

"Beyond my own wildest dreams. Beneath that dense exterior of my husband lay an ohhh so soft and gooey centre overflowing with love, compassion and support. As well as a very cheeky sense of humour. It is a cocktail that I'm still thoroughly enjoying to this day." She said with a very naughty little smile.

"Gabrielle may have gained an inside track advantage to a similar treasure. I just hope she is not one to toy with his emotions. For despite Dave's own rather rough exterior I know that he is a truly gentle soul inside." She asked Fleur.

"I do not believe zat she is likely to toy with 'ez emotions. As she is only two familiar wiz 'ow it feels to 'ave someone toy wiz 'er own."

"I'm sorry to hear that she has experienced that" Sandra replied to Fleur.

"Merci. As we are part Veela we are often considered as trophies or prizes by some. Zus we learn early, sometimes too early how to deal with powerful emotions. Boz our own and zose of others. We also 'ave to learn very early about deception and falsehood and 'ow zey are used to take advantage of ozers."

"It is always refreshing to meet someone who can talk to us as zey would to anyone else. Or to be recognised for something other zan our beauty."

"I zink zat may 'ave been where Dave really put 'ez 'foot in it' with 'ez comment about Gabrielle's bravery" Fleur smiled.

"Oh he often does that. His sisters often say that the reason he has such a big mouth is so that he can fit both his feet into it at the same time." Sandra said then burst into laughter with the two of us joining in.

Dave by this point had managed to extract himself from Madam Delacour and turned to the three of us with a look of profound puzzlement on his face at our antics.

"He is just so cute when he is confused like that." Sandra remarked still laughing

"Oui, 'e is" Fleur replied and this set off another round of laughter.

While this exchange was going on Gabrielle had obviously got tired of waiting and flung her arms around Dave and brought him into a fierce embrace which she seemed to hold longer than was really necessary. That might have been partly due to the fact that Dave had to hold tight to her to stop himself from being knocked to the ground.

When he regained his balance, and drew back from her embrace slightly Gabrielle seized her chance and planted two kisses on Dave's now flaming cheeks.

"I would also like to zank you for saving my life, Monsieur Webb." Gabrielle said with a radiant smile.

"Please call me Dave. And you are very welcome mademoiselle Gabrielle." Dave replied returning her smile while staring into her eyes.

It now appeared to be Gabrielle's turn to blush.

"I probably should be thanking you for helping us fight off that ambush. Your bravery in that situation was clear for all to see" he replied.

"'ow can you say I was brave? When I was terrified ze entire time it was 'appening." Gabrielle replied with her eyes downcast.

Dave reached out and lifted her chin with his finger, when he was again looking into her eyes he said, "It is not the absence of fear that makes us brave."

"It is acknowledging that we are indeed afraid and then still doing what needs to be done."

"Without fear, one cannot be brave. Does that make sense?" he asked her.

Gabrielle's smile could have lit up a Quidditch stadium.

"I think he just 'put his foot in it' yet again" I said to both Sandra and Fleur.

Sandra only smiled while Fleur replied "Oui" and then smiled.

"Merci Dave." Gabrielle replied before again embracing Dave (which he also returned) and then kissing his cheeks once more.

"Would you sit wiz me?" she asked him,

"If it is your wish, I will happily do so" he replied smiling.

Gabrielle returned his smile and grabbing his hand almost dragged Dave off to the empty seat that she had evidently kept next to where she had been sitting.

Neither of them noticed the smiles from Dave's sisters and cousin. Nor the smiles from myself, Fleur, Sandra and surprisingly Ginny and Hermione.

The conversation around the table flowed with an ease that almost surprised me. For while the topics covered were mostly around everyone's different experiences in the recently ended war there were enough light hearted moments covered that the laughter never truly died from around the table.

Eventually the topic of all the rather unique names of Dave's team came up. I could see my children, in particular Ron and Ginny were intrigued by the different names. In the end, it was Shelly who explained that the names they used were their 'call signs' when on the radios or communication equipment that they use.

The purpose of the call sign being that it was easy (and quick) to say and clearly understood by the people listening to the conversation.

Most of the names used were based on the person's actual name. But in the case of Rowdy, Guz, Goose, Fireball and Dave there seemed to be stories behind the names.

Rowdy appeared to have gained his name as he was always the quiet one in the group. Even when they were out celebrating he was apparently a 'quiet drunk' as they called him. Seeing as how he hardly said anything the entire time he had been here I could believe the story.

Guz had earned his name from Guzzling large amounts of drink very quickly. He came by this name in school due to his house mates nicking his drinks at meal times.

Goose got his name through an incident while he was courting his wife where he made a complete Goose of himself in the process. His wife one day made the mistake of relaying the story to his co-workers and the name stuck. His tendency to 'mother' the younger team members often resulted in him being called 'Mother Goose' frequently.

Fireball ended up with her name due to her fiery temper and personality. She is also very proficient in the use of various types of fireballs as well. Given that she is also one of the explosive experts on the team the name is very apt.

Once we got to Dave however he displayed a remarkable level of skill in redirecting the conversation into other areas or outright changing the topic. Eventually Gabrielle and Ginny both realised what was happening and pinned Dave to the mat as they say and rather directly asked him the meaning behind his name of 'Syd'.

Of course, when they did this ALL of Dave's family were openly grinning at him along with his fellow team members. Looking around at the 'supportive' faces all smiling down at him he eventually had to admit defeat and explain the story. Although even then it had to be dragged out of him.

"It's short for Sidchrome." He replied and it was all he would give up for a while until Hermione spoke up, "Isn't Sidchrome a muggle tool company? Don't they make screwdrivers and spanners things like that?"

At this Dave started to blush slightly and could only nod.

"So you mean to say that they are really calling you a 'Tool' when they use that name?" George asked with an evil light in his eyes.

"Not quite" was Dave's reply to the general laughter of his team.

"It's more along the lines of I'm the 'Right Tool' for the job. Rather than being a tool if you take my meaning." Dave tried to explain when Fireball jumped in.

"I much prefer Emma's explanation of it." She said with a truly evil grin to Dave's now worried expression.

"What was her explanation?" Ginny asked Fireball with a very similar evil glint in her eye.

"That he HAS the right tool for the job." Fireball answered to the cat calls and cheers of Dave's team and the laughter of his family.

Dave meanwhile had his head in his hands trying to hide his embarrassment. When he eventually looked up and caught Gabrielle's amused and questioning look his cheeks turned so red I was worried that they might burst into flame.

Eventually Dave extracted his face from his hands, although his cheeks were still flaming. Looking over to his father he remarked, "Less than a day she has known we are family and already she is teaming up with Fireball like a seasoned pro."

"Outnumbered and out gunned son." Ivan replied with a smile of commiseration.

"Outnumbered?" Ron asked confused.

"Yes outnumbered. In our family, the girls vastly outnumber us guys. They also hunt in packs and that makes them even more dangerous." Dave answered with mock angst, while Fireball, Shelly, Andrea and Cassy all fixed him with looks that wouldn't have been out of place on a Lioness hunting her prey.

Noticing the looks on their faces Dave pointed them out to Ron and remarked, "See what I mean".

By the time that Ron had looked at the girls they were all wearing looked of feigned innocence.

"No I don't." Ron replied.

"Ron, if you want to survive 'The Horde' of girls in this family learn to catch the signs of impending doom and quickly. Or you will not last very long. As they are relentless and more often than not without any pity." Dave replied.

"Horde? Just how many are there?" he asked.

"Let's see, 6 sisters and 45 female cousins." Dave replied.

"You forgot your 7 Aunties as well Dave" Ivan said 'helpfully'.

"Yeah, thanks dad. And 7 Aunties. They are all as bad as each other and they always back each other up over us boys. So, don't even both asking them for help as you won't get it." He said.

"Oh I almost forgot Grandma Webb and Great Grandma Vogt. Those two are probably even worse than all the others put together. More than likely as they have had longer to practise." Dave laughed.

"How many guys are there?" Ron asked.

"I have 3 male cousins with which to try and counter balance that." Dave answered

"Your uncles?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Are you kidding? They are not silly enough to stand against 'The Horde'." Dave chuckled.

"I was hoping the discovery of 5 new male cousins would provide a glimmer of hope. But you seem to bring a female cousin with you who is almost as bad as Fireball here." Dave chuckled while pointing to his sister who threw a bit of toast at him which he easily ducked.

"But one on one you can take them can't you?" Ron needled him with a grin.

"Have you been listening Ron? They are never alone, they hunt in packs. There is no 'one on one', at least outside of training." Dave explained.

"But surely…" Ron began.

"How about a demonstration?" Dave asked with a rather suspicious smirk on his face.

"Ok. I'm game" Ron replied with a smile.

"Oo pick me, pick me!" Fireball almost jumped up and down in her seat.

"Ah… No I don't think we will do that Fireball. You tend to be too rough." Dave said reprovingly.

"We will do this with his sister." Dave decided.

"Me?" Ginny exclaimed.

"Yes you Little Fireball. Or should I say LFB." Dave smirked at Ginny's surprise.

Harry laughed at this exchange before Ginny fixed him with one of her looks.

"Pick a side Scruffy and quickly. These women are getting more dangerous every day." Dave advised Harry before Gabrielle elbowed him in the ribs.

Staggering back in mock pain and hurt Dave exclaimed "Et tu Gabrielle?" This got a laugh from Fleur and Sandra.

He quickly 'recovered' and gave her a bow and a smile (which she returned) before excusing himself. But not before asking her to hold his seat (which she agreed to do).

"Guz and Goose, can you make us a temporary sprung training floor here? Usual dimensions?" Dave asked.

"Can do skipper." Came the reply as the two of them quickly conjured up a flat square floor that seemed to be a little springy as they walked across it.

"Ginny, Ron will the two of you please come up here." Dave asked as everyone turned in their seats to watch 'the show'.

Dave seemed to notice some commotion amongst his team as he quickly spoke up,

"All bets are off at this point guys and gals. Don't let Fireball or Mick lead you astray. This is only a demo." He said smiling at the two named conspirators.

Fireball made a rude gesture and sound in Dave's direction. This made him laugh and respond, "And I love you to sis. Now behave."

Fireball reluctantly sat down at this comment but she did watch the proceedings with interest.

By this time both Ron and Ginny had approached the training floor. Noticing that Dave had taken his shoes off they also took their own off as well.

"Ok Ginny, grab Ron's wrist." Dave instructed and she did so.

"Ron get out of it."

Ron twisted and turned a few times and eventually managed to twist his way out of it.

"Ok, now swap." Dave asked them, which they did.

"Ginny, get out of Ron's grip." Dave asked her.

Ginny had a much tougher time trying to get out of Ron's grip. Ron seemed to get more and more smug as the time went by. But she did eventually get out of it.

"Ok, interesting. You both tried to use brute strength to get out of that. Why?" Dave enquired.

"How else would you do it?" Ginny answered

"How else? Well there are several alternatives. Let me show you a simple one now."

"Ron. Look away for a moment." Dave instructed.

From where I was sitting I could see Dave got Ginny to grab his wrist and then proceeded to show her some sort of movement involving making circles with his arms.

Ginny's face was a delight to watch as it was obvious she was clearly intrigued by this and she was watching very intently.

After a few moments Dave asked Ron to turn back around and grab Ginny's arm again. This time however when Dave asked Ginny to get out of Ron's grip she not only got out of it very quickly she also had him on the floor and clearly in an uncomfortable position.

I'm not sure who was the more surprised Ron or Ginny. As they both wore rather startled expressions.

"That was a very simple demonstration of 'It's not what you have, but how you use it. That counts.'" Dave said helping Ron to his feet.

"That was achieved with a few moments of instruction. Just imagine what can be achieved with years of study?" Dave asked Ron.

"All the women in my family are fully trained in these sorts of skills." Dave explained while the girls in his family were openly grinning at them like predatory animals.

This time Ron noticed the looks on the girls faces and he seemed to have gotten the message, but Dave drove it home further by saying, "That's not all they are trained in either."

"Now do you see the predicament us boys are in?" he said grinning.

"If you and your brothers want to play, we will gladly welcome the re-enforcements. But we do want you to know what you are getting yourself in for." Dave said as he prepared to head back to the table.

"Does that also apply to how you use your magic?" Kingsley asked standing up.

"It applies to just about anything Kingsley." Dave answered.

"Can you demonstrate for me? With me?" Kingsley asked with a smile.

"But of course Kingsley." Dave said returning Kingsley smile with his own one, "step this way".

Kingsley eagerly joined Dave on the training floor and removed his shoes.

"A demonstration with shields and stunners?" Dave enquired.

"Agreed" Kingsley replied.

A roughly human shaped dummy appeared at one end of the training mat opposite Kingsley.

"Draw your wand Kingsley and when I ask you send a stunner at the target over there. However, make the first stunner rather general and the second one targeted on the chest." Dave asked

Kingsley drew his wand and pointed it at the target.

"Now" Dave shouted and Kingsley sent a stunner racing to the target. But like in the kitchen yesterday Dave 'caught' it and made it stand still. He then raised the stunner up a foot or so to enable Kingsley to see the target.

"Again with the focused one." Dave instructed and again Kingsley sent a stunner at the target and again Dave caught it and placed it next to the first one.

"Come join me down here and tell me what you see as the differences between the two stunners here." Dave invited Kingsley.

Kingsley came down and joined Dave and began to look at his two stunning spells with mixture of interest and awe.

"The rest of you can come and look also if you wish, but I do advise you not to touch them, for the obvious reasons" he chuckled and got a few nervous ones in reply.

We all gathered around the two stationary stunners and closely examined them. It was a very interesting experience as I had never seen spells motionless like this in the air before.

When we all had been looking at the two spells for several minutes Dave again asked us what we saw different between the two red bundles of energy.

"I will give you a clue." He said sounding very much like a teacher, "It's to do with the front of the spell."

So we all shifted our focus to the front of the spells.

After a moment or two Harry spoke up, "The second one looks a little more pointed than the first."

"Give that man a red jelly bean." Dave remarked grinning broadly.

"You are absolutely correct Harry. As the second stunner, had been cast with a more specific target in mind it has more of a point to it than the first."

"What difference does that make?" Ron asked a moment before George did.

"That's the second part of the demonstration" Dave answered.

"Harry if you could stay for this bit, then rest of you can sit down"

We all went and sat down while Harry stayed on the training floor with Dave and Kingsley.

"I'm going to release these now so that they will hit the target, so stand back a moment." Dave instructed.

Once everyone was clear Dave released the spells and they both struck the target producing large red marks that were displayed for a few moments before fading away.

"Ok, this time Kingsley is going to send stunners at the target while Harry casts a shield to protect it and himself."

"Are you two ready?" Dave asked them both. Getting affirmative responses Dave asked Harry to cast his shield. Once that was done he asked Kingsley to send a general stunner at the target.

The stunner hit the shield and stopped.

"Ok send the second stunner but this time aim for the black dot on the targets chest." Dave requested.

Kingsley sent the second stunner at the target. While this one was also blocked by the shield it was also evident that Harry had to try harder to keep it out.

"You ok Harry?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, I'm good." Came the reply.

"From your point of view what was the difference between the two stunners." Dave asked him

"The first one felt very familiar like a push against my shield. The second one felt almost like a knife stab instead of a push. It took more of an effort to keep it out." Harry remarked.

"Exactly the point I was trying to make. Both stunners had roughly the same energy. But it was how that energy was used that made a difference." Dave said.

"If you can narrow your focus of a spell sufficiently you can send it straight through most shields." Dave replied. "Even multiple shields under the right conditions."

Both Kingsley and Harry had slightly sceptical looks on their faces at this.

"I take it you want a demonstration?" Dave asked them with a knowing grin.

"If you are offering one" Kingsley replied also with a grin.

"Ok who wants to go first? Or do you want to do a shield together?" Dave asked.

After a quick conference, together was the option that they chose.

"Tell me when you're ready." Dave requested.

A moment later there was a shield in place that could be seen clearly so it must have been a very significant one.

"Ready" came the call back.

Dave quickly pointed his finger at the target and what looked like a very long stunner raced out and hit the target.

Both Kingsley and Harry were very startled and all the rest of us were shocked. Except for Dave's team and family.

"Are you both ok?" Dave asked them.

"We are fine. Surprised but fine." Kingsley replied catching his breath.

"Tell me how you did that." Kingsley requested.

Dave nodded and waved for Fireball to join him on the stage. Once Kingsley and Harry were out of the way and Fireball indicated that she was ready Dave cast another stunner that Fireball caught and held in place.

"What do you notice that is different?" Dave asked Kingsley and Harry. Then raised his gaze to us all.

While Kingsley's stunners had appeared to be about as thick as a medium sized log or as thick as a man's arm. Dave's stunner looked more like a knitting needle.

"It's a lot thinner." Kingsley replied.

"Is that all?" Dave answered with a slight smile.

When no one else could add anything after a few moments Dave nodded to Fireball who then moved her hands like she was opening a cabinet. To my surprise what I thought was a single stunner turned out to be three separate ones. Just very close together.

Kingsley looked to Dave with a question plain on his face. Dave saw this and answered,

"The best shield in the world will fail if hit hard and fast enough. By casting spells in this manner you greatly increase their effectiveness. Especially if you need to send them through an opponent's shield."

"If the shield is of a sufficient quality then the failure caused will only be brief and small. That is the reason why those stunners were cast in such a manner."

"I do believe that if the target is checked it will show that the first stunner was blocked but that the 2nd and 3rd ones got through to hit the target close to each other. In the black dot itself." Dave answered.

Kingsley went over to check the target and must have confirmed Dave's statement as he came back muttering under his breath about show offs or something. Dave seemed unfazed by it however.

Obviously aiming to head off an argument Dave asked, "Do your Aurors all train in the Muggle Martial Arts?"

"Some do. But it isn't compulsory. Why?"

"Did you?" Dave asked.

"I trained in boxing. As I wasn't too keen on the other choices."

"Ok. Well in boxing do you always expect your first punch to land? And if it did would you expect it to knock your opponent out?" he asked Kingsley.

After a moment of thought Kingsley replied, "No you never expect your first punch to land let alone knock them out."

"It is the combination of blows…" Kingsley trailed off as recognition of what Dave was saying dawned on him.

Once he grasped the idea he couldn't stop himself from grinning like a mad man.

"It is the same principle as demonstrated earlier. Using what you have more effectively rather than relying on brute strength alone."

"If I may make a suggestion as to your training schedule here. I would strongly suggest that Muggle martial arts be made required training. Then once the basics are masted you take those skills and combine them with magic so that casting spells flow as naturally as punches and kicks do."

"Also the movement skills are very beneficial as well." Dave explained.

"I see your point Dave. I do think I will indeed suggest just that." Kingsley answered.

"What are Muggle Martial Arts" Ginny asked and I could see Arthur becoming interested in the topic at the mention of muggles.

"They are a variety of fighting styles created by muggles all over the world. Primarily they are unarmed but there are a wide variety of weapons also available in them as well."

"When taught properly they cover not only the physical fighting, but also self-discipline, focus, balance, co-ordination and above all self-control."

"Could you show us?" Arthur asked hopefully.

Dave seemed a little hesitant but Ivan quickly stepped forward and said "That can be organised. As he needs to be put through a movement assessment anyway."

"Is that really required?" Dave exclaimed.

"You had 37 different bones re-broken and re-set last night Dave. Even with your rapid healing ability I'm not willing to put you back into the field until I'm convinced that you're fit and able."

"Now we can either do this here or back at the academy. It's your choice." Ivan asked his son.

"Ok, let's get this over with". Dave said with a resigned sigh.

While Dave might not have had much enthusiasm for the event, the same couldn't be said for Dave's team. They were all clearly excited by the prospect of it.

"Who am I up against?" Dave asked.

"Me." Replied Ivan. This seemed to only increase the excitement of Dave's team.

"Rules?" Dave asked.

"Let's start out with 'Muggle Rules' and no weapons or armour." Ivan answered.

Dave only nodded his head in reply before his clothing seemed to ripple and change. The ripple travelled from his shoulders downwards and it left a different set of clothing behind.

When the ripple had passed Dave was dressed only in a T-Shirt and shorts.

I noticed that his T-Shirt had a larger version of that pirate type figure I saw yesterday on his other shirt. Only this time the pirate figure covered the whole back of the T-Shirt. While above the pirate figure was the word, 'Marauders' followed by 'Be Different' below it.

This T-Shirt seemed to be the cause of some amusement for Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and George.

"What exactly is about to happen?" I asked Sandra. Although the other members of my family all seemed to be listening for the answer as well.

"They are going to engage in some mock combat drills. These are prearranged moves where they each know what the other is going to do and needs to do."

"Because they each know what the other has to do it makes it easier to assess the other persons capability."

"If for instance Dave has lost some mobility because of his recent injuries it will show up rather clearly as he will not be able to offer the correct response."

"Because these two have spared so often over the years they know each other's style very well. Ivan will start out with 'simple attacks' that will have a simple response. He will then move onto ones that are a bit showier to make Dave really stretch out."

"Finally he will move onto much more complicated attacks that will require a far more complicated response from Dave."

"Once Dave has been able to satisfy Ivan that he can move sufficiently they may perform some freestyle sparring where they are both free to attack and defend as they see fit." Sandra explained.

"I see. It sounds like it will be interesting to watch." I replied as we all turned back to Ivan and Dave who had both just turned to face each other on the training floor and bowed.

They then both stepped back into an odd looking stance before Ivan darted forward with a punch, to which Dave responded by simply moving out of the way.

Next Ivan tried a punch and followed it up immediately afterwards with a second one aimed at Dave's head. Dave avoided both attacks simply by moving.

Very quickly the number of attacks grew until the point where Dave was required to use his hands to deflect them.

Not long after this Ivan added some kicks into his attacks and then things really started to heat up. They were both soon jumping and spinning on the mat with their hands and feet flying in all directions.

It was very impressive to watch. The part that most amazed me was that these two men who were both over 7 feet tall could move like that. They seemed to have a fluid grace to their movements that completely disregarded their size. It put me in mind of those Muggle Ballet Dancers I had once seen a long time ago.

Looking around at the other members of my family I could see that they also were stunned by what they were seeing. They were also keenly following the action with rapt attention.

Eventually after a particularly impressive combination of a jump and spin followed by a kick by Dave, Ivan clapped his hands together twice and they both came back to the middle and bowed to one another again.

"It seems like he can still move as required." Was the comment from Ivan after the assessment.

"Is that all you're going to do?" Fireball asked them with a rather cheeky grin.

"Seems like that was only a warm up. Come on dad push the little bugger some more will you."

This comment resulted in a round of good natured laughter from Dave's team and his family.

After a quick conversation between the two they seemed to reach an agreement. After which Dave shrugged and pointed to his seat, Ivan nodded and headed to his own seat as well.

"Are you to going to play or not?" Fireball asked.

"In a moment. We are just going to grab a drink first, as this is thirsty work." Ivan answered.

"Unless you want to sub in for Dad?" Dave asked his sister.

"Not just now thanks. I want to see you two boys work hard for a change." She said with a grin at him.

"We always work hard." Dave protested while gulping down water.

"At what?" Fireball needled him in what appeared to be a frequent game between the two of them.

"Everything of course. That's why I'm so good at what I do." Was Dave's rather cheeky reply.

"hmmph. The only thing you're good at is trying to embarrassing me."

"Good? I'm a master at that particular task." Dave responded with an evil grin.

"All I need to do is dress as you and the rest is easy." He said still grinning at a slightly nervous Fireball now.

"How are you going to embarrass her if you're the one in a dress?" Ginny asked confused.

"I would have thought that you would be embarrassing yourself. Not the other way around." Ginny said grinning at him.

"Is that a challenge there cuz?" Dave asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I guess it is cuz. Do your worst and let's see who gets embarrassed here." Ginny said with a smug little smile on her face. "I can even lend you a dress if you like." She added breaking out into laughter.

Her brothers joined in the laughter as well, along with Harry and Hermione.

Dave glanced over at Ginny and then Harry and seemed to reach a decision. He walked around from his seat to hers, "My worst huh? I don't think we will need to go that far" He remarked, with a grin growing on his face.

Holding out his hand he proclaimed, "Challenge accepted."

Ginny took his hand and said, "Challenge accepted" while they shook on it.

Dave then walked a short way away from the table while everyone turned to look at him.

He stood still for a moment while he appeared to be thinking. After a moment or two more he looked up and with the evilest grin on his face he looked into Ginny's eyes and winked. This seemed to startle her a bit.

Dave then spun on the spot and when he stopped and faced everyone we all broke into hysterical laughter. With one exception. Poor little Ginny was sitting at the table with an absolutely horrified expression on her face.

'Dave' on the other hand seemed to be enjoying himself a great deal.

The cause of Ginny's horrified expression stemmed from the fact that Dave was now her identical twin and was cheekily waving to her. To further compound the horror for poor little Ginny, Dave/Ginny was now wearing a very formal and very girly ball gown. Of the type that little Ginny would not have been seen dead in.

After allowing everyone to enjoy the view for a moment or two Dave/Ginny sashayed up to Harry with an overly extravagant swaying of 'his' hips and promptly sat down in a very startled Harry's lap.

He then proceeded to put his arms around Harry's neck and leaned in as though he was going to kiss him.

Thankfully for poor Harry, Dave/Ginny stopped just sort and simply asked him, "Well what do you think?" all the while displaying a particularly evil smirk on his face.

"Do I measure up to the real thing?" he asked in Ginny's voice while battering his eye lids at Harry.

"Bloody Hell." Was all Harry could say in response, in between his laughter.

"I'll take that as a yes." Dave/Ginny replied.

He then got up off Harry's lap and walked over to a very embarrassed Ginny and stood there with 'his' hands on 'his' hips. A pose that was so very familiar. Then he asked Ginny, "Well do I win?" all the while grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Ginny was completely lost for words. The poor girl simply couldn't find her voice let alone the words to go with it.

'Dave' then wandered over to poor Arthur and sat in his lap and asked his opinion of his 'outfit'.

Between tears of laughter Arthur answered that he thought it suited him. This of course just set everyone but Ginny off into a fresh round of laughter again.

Getting back up Dave walked a short distance from the table and said, "Since little Ginny seems to have misplaced her voice for the time being, I'm asking this group for a ruling on who won this bet."

"The vote is simple. Who is the more embarrassed here? The young lady seated at the table" 'he' said pointing to Ginny.

"Or this one." 'He' said pointing to himself.

"Her" came the unanimous response (minus Ginny) while everyone pointed to Ginny who now had cheeks that were so red they basically glowed.

"I thank you all for your assistance in this matter." 'He' said with a bow.

When he straightened up again it was Dave once more standing before us as himself.

Giving himself a shake he exclaimed, "That always feels so bloody weird." As he began walking back to the table shaking out his legs.

"Why would changing your face feel weird?" Ron asked confused.

Dave glanced over at him looking more than a little surprised, "It wasn't only just the face that changed Ron."

"EVERYTHING, has to change for it to be convincing." Dave exclaimed.

"Everything?" Ron asked to the amusement of us all.

"Everything." Dave answered

"Ouch" Ron answered.

"That doesn't cover the half of it Ron. Women have all these extra organs and odd substances in their blood. Not to mention the funny way their hips work, it makes walking very strange." Dave explained.

"We blokes are much simpler creatures." Dave said while walking back to Ginny's spot.

"Do you want to play again Ginny? Or are you good for now." Dave asked to a still very embarrassed Ginny.

"No, I'm good thanks. You win." She said while trying to hide her head under her mass of hair, which incidentally was a good colour match for her cheeks just now.

Dave then wandered over to face Fireball, "How about you? Do you want to play some more?" he asked still with a wicked grin on his face.

Fireball seemed to feel a little trapped, as her sisters and cousin were egging her on to not let her little brother 'get away with it'.

Eventually she gave in to the peer pressure and answered Dave's challenge, "Ball gowns don't frighten me. You're on." She said throwing caution to the winds.

Dave bowed to her and walked back to the same spot as before. Ginny meanwhile seemed to be peeking out from under her mass of hair to see what would happen next.

Once more Dave spun on the spot and when he stopped Fireball's twin stood there dressed in a set of Orange and Black Quidditch Robes.

Fireball's face had gone white with shock.

No one seemed to have a clue as to what was going on. Dave seemed unconcerned by this though. He cheerfully walked over to his father (with a little more 'hip swaying' than was needed I must add) and then quite happily sat in his lap.

Pulling his Mirror Phone from his pocket he held it up and took something called a 'selfie'. This turned out to be a photo of himself (as Fireball) and his father both of whom were smiling at the camera.

Thanking his father he got up and showed the photo to Fireball who was now looking rather worried.

"It is a great shot don't you think?" Dave/Fireball said to Fireball.

"It's so good in fact, that I think I need to share it with a certain Quidditch player from the…" Dave started to say before Fireball launched herself from her seat and took off after Dave.

Dave seemed to be equal to the task though as he was able to keep out of Fireball's grasp. Although he like the rest of us was laughing a great deal.

Running past his father I noticed him throw his Mirror Phone to his dad before heading off to the training floor. Fireball must have not seen him throw the phone as she took off after him.

By the time Dave/Fireball was on the training floor he/she was again dressed in T-Shirt and Shorts but this time matching Fireball's attire. Fireball got rid of her shoes and joined him on the floor as well.

They gave each other only the briefest of bows before they needed to hide their grins and focus.

The display we watched before was very impressive with what they were doing. This display was something else. Sandra made the comment that this was free form sparing with no pre-set moves.

It was also significantly faster and involved them both frequently making contact with each other. Although it was very obvious that they were not actively trying to hurt one another.

It didn't take very long at all until we had lost track of who was the real Fireball and who was Dave/Fireball. While they each had their own group of supporters neither group really knew when to cheer for their champion.

Neither one of them did anything to give away who was who until Dave's Mirror Phone gave out a rather annoying buzzing sound. Unlike the other sounds it had made before.

I didn't know what it meant but it had the instant attention of Dave's team along with Chief Williams, Ivan and Sandra. Both of the combatants up on the training floor also heard it. One of them stopped and looked over to Ivan and quickly changed back into Dave only to receive a very swift kick in the bum from the real Fireball.

Fireball let out a yell and fell onto her own backside holding her ankle. Dave quickly crossed to her and tended to her ankle before racing to his father to get his phone.

Once he had it in his hands he quickly stopped the buzzing and then was reading something.

When he looked up he had a neutral expression and he motioned his team to gather round.

"Ok, I can see you're all interested in this latest news. To put you all out of your misery I will just tell you now."

"That was a message from Semi." He said with a pause while he looked at his team.

"He says and I quote, 'We got her'" at this statement Dave had a huge grin on his face. His team also let out a great roar of celebration.

"Ok, ok settle down." Dave told them.

"The rest of the message reads, 'Captured the two minders. No injuries to all involved. Moved to secure location near Marseille with team, target and minders. Awaiting further instructions.' So they pulled it off and are 'home' safe and sound." He said clearly happy at the news.

Dave moved amongst his team speaking to them all individually about this latest news. There were many hugs back slapping and handshakes all round. They were all clearly excited by the rescue of this person whoever it was.

Eventually the group quietened down and Dave moved back to sit down next to Gabrielle. She happily moved over and made room for him.

Once he was seated Kingsley was the first one in with the question of, "Just who did your team get?"

"The wife of Gawain Roberts." Dave replied still smiling.

Kingsley eyes widened in surprise and then he to (along with Arthur) began to grin like mad men.

"I can understand the celebrations then." Kingsley said extending his hand to Dave, "You have my most sincere thanks for the work of your team in this matter."

Taking his hand and enthusiastically shaking it Dave replied, "No thanks are necessary. My team harbours a 'special' deep dark hatred of kidnappers. Especially those that go after kids. So we are ALWAYS happy to recover someone from people like that."

"I do think that we should get the news to Gawain as soon as possible. As I can't control what the opposition will do once they find out she is missing."

"If we get to him first we can at least give him the facts and take him to his wife, so that he will be prepared for their inevitable counter move." Dave suggested.

"A great idea. I will go and get him now and bring him here." Kingsley offered.

"If I may Kingsley, I have a suggestion I would like to put to you." Dave said carefully.

"Go on, suggest away" Kingsley replied.

"It has been a while since we last observed Gawain and we don't know what sort of controls the opposition may have placed on him since then."

"With that in mind I would like to accompany you to the Ministry. As I can get Gawain and you out of there with no one knowing anything about it."

"I can bring him back here without even him knowing where he is. Then we can assess what if any controls are on him and deal with them as required." Dave said in a very confident sounding manner.

"A sensible precaution Dave. I agree." Kingsley said after a moments thought.

"How will you get us out of the Ministry without anyone knowing?" he asked.

"Just off the Ministers office is the private conference room. If we all go into that room and you seal it, with a slight modification I can use the door to the hidden liquor cabinet to open a doorway to my tent."

"If we have the main door of my tent sealed Gawain, and anyone who may be watching him. Will not know where they are." Dave explained.

"How do you know about the liquor cabinet?" Kingsley asked.

"Do you remember what I told you yesterday? About extracting information out of your Ministry." Dave enquired.

"I do indeed Dave." Kingsley answered.

"A lot of the times I just waltzed into the Ministers office, dressed as him and made copies of the files I wanted right off his desk. Then walked right on back out." Dave said smiling.

"You cheeky bugger." Kingsley said also smiling.

"I hope you haven't done that as me have you?" Kingsley asked slightly alarmed.

"No Minister I haven't. Not yet anyway." Dave said with his evil grin once more on display.

This took Kingsley a little by surprise. He quickly recovered and said, "I think it will be a good idea to maintain good relations with your Minister so that he doesn't turn you lose on me as well."

Dave sat back with a look of feigned hurt and remarked, "Are you trying to get rid of me Minister?" while winking at his dad who just chuckled.

"How do we get you into the Ministry without anyone realising it?" Kingsley asked Dave.

"I think the simplest approach would be for me to dress as Arthur, if he has no objections." Dave said looking over to Arthur to see his response.

"No objections from me Dave." Arthur replied.

"Ok. Then after we get into the Ministry we both go and collect Gawain and take him up to your private board room. Once there you tell your secretary that you, Arthur and Gawain are going to be having a highly confidential meeting and that you are not to be disturbed for the next hour or two."

"Once inside you will seal the room with the stipulation I mentioned before. I will then open a door to my tent here and we will take Gawain through."

"There are wards in place on our tents that I will activate before we go that will prevent just about any tracking spell from giving the location away."

"Once we have him here we can work on him to ensure that he isn't tracked or have any controls on him. If possible I think it would be a great idea to borrow Bombshell to help with this task as he has some serious skills in that department."

Once again Dave looked over to Bill for his views and received a curious nod in reply.

"Excellent. Once Gawain is 'free and clear' we can give him the news about his wife and what we intend to do about it. Then if he is agreeable I will dress as him and go back to the Ministry with you and Arthur."

"From there we can split up and meet back here once we are sure that we are not being followed." Dave said sitting back and looking for comment.

"Why do I get the feeling that you have done this before Dave?" Kingsley said with an amused expression.

"Maybe because I have done it a time or two." Dave smirked.

"Ok, I like it. It is simple and direct. Given the element of surprise is with us I believe it will work." Kingsley said.

"How quickly can you be ready to leave Dave?"

"Give me a moment or two to have a very quick wash and get changed into something a little more tactical. Then I will be ready." Dave said getting up.

"Will do" Kingsley said.

Dave looked to Gabrielle and asked "Could you please find Mick as well as my sisters Shelly and Fireball. Tell them we are putting on a 'bait and switch' and ask them to meet me in my tent ASAP?"

"Oui" she replied smiling at him.

"My thanks to you, mi lady" Dave replied also smiling at her.

"Excuse me all, I have to run" Dave said as he stepped away from the table and removed his shirt as he quickly walked to his tent wiping himself down with his T-Shirt as he went.

"W'at are zose scars on 'is back?" Gabrielle asked following Dave with her eyes as he walked away.

Sandra quickly glanced over at her son and replied, "Claw marks from a Griffin"

"Aie, zat must 'ave 'urt a great deal." She answered still following Dave with her eyes.

"It did indeed," Sandra answered "but that is a story for another day."

Then looking at Gabrielle with an amused expression she asked, "Don't you need to round up some people for him?"

"Oui. Excusez-moi" she replied with a slight blush and ran off.

Those of us at the table were smiling as we watched her race off and track down the ones Dave had requested. She seemed to be gathering them up rather quickly.

Andrea then walked over to us and said, "Why do I get the feeling that I'm walking in on this story half way through?"

At this comment Sandra, Fleur and I all burst out laughing again.

"Oh Sweety," Sandra said, "I get the feeling that this story hasn't even got started properly yet." We were all smiling at that statement.

"Is she the young lady that Dave helped heal yesterday?" asked Andrea.

"Oui. Zat ez Gabrielle, my little sister." Fleur answered, just as Gabrielle lead the procession of Aurors into Dave's tent. I could plainly see Fireball and Shelly smiling from where I was sitting

"I would like to examine her if I may to make sure that nothing was overlooked in the chaos of yesterday." Andrea said to Fleur.

"Zat can be arranged, our parents would be 'appy to confirm zat everyzing is well." Fleur answered.

"Excellent. Once her distraction has left, I think we will be able to get enough of her attention to get it over with very quickly." Andrea said smiling before we all started to giggle uncontrollably again.


	17. Gabrielle's Story

_**A/N:** Hi Again, Just a quick note to deliver a (long overdue) apology for the French used in this story. I have been mostly relying on Google Translate as the few people I know who do "know" French don't "know" much of it. I'm sure some people have cringed at what has been used in the story previously (and below), so if I have royally stuffed something up with it please feel free to PM me and I will fix._

 _My two little boys who are the main audience for this story love it when their daddy tries to read the dialogue for Fleur (and other French characters) from the HP Books with a 'French Accent'. So they have requested that Fleur and the other French characters continue to do so in 'their' story. This is the reason for those characters dialogue to be written that way. Once again if I am placing emphasis on the wrong sounds etc please feel free to PM me and I will correct to make it read/sound better._

 _Once again thanks for reading and joining us in this journey. Hope you are all enjoying it as much as we are here._

* * *

Kingsley and Arthur had only a short wait for Dave to re-appear. When he did he was now dressed in blue jeans, dark blue shirt and his rather odd looking belt around his middle. He also had on what looked to be Dragonhide boots.

Gabrielle was following Dave, but deeply engrossed in a conversation with Shelly and Fireball. They all had little smirks on their face and kept glancing at Dave's back. I got the distinct impression that they were planning some sort of 'revenge' for Dave's earlier antics.

Dave meanwhile seemed oblivious to the impending trouble behind him and was talking to Mick. The group met up with Kingsley and Arthur and after a quick conversation at the end of which Dave and Arthur shook hands. Dave then 'dressed as' Arthur and he and Kingsley left for the apparition point.

When they had departed Fireball, Shelly and Mick collected Bill and the rest of Dave's team and began preparing his tent for their arrival.

Fleur had collected her parents and Gabrielle and brought them all inside. Hermione and Ginny followed as well. With the exception of Monsieur Delacour it resembled a 'girls night' in the lounge of the Burrow.

Ivan and Arthur were deep in conversation but heading towards the house. I waved them off and they happily wondered back to the table to join the other boys.

I had no idea what they were all talking about but it seemed to have caught the attention of all of them. Going from the laughter involved they seemed to be enjoying themselves. This was just as well as Gabrielle isn't going to want the boys around for this examination.

Once we were all in the lounge Andrea spoke with Gabrielle and her parents and stated that she would like to examine her to make sure that there were no issues that may have been over looked yesterday.

Gabrielle and her parents were happy for Andrea to carry out her examination.

Monsieur Delacour turned one of the seats around so that he could still hear what was being discussed, but without embarrassing his daughter.

Andrea conjured a gown that would enable her to access just the areas that she wished to examine while allowing Gabrielle to cover everything else. Gabrielle quickly stepped out to change into this gown.

When she came back in Andrea asked her to turn around so she could start with her back. We were never sure if the knife had gone all the way through her or not. But after a careful and magical examination no trace of the knife exiting out her back could be found.

Next Gabrielle turned around and opened the gown over where the knife had entered her chest. Andrea very carefully examined this area. Both visually and magically.

Eventually after quite a few spells were cast she pronounced it clear of any infection and that it had healed very satisfactorily. Indeed there was only the faintest of thin lines there indicating that she had been stabbed at all.

Next she asked Gabrielle to lay down on the couch so that she could examine her lung and heart.

Andrea began by waving her wand over Gabrielle's lung and asking her to breathe in deeply and hold the breath for a moment or two. Then to slowly exhale. This was repeated a few times.

Next Andrea checked Gabrielle's heart. Here she seemed to take the most time of all. She asked Gabrielle to relax as much as possible to slow her heart beat down and allow a better 'look' as he called it.

Eventually she pronounced the knife wound fully healed and free of any infection. However she still had a puzzled look on her face after that announcement.

"Is something wrong dear?" I asked her.

I must have startled her with my question as she almost jumped slightly.

"No nothing is 'wrong' as such, just odd." She answered.

"Odd?" Sandra asked, "How so?"

"It's just…" Andrea started to say before a different thought caught her. Turning to Madame and Monsieur Delacour she asked,

"Did Gabrielle have a pre-existing heart condition before yesterday?"

"Oui" Madame Delacour answered. "We found out about it after ze Tri-Wizard tournament."

"Why do you ask?"

"In a moment, if I may." Andrea replied, "Can you describe the condition to me? Or share the memory of when you were told about it?"

"She has a small defect in ze… 'ow do you say" Madame Delacour, thought for a moment, "La valve mitrale"

"The Mitral Valve?" Andrea asked while Gabrielle began to look a little uncomfortable.

"Oui, zat is ze one." Madame Delacour answered.

"She 'as been told to be careful wiz over exerting 'erself and she must keep a supply of special potions with 'er in case she 'as any 'eart pains." Madame Delacour explained.

"I see. That certainly explains quite a few things that I noticed." Andrea replied thoughtfully.

"What did you notice?" Madame Delacour answered beginning to get worried.

"Please don't be alarmed." Andrea replied hastily seeing the look in the faces of the Delacour's.

"What I noticed is that there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with Gabrielle's heart at all." Andrea said to the growing delight and confusion of the Delacour family. As well as to the rest of us in the room.

"What do you mean nozing wrong?" Madame Delacour asked, while her husband came and stood by her side with hope clearly showing on his face.

"I mean I could find nothing wrong with her heart. I couldn't even see any damage from the knife."

"I could see a lot of new heart tissue though. Along where the knife went and where the Mitral Valve is located." Andrea explained.

"How?" Sandra began to ask when Andrea spoke again,

"Dave." She said with her face deep in thought.

"It is the only thing that makes any sort of sense. As Gabrielle's heart bears all the signs of basically having been rebuilt from the ground up." She said with wonder on her face.

"You mean Dave gave me a new 'eart?" Gabrielle said with tears in her eyes.

"Not completely new, but he certainly rebuilt and replaced any parts that were damaged in anyway." Andrea answered to the wonderment of all of us in the room.

"Why do you still look worried?" Sandra asked her daughter.

"I was there when Dave did a similar type of repair on Emma's heart. That repair almost killed him from the effort required." Andrea said still deep in thought.

"Given the effort he expended yesterday, before he arrived here. Then followed by the effort he expended while here there is no way he should have been able to do that."

"Especially given that he apparently then purged her blood afterwards as well as unleashing friendfyre to help Bombshell break the final curse."

"Putting all that together he should have had no energy left to keep his own heart beating." She said clearly confused.

During this Gabrielle had begun to look rather horrified at the possible outcomes.

"Dave could 'ave died because of me?" she asked in a small voice.

Sandra quickly crossed to Gabrielle and took her hands in her own.

"Please don't blame yourself for this Gabrielle." Sandra told her while looking in her eyes with concern.

"Dave is very aware of his limits. While he will always give his all in a task, he will also only attempt it if he is sure he can safely complete it. For all involved" Sandra explained to Gabrielle.

"Are you ok now?" she asked Gabrielle.

"Oui" she replied with a small smile.

Sandra embraced Gabrielle and was quickly joined by the rest of the Delacour's.

After they had released each other Andrea again spoke,

"The only thing I can think of is that Dave has 'levelled up' again."

"He can't have. It's too soon." Sandra said more than a little worried.

"Excusez-moi, w'at do you mean by 'level up'?" Fleur asked puzzled.

"Dave's abilities do not seem to be developing the same as his brothers. Nor even as his sisters or cousins."

"They all grew, and in a few cases are still growing, into their abilities on a reasonably smooth curve."

"Dave's abilities seem to grow in spurts. He will go along for a year or so with no real changes noticeable. Then all of a sudden he will start doing feats of 'magic' that truly astound you."

"The danger in this is that when he experiences a 'level up' as we call it, it takes him a while to come to terms with his new abilities and the power at his command."

"I worry that if he draws too much he could hurt himself."

"In the past each time he has had a 'level up' episode we have had him spend some time back at the Academy with his instructors who have helped guide him through it."

"This time… This time we don't know when it occurred." Sandra remarked.

"Either it happened more gradually. Or he has had some sort of breakthrough in understanding his abilities and how to control them." She said thoughtfully.

"Gabrielle, could… could you tell us what happened yesterday. From your point of view?" Sandra asked.

"If you want to that is."

"Oui. I zink I can do zat." She said as she went to sit herself down on the couch.

"Thank you. Maybe you should go and get dressed again first so that you are more comfortable. Then you can tell us your story." Sandra offered.

"Merci" Gabrielle replied as she stepped out to get changed.

Once she had returned, we all found seats for ourselves. I did notice that Fleur very quickly chose the seat that would enable her to sit closest to her sister.

"I remember seeing ze Dementors and being told to get back to ze 'ouse." Gabrielle began.

"As I was about to 'ead back to ze 'ouse I saw someone behind Bill. So I fired a stunner at zem."

"Zen I felt a 'orrable pain in my chest, followed by a terrible chill coming from it."

"Everything zen went dark."

"Zat would 'ave been w'en I cast ze freezing charm on you" Fleur told her sister.

"I couldn't zink of anyzing else to do." She said with unshed tears in her eyes.

"It was exactly the right thing to do Fleur." Andrea told her.

"It would have been one of the first things that Nat or I would have done had we been there." She said giving Fleur an encouraging look.

"Merci" Fleur answered.

"Please go on." She encouraged Gabrielle.

"Ze next memory I have is of a voice. I do not know who it belonged to or what was being said."

"Only zat it was very worked up and determined about somezing."

"That's most likely when Dave was arguing with that awful Healer White. The one who was more concerned about his reputation than his patients." I told her.

"That sounds like something Dave would do." Sandra said with a smile.

"Yeah he hates Healers who won't at least try to help someone." Andrea said with a small chuckle at some memory.

"I hope he didn't get too worked up by the idiot." She asked me.

"If I remember rightly at one point he offered to remove Healer White's soul so he could see for himself the damage that he had done to it with his actions" I replied with a rueful smile.

"Oh my." Sandra said with a small blush, "He has always been passionate about helping people. But that is the first time I have heard of him saying anything like that."

"Sounds like this Healer White deserved it mum." Andrea said.

"He may well have. But Dave still shouldn't have said that. Especially in front of his Grandfather"

"Who knows maybe it was Grandpa's suggestion. As they both have rather short fuses for those who won't help those who are in need." Andrea replied.

"Maybe. But we are getting off track here."

"Please go on Gabrielle."

"Dave calling me by name was ze next zing I remember. It was like a light in ze darkness literally, to me."

"Zen 'e introduced himself to me wiz his full name and told me who 'e was and why 'e was zere. I remember 'im asking for permission to speak to me. Zis I remember zinking was odd as 'e was already talking to me."

"But I remember saying yes 'e could talk to me. Zen everyzing changed."

"How so?" Sandra asked with a very intent look in her eyes.

"Before everyzing was dark, and cold and I was very frightened."

"But zen zere was light and warmth. While I was zere I wasn't frightened, I was calm."

"Zen I saw 'im" she said and smiled and a small blush appeared as well.

"What did you see?" Fleur asked with a very curious expression on her face.

"Dave" Gabrielle replied, "But not as I 'ad seen 'im before"

"How did he appear to you?" Sandra asked.

"Adorable." Gabrielle answered before she realised it. Then she blushed deeply and we all had a good giggle at her discomfort until Fleur took pity on her and enfolded her in a hug. She held the hug long enough to enable Gabrielle's blush to subside, at least a little bit.

"That's a word very few people have used to describe Dave before." Sandra said smiling at Gabrielle, who was still trying to control her blush.

"What made you chose it?" she asked.

"'e reminded me of a great big ours en peluche" Gabrielle replied fighting back a giggle.

Sandra and the rest of us looked a little confused until Fleur translated it for us,

"Teddy Bear?" she asked her sister.

"Oui" she replied still with her cheeks blushing. The rest of us could only smile at this image of Dave.

"Are you sure? You didn't see a dragon or something like a dragon at all? It was definitely shaped like a person?" Sandra asked with a very intense expression and her eyes were locked onto Gabrielle's.

"Non. I didn't see a dragon. It was definitely a man. A big man who was trying to appear small and 'armless." She said with a smile.

"How about around him? What could you see around him? Was there anything at all?" Sandra asked with her gaze still locked onto Gabrielle's eyes.

Gabrielle thought for a moment. "I zought zat I could see somezing or someone else, but zat zey were a very long way off in ze distance." She said thoughtfully.

Sandra went very pale at this piece of news. She sat as though stunned for a few moments. Eventually Andrea succeeded in getting her attention again.

"MUM." She called to her, "What is it?"

"He did it. He actually did it." She said as though she was having a hard time believing what she had been told.

"What? What did he do?" Andrea asked her.

"He… He…" she said almost in a daze.

"He what? Mum." Andrea almost pleaded.

"He brought her into his soul. Right INTO his soul. What she was seeing wasn't the outer shell of his soul, but the very core of his soul, of himself." Sandra said with awe clearly showing on her face.

Andrea on hearing this also had a similar look of wonder on her face. She turned to look at Gabrielle and there was something different in her expression as she looked at her. Something almost akin to respect and admiration was visible on her face.

Fleur then asked, "What do you mean he brought her into his soul?"

"A soul has two fundamental components to it. One is the outer shell, it is basically a reflection of how the soul sees itself. This is most likely what you would have seen during the attempt to heal Gabrielle when you said you thought you saw Dave as a Dragon holding someone who was hurt."

"The other is the CORE of the soul. The true soul, how it actually is. Too catch a glimpse of someone's true soul is a gift beyond price or measure."

"To actually see, properly see and 'talk' to someone's true soul is so rare it is basically unheard of." Sandra explained to a very stunned collection of people.

"Why is it so rare?" I asked.

"Because it is dangerous. Extremely dangerous." Sandra said thoughtfully, "Do not be alarmed, please." She added seeing the concern on the Delacour's.

"The danger was never to Gabrielle. It was all to Dave. For him to invite you in like that and allow you to 'talk' to him there would have required him to surrender to you. Totally and without question."

"If you had become angry and had lashed out at him in anyway, he would have had absolutely no way of defending himself from you." Sandra explained to a very stunned Gabrielle.

"If 'e was surrendering to 'er, why zen did 'e need 'er permission?" Madame Delacour asked.

"If Dave had attempted to bring Gabrielle's soul into his own like that without her permission, he would have caused great harm to himself and his soul. He would have also caused great distress to Gabrielle as well."

"Even with permission being given by both parties it is still a massive and very significant act of trust for him to open his own soul like that. It would also require an almost as significant amount of trust for Gabrielle to accept that invitation."

"Soul's that have trusted each other like that do not EVER forget it. If the experience was bad for either party, they would never be able to forget it."

"Do you remember why you accepted Dave's invitation? How did it make you feel?" Sandra asked with her eyes focused on Gabrielle's.

"I accepted 'is invitation as 'e made me feel extremely safe and protected. So, I felt very comfortable to acceptze invitation from Dave." Gabrielle said with some conviction.

"If the experience was good, it will be an eternal pleasant memory." Sandra said to Gabrielle with a smile.

"I hope it was a pleasant experience for you?" she asked.

"Oui. It was. VERY much so." She said smiling to herself at the memory. Sandra and the rest of us also were also smiling at her reply.

"I'm glad to hear that Gabrielle. Otherwise I would have had to throttle my only son." Sandra answered with a chuckle at Gabrielle's reaction to her statement. I had to have a small chuckle at that thought myself.

"Please continue with your story, Gabrielle." Sandra requested with a smile of encouragement.

"I could see zis very large and obviously powerful man standing in front of me. But 'e was also obviously trying very 'ard to appear 'armless as well as make me feel comfortable."

"'e stood there looking at me with a smile on his face. Zere was also a question on 'is face as well. After a few moments, I realised zat I understood 'is question."

"As soon as I zought of an answer to 'is question I could tell zat 'e 'ad 'eard it and understood."

"It was zen zat I realised we were talking wiz our zoughts alone. It was one of ze strangest conversations I have ever had. But also one of ze most relaxed and enjoyable I 'ave ever 'ad." She explained with a shy little smile on her face.

"Why was it enjoyable?" Sandra asked.

"Because I got ze feeling zat he saw me. Zat 'e saw ze real me, and zat 'e accepted me for who I was wiz non-judgement. 'e also talked to me. Properly talked to me."

"'e wasn't talking at me, or saying zings he zought I wanted to 'ear. 'e was listening to my questions and answering zem wiz real answers."

"I felt like I could ask 'im anyzing or tell 'im anyzing and 'e wouldn't judge me because of it. Or tell anyone what I had told 'im. It was a very warm and safe feeling."

"I enjoyed it immensely." She said with her smile growing at the memory.

"Can you say what you talked about?" Sandra asked.

At this request Gabrielle's face deepened into a full blown blush that you could almost feel the heat from.

"If there are some topics that you would prefer to not mention that is perfectly fine." Sandra told her with a knowing smile.

"Merci" Gabrielle answered.

"At ze start I asked 'im what was happening. 'e told me we were in ze place where our true souls resided."

"Zat we were 'ere so we could talk in safety and privacy as well as quickly. 'e told me zat in zis place if our two souls wished to 'talk' to each other zat zey could do so, and do it freely and zat it was not possible to deceive or lie to each other while 'talking' like zis."

"I asked 'im why we were talking like zis and not like we were before."

"'e told me it was so zat he could answer all my questions (as 'e could sense zat I 'ad a great many) and do so in a way where 'e couldn't deceive me. As 'e wanted my help to try and 'eal my body."

"I asked 'im what was wrong wiz my body and why it needed to be 'ealed."

"Dave zen told me what 'ad 'appened and what damage zat 'ad been done,"

"'e also told me zat if I was willing to 'elp 'im, 'e and a group of other people (zat he promised to introduce to me) would be doing all zat zey could to 'eal me and bring me back."

"I asked 'im why someone who was as powerful as 'im would need my 'elp."

"When I 'said' zis to 'im, 'e actually laughed at me. I didn't expect it. It almost made me angry wiz 'im, until I asked 'im why 'e 'ad laughed."

"Dave zen told me zat in zis endeavour zat it was my power zat was ze more important. In addition to zat ze main skills required to 'eal me, zat I was indeed more powerful zan 'e was, or would ever likely to be."

"I zen asked what skills were required to 'eal me."

"He told me it was ze most ancient and powerful magic of all."

"Love and the capacity to love which would be ze most fundamental power zat we would be using to 'eal me."

"I asked him if he really zought zat I was zat powerful in zose skills."

"His answer was simply. Yes."

"I wasn't prepared for such a straight forward answer. It shocked me, but also made me 'appy and relaxed me a great deal."

"I zen asked what did 'e see when 'e looked at me."

"He answered this question also." She said and then she blushed so hard it was almost embarrassing to watch.

"Well? Are you going to tell us what 'e said?" Fleur asked with a smile of encouragement. But a touch of irritation at having to wait for an answer.

"Non." Gabrielle replied with a shake of her head and her face in her hands in a futile attempt to hide her blush and her smile also.

"I take it his answer pleased you?" Sandra asked Gabrielle

"Oui. It did. Very much. It was per'aps ze kindest zing anyone 'ad ever said to me." She answered still hiding her face in her hands.

"I 'ave 'ad many people try to flatter me many times before. For many different reasons. But I could never believe what zey said about me."

"'owever with Dave's answer, it was so straight forward and heartfelt and honest. I wanted very much to believe it. But I found it 'ard to believe zat someone could see all of zat in moi." Gabrielle answered with her heart in her eyes.

"Dave is famous for giving straight forward honest answers. Usually without thinking about the long-term consequences of his answers." Sandra said to Gabrielle with a smile on her face.

"He has a habit of answering questions people put to him honestly. If he can't answer honestly he will usually not answer at all or tell you he can't answer the question honestly."

"One of my favourite examples of this was just before he proposed to Emma." She said with a smile for the memory.

"We were getting ready to go out together to a formal ministry function. Emma came out dressed in a very nice outfit and asked us if it looked ok. As she was worried it made her butt look too big." She said trying to hold back a giggle.

"Oh non. He didn't?" Fleur said putting her hands to her face to try and stop her giggles.

"He did. He did it without even batting an eyelid." She said with the giggle escaping from her and the rest of us laughing in shock.

"She walked out and asked her question. All of us were saying she looked lovely, which she did. Then when Dave walked into the room she asked him and did a twirl to show him her outfit."

"Dave took one look and said 'Yes it does'. You could have heard a pin drop in the room." She answered.

"I thought she was going to kill him then and there." Andrea said with tears of laughter in her eyes.

"Me too." Sandra said, "She yelled at him saying something like 'Why would you say that?' but he was just giving her this adorable confused look that he has."

"Eventually he answered 'If you didn't want to know, why did you ask the question?'" Sandra was now having to hold her ribs as she was laughing so hard.

"His next comment was 'Did you want me to start lying to you?' once more with that cute confused look that he has."

"After a moment or two of thought Emma calmed down and said, 'No I don't. But don't EVER say that again.' And she raced out of the room and changed her outfit."

"Poor Dave was so confused about what had just happened. He didn't know what to do or say he just stood there stunned."

"Of course his sisters took no pity on him and they all came out and asked his opinion of their outfits as well."

"The poor boy made a break for Jimmy's room to try and get away from the girls."

"We ended up having to send Emma in to rescue him. Once she stopped laughing at what his sisters had done to him of course." Sandra said now with tears running freely down her cheeks.

The rest of us were in a similar state.

"Poor Dave seems to have a terrible run of luck when it comes to anything fashion related." Andrea said with an evil grin on her face.

"Have you heard about what happened to Dave in Paris back in March?" Andrea asked her mum.

"No I haven't. What happened?" Sandra asked with her face afire with curiosity.

"Ah… Well it is his story to tell. So, he should really do it." Andrea said with an evil grin.

"You are just wanting him to embarrass himself, aren't you?" Sandra said.

"Oui" Andrea replied collapsing into gales of laughter.

"Ez zat when Dave got into trouble for 'crimes against fashion and ze French language?'" Fleur asked.

"Oui" was all Andrea could reply between fits of almost hysterical laughter.

"I can see that there is a story that I must simply know more about." Sandra said.

"I'm sure I can count on all you girls to help me get it out of him?" she asked with a conspiratorial grin.

"Dave is right. You girls do hunt in packs don't you?" Hermione remarked.

"Of course we do. Does that mean you won't help us?" Sandra asked.

"I never said I wouldn't." Hermione replied with her own evil grin.

This only seemed to set us all off again into gales of laughter at poor Dave's fate.

Eventually we got ourselves back under some sort of control.

Looking over to Gabrielle who was wiping away her own tears of laughter Sandra said, "As you just heard, Dave has a long history of giving honest answers."

"However in that place where you two were talking there are very strict rules as well that govern how Souls 'talk' to each other."

"Dave wasn't lying to you when he told you that he couldn't deceive you in that place. Neither of you could have deceived the other while you were there."

"So whatever Dave told you he sees when he looks at you, you can believe. You can take it as hard solid fact that is what he honestly thinks when he sees you. He could not have lied even if he wanted to." Sandra explained to her.

Gabrielle just sat there stunned, but with a small shy smile playing about her lips.

Eventually she said, "Je peux vraiment le croire pour de vrai?" before catching herself and saying, "I can truly believe it for real?"

Sandra smiled and nodded to her. Fleur simply said "Oui".

Gabrielle flung herself out of her seat and into Sandra's arms where she hugged her tightly and cried, "Merci pour votre fils."

Sandra returned the hug and patted Gabrielle on the back while she looked over to Fleur for a translation.

"She says, Thank you for your son." Fleur answered with a smile.

"There is no need to thank me, Gabrielle." Sandra said to Gabrielle encouragingly.

"Whatever it was that Dave saw in you was there long before he saw it. It is in you and has always been so." She said to her while wiping away her tears.

"Merci beaucoup." Gabrielle said with a smile.

"I can see where Dave gets ez eloquence from." She said with a giggle.

"Dave? Eloquent?" Andrea asked confused.

"Do I have another brother that you haven't told me about mum?"

At this comment Gabrielle just threw several cushions at her, while the rest of us laughed.

"Gabrielle, do you feel that you can continue with your story? Please?" Sandra asked.

"Oui" she replied.

"After Dave gave me ez answer I felt much more confident and sure about certain zings. However, I still 'ad many questions and some worry."

"Dave I think sensed zis. So 'e encouraged me to ask my questions"

"I did not know where to start, or 'ow to even ask them. To give myself sometime to zink I began to ask 'im questions about 'imself."

"Ze first questions I asked 'im were about ze two big scars running across 'is chest over 'is 'eart."

"Scars?" Sandra asked very intently

"Oui. Zere were two large ones. Zey were made close together so zey almost look like a single one." She answered.

"What did he say about them?" Sandra asked.

"He told me one was from the death of his frère. He called Jimmy. The other was from the death of his femme, Emma."

"Only the second scar is still open in a couple of places." She answered.

"Still open?" Sandra asked with the colour fading from her face somewhat.

"Oui. W'at does zat mean?" Gabrielle asked with genuine concern.

"It means that it is highly likely that he is still keenly feeling the RAW pain from the loss of his wife" Sandra replied.

"Could you see how big the openings were or how many?" Sandra asked

"I zink zat zere were maybe only two parts where it was still open. As for size zat was 'ard to tell." She answered.

"Makes a certain amount of sense if you think about it mum. Two openings in that particular scar, two upcoming significant dates that we have been worried about." Andrea said with worry showing on her face.

"What dates are you worried about?" I asked them both.

"Emma's Birthday is the 21st of May. This year it will be the first time without her." Sandra said with sadness in her eyes.

"We still don't know how he is going to deal with it. Jackie says she has got something that she thinks will help him through it. But she says she can't tell me too much about it. As it is something she can only give to Dave."

"She does?" Andrea remarked, "That is a good thing mum. You know she wouldn't tell you something like that unless she really thought that she did."

"She isn't one to toy with him. As she loves him almost as much as you do." Andrea told her mum with a reassuring smile.

"Excusez-moi, who is zis Jackie?" Gabrielle asked with only a slightly forced casualness.

"She ez 'is Belle-mère." Fleur answered with a knowing little smile to her sister, "Emma's Mère"

"Ah… Merci." Gabrielle replied only slightly blushing.

"What you say is true." Sandra said to her daughter after smiling gently at Gabrielle.

"All the same I think I will organise someone to keep a close watch on Dave on that day, as well as the other dates we have worries about." Sandra said the concern evident in her eyes.

"He has only started coming back out of his shell since Christmas. I don't want him to be going backwards after all his hard work." She said.

"Shell?" Gabrielle asked.

"After he lost Jimmy and Emma close together, he kind of just re-treated into himself for quite some time. My happy vibrant and fun loving little boy didn't exist for several months."

"During this time we only got to see the professional Auror in him. Don't get me wrong we are all VERY proud of his work with the Aurors and what he has done. But that is nothing but a candle in the wind to the pride and love we have for our little boy."

"It wasn't until Christmas when we were able to get him home with the whole family around him that we got to see the first re-emergence of our little boy again."

"Since then it has been a slow process. Today was the first time since before Jimmy died that I have seen him play with his sisters like he used to."

"I know that they have all been worried about him. Jasper was particularly worried. As after Jimmy she was the one he was always closest to."

"That's logical mum. They are the two youngest." Andrea answered while Ginny had a little smile on her face.

"But don't worry about Dave too much. He will be home by then, so he will have the whole family backing him up. Both old and new." She said looking around at those of us in the room.

"We might be planning on ganging up on him to get the full story of the 'Paris Incident'. But we will also be there for him if he needs us." She said to her mum.

"I will certainly help however I can" I told my big sister and was rewarded with a wonderful smile from her.

The other ladies in the room voiced their support also.

"I may not be 'is Famille but I would also like to 'elp 'ow ever I can." Gabrielle said to Sandra with a shy smile.

"Thank you my dear. That means a great deal." She replied smiling brightly at her.

"Somehow I get the feeling that Dave won't mind one bit if you are around to support him." She said to Gabrielle who once more had to fight against her resurgent blush.

We all had a giggle at her response.

"I know that we keep on getting side tracked my dear. But please continue with your story." Sandra asked her.

Gabrielle nodded her reply and then continued.

"After he finished telling me about 'is big scars, I asked about some of ze smaller ones. I then asked him about himself and 'e asked me many questions about me."

"We talked about a great many things. Eventually I relaxed more and more until I felt totally at ease."

"'e zen again spoke to me about my injury and what needed to be done to fix it."

"A few times I asked him to repeat and explain certain zings again as I didn't really understand zem ze first time. Or even ze second time in a lot of cases."

"I remember being nervous and a little frightened about all the zings zat 'ad to be done to make me well again. But Dave seemed to 'ave endless patients with me. 'e wanted me to know, truly know what is was zat 'e and ze others were going to do."

"I zen asked if it was going to 'urt at all. 'e simply said yes." She said with a nervous giggle.

"Good old blunt Dave" Andrea replied chuckling.

"It felt like we had talked for 'ours and 'ours but eventually I felt I 'ad enough information about both Dave and what 'e was going to try and do to feel comfortable about ze attempt."

"Would it surprise you to know that to us it was only a few minutes that you and Dave were engaged in that particular conversation." Sandra told her.

Gabrielle seemed to be very surprised by that information.

"Dave did tell you that communication in that manner was more efficient that normal conversation, didn't he?" Sandra asked her.

"I zink 'e did, but I wasn't paying too much attention at ze start." Gabrielle admitted before she continued with her story.

"I told 'im zat 'e 'ad my permission and blessing to try and save me."

"Zis seemed to make Dave very 'appy and 'e bowed to me and said zank you. Zis I found a little odd, as I was ze one in need of saving."

"Zen 'e told me zat 'e 'ad to return to ze others to let zem know zat I 'ad agreed to 'elp. And, to make a start on ze attempt."

"I 'ad a small panic attack zen and asked 'im to not leave me alone in ze dark."

"'e replied zat 'e would stay wiz me if I wished it. So I told 'im zat I did wish it."

"So 'e did. 'e was zere wiz me in ze dark ze whole time, standing beside me." She said this with a smile.

"I zen felt my famille join me zere as well. First Papa, zen Maman, and zen Fleur."

"When each of you joined me I could feel your love like it was almost a physical zing. A blanket I could wrap myself up in and nothing could stop me."

When she said this the smiles on her parents and Fleur were like the new risen sun. It was very clear that they were very pleased that she could sense their presence.

"I remember Dave introducing ze others zat were zere to 'elp me. Most of ze names were new to me so I ended up asking 'im about zem. 'e told me who zey were and zat zey 'ad agreed to 'elp me. When I understood zat we began."

"Once zey began I could feel many different zings 'appening at once. I could sense Bill standing between me and some dark beings like a protective big brother." She smiled gratefully at Fleur as she said this and Fleur happily returned it.

"Bill seemed to be battling zose dark zings some 'ow. Zey seemed to be afraid of 'im also. I saw 'im destroy some of zem before I was distracted by ze ozer zings zat were going on."

"I could also feel shields of some sort go around certain parts of me. I couldn't tell you which parts zey were on, but I did feel more comfortable once zat was done."

"Dave zen told me zat he and Shelly were going to stop my 'eart and lungs. 'e asked me not to panic but to relax as zey would take over ze role of zose organs so zat ze knife Damage could be repaired."

"I told him zat I was afraid, but 'e told me zat he zought I was very brave and zat my family agreed with 'im. I zen felt for my family and I could feel zeir unconditional love and support. Zis gave me ze strength to agree and to go on."

"When zey stopped my 'eart and lungs it was a very strange feeling to 'ave no beating in my chest or movement in my lungs. But I could feel ze blood flowing in my body still and I did not feel like I was chocking. So, I thought whatever zey were doing must be working."

"Next I remember Dave coming to me and asking me to grip ze knife zat was stuck in my chest and to begin to pull ze knife out."

"I remember holding ze knife and starting to pull it out, but it hurt. I almost let go but I could feel my family willing me on so I tried again. It hurt a little less, but I was still a little frightened."

"As ze knife began to move I could feel healing spells following very closely behind it. It was an odd feeling but strangely comforting as well."

"At some point I started to panic again, I remember reaching out and finding Dave's hand and holding on to it. It was very comforting to me." Sandra and Fleur both smiled at this statement.

"I could feel it when ze knife was removed from my lung. Zen zey started to focus on my heart. It was much ze same as before only I found zat I was squeezing Dave's hand very tightly."

"Ze whole time Dave was whispering in my ear. Telling me to listen to my family, about how much zey loved me and how zey (and 'im) zought I was strong enough to get zrough zis."

"It 'elped a great deal. Wizout it I don't know what would 'ave 'appened."

"I could feel it get more and more difficult to pull ze knife out. At one point I was worried zat ze knife might start to go back in. Zen Dave told me zat Mrs Weasley, Ginny and Hermione were ready to help me if I needed assistance. Once I knew zat I felt confident to try. When I focused I could feel zem helping me, it made relax some more."

"When ze knife was eventually removed I could only describe it as a feeling of great relief. As zough a huge evil had been removed from me and a massive weight was off my chest."

"After that I remember giving the knife to someone who took it away. Zen Dave's face looked worried for a moment while 'e said, 'something isn't right 'ere'. Zat worried me for a moment until I looked into his eyes and he asked me to relax and zat 'e was going to fix something zat was overlooked earlier."

"'e closed his eyes like 'e was concentrating very 'ard and I could feel warmth in my chest again. Followed by a lot of tingling. I could swear that both Dave and my chest 'ad started to glow, although zat seemed to be for only a moment."

"Your chest did glow for a moment" Ginny answered.

"Pardon?" Gabrielle said

"Just after they got the knife out of you and we could eventually rest, Dave then said, 'Something isn't right here' and then he had his wand right over your heart. Your chest then looked like it was glowing from within for a few moments."

"The next thing he said was 'It's all good now' and then they got ready for the next step."

"A few moments?" Andrea asked with a look of incredibility on her face, "Are you sure?"

"Very sure." Ginny answered with a nod of her head.

"That's incredible." Andrea remarked to her mother,

"If he could do that in a few moments he has definitely levelled up again. And by more than one or two levels at that." She said with more than a trace of awe in her voice.

"You mentioned that he had done something like this before? How long did it take him then?" I asked Andrea

"Hours." Was her reply.

We were all a little stunned by this.

"So he has gone from needing a few hours and nearly killing himself to only taking a few moments?" Andrea asked her mother with a mixture of awe and worry.

"Something has changed. Something almost at a fundamental level" Sandra said with her face deep in thought.

"We are going to need to have a talk to him about this, and very soon. Hopefully before he over exhorts himself and does himself any serious harm." Sandra said to no one in particular.

However, we all readily agreed that was the best action to take. Once Sandra realised that all the girls as well as Monsieur Delacour had agreed with her she had a small chuckle.

"You can add it to ze list of questions zat your Mari 'as for 'im." Fleur said with a smile to Sandra.

"I think we must." She answered.

"Please Gabrielle continue."

"After Dave 'ad stopped glowing 'e turned to look at me with very sad eyes. 'e said zat we had now come to ze part zat 'e 'ad told me about before."

"Ze part zat would be very painful. 'e told me zat 'e wished zat zere was anozer option available. As 'e really didn't want to 'urt me."

"I 'eld both of 'is 'ands in mine and told 'im zat I trusted 'im and zat I 'ad faith in 'im to do ze right zing."

"'e 'ad tears in his eyes and 'e apologized to me saying 'I wish I knew of anozer way to do zis. I'm so very very sorry.'"

"I again told 'im zat I trusted 'im and told 'im it was ok wiz me for 'im to do what 'e needed to do."

"'e looked at me with 'is big beautiful blue eyes and said 'Zank you Gabrielle'. Before he put both of my hands on my chest and cast the spell."

"When 'e 'ad cast ze spell it felt like my whole body was on fire. Ze pain was like nozing zat I 'ad ever felt before. I wanted to scream more zan anyzing but I 'ad no breath in my body."

"'ow long I was like zat I do not know. But when 'e reversed ze spell I could tell straight away zat it 'ad worked."

"As I felt so much better, ze fog in my mind was gone. Ze darkness in my vision was gone. Ze fear in my heart was gone. I felt so 'appy."

"I could not 'elp myself I grabbed 'im and 'ugged 'im and zen kissed ez cheeks. 'e blushed so much, like 'e was a little school boy who 'ad never been kissed before. It was adorable." She said with a giggle.

There was a chorus of giggles from the rest of us as well and many smiles at this.

"Once 'e recovered from 'is blushing" again she had a small giggle that we joined her in.

"'e told me that 'e and Shelly were going to 'elp me restart my 'eart and breazing."

"In order to do zis 'e was going to 'ave to ask my family to let go of me for a few moments. But not to fear as zey would be ack wiz me as soon as I was breathing on my own again and my 'eart was working on its own again."

"I told him zat I wouldn't worry as 'e was zere with me. Zis made 'im blush all over again." She laughed at the memory and it was a truly joyous sound.

"'e 'ad me place my 'ands on my chest again and close my eyes and relax."

"I felt my family fade away from me. Zen Dave asked me 'Are you ready?' I told him Oui."

"I 'eard 'im count down 3, 2, 1, zen zere was a jolt zrough me and Dave whispered to me breathe Gabrielle."

"I could once again feel my heart beating and feel myself taking breath again."

"When I opened my eyes again I could see Dave smiling at me and I felt so warm and 'appy like I 'ad never felt before."

"Dave zen told me zat papa was going to give me something to 'elp me 'elp zem fight ze last curse zat had to be dealt wiz."

"A moment later I felt what Dave had mentioned. It was a feeling of overwhelming love from my family, but it was far more personal zan before."

"Zen I could feel ze rest of my family returning to me and it was wonderful." She smiled to her family when she said this.

"Next I felt Bill and Dave start to battle ze dark shapes zat I had seen before. At first zey seemed to be doing well against zem. But eventually zey were starting to become overwhelmed."

"I zen remember Bill saying 'e might need some 'elp. Looking over to where 'e was I could see 'im starting to become outnumbered by dark shapes."

"I turned to Dave to ask what zey were. When I looked at 'im I could see 'is concern, but also 'is respect and admiration for Bill." She directed this comment to Fleur who seemed very happy to hear it.

"Dave called out to Bill saying 'we are coming' zen all of a sudden zere were two women zere with us."

"We all quickly 'eld 'ands and Dave told me to relax and trust 'im, zen 'e counted 3, 2, 1 and zey all became brilliant flame."

"I soon noticed zat Bill and moi were also flames as well. We all advanced on on ze dark shapes zat were around Bill. Ze shapes appeared to try to run from us. But our flames were faster and ran zem down and burnt zem all, until zere was nothing left."

"After zat Bill said, 'It's broken, it's gone. It is done. She's clean'. Bill smiled at me and zen Dave said Merci to 'im for all his 'elp."

"'e also zanked ze ozer women as well. Zey all disappeared after zat."

"Dave zen looked me in ze eyes and said 'Merci for your 'elp today. And well done wiz your efforts today also'."

"He zen smiled at me again and said, 'See I told you, you were strong and powerful enough to do zis'." She had tears in her eyes when she said this. Not many of us had dry eyes either I can tell you.

"He zen 'eld both my hands again and gave zem a gentle squeeze and told me to wake up as my family was waiting for me."

"Ze next thing I knew I opened my eyes and saw maman and papa and Fleur and Bill. I zought zat I could still feel Dave holding my hands zough."

"Zen I heard Dave say something and stumble and fall over."

"My 'eart nearly stopped again for a moment."

"Yours wasn't the only one to nearly stop Gabrielle." I told her and there was a murmur of agreement around the room.

"But 'e ez ok now zough?" Gabrielle asked.

"He certainly seems to be. But I definitely do want to have a talk to him." Sandra said.

"Just as importantly Gabrielle, how are you feeling?" Sandra asked her watching intently for her answer.

"I feel fantastique. Really fantastique." She said beaming at Sandra.

"That is great to hear Gabrielle." Sandra told her to smiles from Gabrielle and her parents and Fleur.

"I do have one favour to ask of you though if I may." Sandra asked.

"Of course ask away." Gabrielle replied.

"Dave has shown a great deal of trust in you, with both how he communicated with you, along with whatever he may have told you about himself."

"All I ask is that you please honour his trust and faith in you." Sandra asked her.

"Oui. I can do zat for 'im" Gabrielle answered her with a brilliant smile.

"Thank you Gabrielle. Thank you very much indeed." Sandra answered.

"Unfortunately both my boys have had to deal with betrayal in the past. Rather public betray at that also."

"They both work very hard to stay out of the spot light. So it is doubly painful for them when that is the reason for them to end up in the papers yet again." Sandra said with her heart in her eyes.

"Do not worry Madame Webb, I will never betray your son." Gabrielle said with some steel showing in her voice.

"I believe you Gabrielle. Thank you for this."

"Oh and Gabrielle, please call me Sandra." She requested as she stood and warmly embraced Gabrielle.

"Now let's go outside and see what those boys of ours have been up to shall we?" she said to a now blushing Gabrielle.

Madame and Monsieur Delacour led the procession of us all out to the backyard.

I could see Dave (as himself again) and Arthur walking rather quickly over to the house so I was curious to find out what had happened.

Monsieur Delacour was the first to reach Dave, and he embraced him fiercely and kissed him on both cheeks. He thanked him profusely for all that he had done for his daughter and then hugged and kissed him again.

Needless to say, Dave was thoroughly confused by this and the look on his face was priceless. I think it was this expression that sealed his fate with the rest of us girls.

Madame Delacour was the next to reach Dave and she repeated the process of hugs and kisses and she also thanked Dave again.

Sandra was next and Dave even managed to squeak out a simple "Mum?" before she also embraced him and kissed his cheeks.

Andrea followed suit, although she was clearly displaying an evil grin to her little brother. After hugging and kissing him she passed him off to me. I also gave Dave a big hug and kissed his cheeks before passing him off to Ginny.

Ginny was quite a bit shorter than Dave but she also managed to throw her arms around him and hugged him and kissed his cheeks as well. She then passed him onto Hermione who did the same before passing him over to Fleur.

Fleur displayed a strength I hadn't seen from her before when she hugged Dave and gave him another set of kisses on his cheeks. She also looked into his eyes and saw genuine confusion as to what was going on and she couldn't contain her laugh at his predicament.

None the less she passed him onto Gabrielle who, had she been any more enthusiastic in her hug I would have had to say that she was trying to attack him. She gave him a fierce and full hug which Dave seemed to enjoy as he returned her hug more fully than any of the others.

Gabrielle then relaxed her embrace and planted two very French kisses onto Dave's now flaming cheeks. She then pulled back and looked deeply into his eyes. Dave was still displaying that adorable look he has when he is really confused. But when he realised that Gabrielle still had her arms around him he started to smile at her.

She must have liked what she saw in that smile as she pulled him down and planted a very deliberate kiss on Dave's lips. Not even the cat calls, wolf whistles and cheers from those who witnessed the scene was enough to break through to them.

It was only when Dave's legs gave way under him and they both fell over with Gabrielle on top of Dave did she release him.

If Dave had looked stunned before it was nothing to how he looked now. Gabrielle seemed to be greatly enjoying her effect on Dave as she was merrily laughing at the poor boys confusion. While very happily still laying on top of him.

Eventually Dave made it up onto his elbows and managed to find his voice, "What was all that for?" he asked her.

Gabrielle also seemed to be a little out of breath but she eventually replied, "For being you."

She then burst into peels of silvery laughter at Dave's reaction. All the other girls also could no longer contain themselves either, and ended up joining in.

Sandra eventually took pity on poor Dave and came over to help Dave and Gabrielle to their feet.

Dave turned to his mom obviously hoping for an explanation. However, she refused to provide one at that time. Prolonging his confusion seemed to be her agenda for now.

"Mum, can you tell me what's going on?" he almost pleaded.

"No. No I can't" she replied to her son while unsuccessfully containing her giggles.

"I will leave that up to Gabrielle. When she's ready of course that is." Sandra said while smiling at the two of them.

Dave looked over to Gabrielle and implored her with his eyes for an answer. But she only smiled back at him and said, "We will talk later, when we can 'ave some privacy."

Of course, this only had Dave even more confused.

Arthur eventually stepped in and spoke up, "Sandra we have come to find you to seek your assistance with Gawain. As he appears to be under an Imperious Curse currently."

"Dave mentioned that you might be able to help us lift it enough so that he will be able to fool the one who cast it on him. While being able to function unimpeded."

"Yes, I do believe that I can assist with that Arthur." She replied.

"Let me collect my rather confused son and I will join you presently." She answered him as she went to retrieve Dave.

"Excuse me Gabrielle, but I need to borrow this rather confused little fellow for a few moments." She said with a cheeky little smile to Gabrielle.

"I promise to return him to you shortly in good working order." She added with an almost evil glint in her eye.

"You are welcome to 'borrow' 'im Sandra." Gabrielle replied returning the glint in Sandra's eyes.

"But please return 'im shortly as I 'ave many zings I would like to discuss wiz 'im. At length." She said unleashing a devastating smile upon poor Dave who stood no chance in his currently confused state.

"Thank you my dear" Sandra answered and put her arm through Dave's and lead him away to his tent.


	18. Bait and switch

Almost as soon as Dave was out of sight Fleur, Hermione and Ginny descended onto Gabrielle and were bombarding her with questions.

She seemed very happy to answer them and I think that they were enjoying the answers also judging from all the giggling that was going on.

Not wanting to intrude on them and sure in the knowledge that Fleur would provide me with the details later (I could see that Madame Delacour was also directing a similar questioning look to Fleur) I headed over to where the rest of the family was sat at the tables.

The conversation had now apparently changed to places in Australia that they would like to try and visit while we were going to be there.

Ivan saw me approach and asked me if I had any places that I would like to see "Down Under" as he called it. The question surprised me more than a little, as my focus had been to try and spend as much time as I could with my newly discovered sister.

When I told this to Ivan he didn't seem overly surprised at it. He asked me about what I liked to do for fun and what I found interesting in terms of activities. From this he made a few suggestions.

While this most enjoyable conversation was going on we all became aware of Dave's team all racing to their own tents only to emerge a short while later dressed in what Ivan called their "work clothes". These seemed to be for the most part what looked like Muggle clothing.

It looked to me like they were in black trousers, boots, shirts and ties. With this they also had on some strange belts much like the one that Dave wore previously.

As Mick went past with a quick wave I noticed him tuck two of those Gun things into his belt as well as his wand. I could also see some silvery metal thigs on one side of his belt and was looked to be a short metal stick and a can of something.

They then quickly disappeared onto Dave's tent.

I asked Ivan about the strange belt that they all seemed to be wearing and said it was called a 'utility belt' and held various tools for easy access. It was apparently modelled on what the Muggle Policemen used. Dave's team frequently appeared as Policemen to Muggles as part of their duties so they had 'borrowed' several useful things from them.

Ivan then got up and excused himself and went over to Dave's tent. On a whim, I followed him. I noticed that the boys came along as well.

Entering the tent, I noticed that they were all focused on a map of the local area. They appeared to be discussing a plan to capture some 'watchers' as they called them.

From what I could gather now that they had rendered the Imperious Curse that was on Gawain ineffective they were aiming to capture the watchers who had been assigned to keep an eye on him.

The plan seemed to be for Kingsley, Arthur and Dave ('dressed' as Gawain) to go back to the Ministry and then head their separate ways. Kingsley and Arthur were to Apparate to a few different locations quickly and then come to The Burrow where they would then make for Stoatshead Hill.

Dave's team were going to position themselves around Stoatshead Hill and configure some sort of trap.

Dave on the other hand was going to allow these watchers to 'capture' him and allow them to find out where he was going as he left the ministry after the other two.

Once he arrived at Stoatshead Hill the trap would be sprung. The captives would then be sent to a safe location in France and secured for questioning by some members of Dave's team who specialised in it.

The rest of the team would come back here. Gawain would then be escorted to France to see his wife.

Once the plan was made known my boys (who had indeed sneaked into Dave's tent) volunteered to come along and assist.

Dave looked to be about to object but then he considered the looks in the eyes of Harry, Ron, George, Percy, Charlie and Bill and saw there a fierce desire to help. He nodded his approval and this seemed to be accepted by his team.

"I must be honest and say that while I'm glad of the extra help I'm also a little apprehensive about this." He said in a very calm but commanding voice. Seeing objections about to rise on the other he held up his hand for quiet.

"I do not mean to question your skills and abilities. My concern is more around methods and the different sort of approach that we use."

"If you do come long I only ask that you follow the lead of the group leader that you are assigned to. As while this team is very democratic in many things, when in the field on an operation it is rather different."

"Agreed?" he asked all assembled.

Getting a chorus of "yes" from everyone he then got things organised.

"First thing is to get you all kitted out with some armour and tools."

"Armour?" Harry asked

"Yes Armour. It's not widely used here in Europe as I understand, certainly the Germans and French like to make fun of us for using it almost routinely. But it only takes one time for it to save you from a stunner or a cutting curse to change your mind."

With this he grabbed a garment that had been hanging on the back of one of the many bookshelves in his tent.

"This is what we most commonly wear" he said as he showed us the garment he had just grabbed, it looked a bit like a set of long legged and armed PJs. He tossed it to Harry who looked at it in confusion.

"I understand your confusion Harry, but believe me that will stop the effect of just about anything this side of an unforgiveable."

"It is made from Bunyip fur and despite its appearance it is very comfortable"

"At long last." Fireball said with a giggle.

"Yes I know some of the early versions felt like you were wearing sandpaper. But thankfully Jackie was able to work out the best way to prepare the material." Dave explained with a smile.

"The material breathes very well so you will not get too hot while wearing it. However, if you decide to apply a cooling or warming charm to it you will find that the garments will hold that charm for a long time."

"Bunyips are very magical creatures, they can change their size and shape at will. So, if you find the sizing not quite right simply apply a light engorgement or shrinking charm to it."

"If you do get hit by a stunner or a cutting curse or similar while wearing these you will still feel the physical impact of the spell hitting you. However, you will not experience the effects. Thus a cutting curse may make a mess of your clothes and leave you with some impressive bruises. But you will not be cut. Unless you get hit somewhere that is not covered."

"Give me a moment and I will get some more of them."

Dave then went into his bedroom and returned with sets of clothes. These he gave out to Ron, Charlie, Bill, Kingsley, Arthur, Percy and George. Harry had already been given a set.

"Go and get those on quickly. I still need to get changed myself so you have a few moments."

"Team can you show them all where they can get changed?" Dave asked.

"Charlie you can come with me to my tent" Cassy called to him with a rather cheeky grin.

Charlie seemed a little surprised by the offer but he readily agreed to accompany her.

"Don't damage him Cassy, we need him in working order for this. He is also our only Dragon Keeper and he might be able to help keep some dangerous females in line after as well." Dave said with a chuckle and shake of his head as he disappeared into his own room.

"So you're the Dragon Keeper Dave mentioned yesterday." Cassy remarked with a smile as she linked her arm with Charlie's and lead him away. "I'm sure you have all sorts of 'interesting stories' that you can share with me."

I noticed that the door to his room didn't shut fully and Gabrielle 'conveniently' chose the only seat in the tent with a view into Dave's room.

She was very subtle in the way she kept watch on his room. But her occasional blushes gave her away somewhat.

No one said anything about her activities though. I did notice Fleur Keeping an eye on her sister with a knowing smile on her face.

In a short time Dave was back in the main room of his tent, although he still seemed to be in the process of getting dressed. Gabrielle in particular didn't mind the fact that he was still struggling into his Bunyip fur top. She didn't offer to help him though as I guess she was enjoying 'the view'.

Eventually Dave got his top on and then went to put on that rather strange vest he had on yesterday. While he was doing it up Ivan spoke up and asked him, "How did you come up with that contraption Dave?"

"This?" Dave said pointing to his vest.

"Yes" Ivan answered.

"I got the idea when Jimmy did his rotation with the A.F.P. a few years back and he was showing me the body armour that they used to protect against muggle weapons like Knives and Bullets."

"The Bunyip fur is very effective against spells but not so much against projectile or edged weapons. So, I did some research into how the muggles made their armour and how magical armour used to be made."

"I then tried several different types of materials but nothing was much good against both types of attack. Not unless you wanted it so thick that you couldn't wear it. Let alone conceal it."

"Then one day I was visiting with Mick and had a good chat with his dad about what I was trying to do. He suggested trying Bunyip scales. As they are naturally resilient to spells. Given that they are also very hard they promised good defence against projectiles as well."

"The catch with Bunyip scales as you know, is that they tend to 'die' if you collect them off the ground. Even if you have permission from the Bunyips to do so."

"Permission?" Arthur asked as he re-entered the room still tucking his shirt in.

"Oh yes. You don't go collecting Bunyip fur or scales without their knowledge and permission. You may not be seen ever again if you tried that." Dave explained.

"We worked at it for a while but couldn't ever find a way to collect the scales without them very quickly dying. Emma happened to mention this to Mick's Great Aunt one day. Most likely out of sheer frustration at all the effort that we had spent on this problem so far."

"Mick's Great Aunt then took Emma to the Bunyip mob near her place and showed her what she called 'the trick' that was needed to successfully collect the scales."

"Well what was it?" Ivan asked a little frustrated at his son.

"You can't collect the scales for yourself. You can only collect them for someone else. Furthermore, to successfully collect them you must first tell the Bunyips who you are collecting them for and why."

"The Bunyips will then question you about the person who you wish the scales for."

"If they deem that person worthy and that you have an honest love for them and an honest desire to keep them safe. They will then tell you which scales you can successfully collect." Dave blushed slightly at this statement.

"Depending on the time of year that you go up to see them, it can take multiple trips to collect enough to make a vest like this. But much like the other garments it readily changes size and shape once made. Which is very useful for me." Dave added.

"Did Emma collect ze scales for your vest?" Fleur asked.

"Yes. She did." Dave said and you could see his heart in his eyes when he said it. "It was her wedding present to me. She had apparently been collecting them for a while. As she couldn't go very often or stay too long when she went up to where the Bunyips are."

You could see all the girls (even his sisters) with moist eyes as he explained the story.

"Once we had them we needed to work out a way to attach them to a vest. They couldn't be put on with a sticking charm as it just bounced off the scale. In the end we found that we could 'drill' a hole in the corner of the scales if we were careful enough."

"Then once we had a hole in the scale they could be attached much like the muggles did with their leaf armour in the Middle Ages."

"Jackie attached the scales for me."

"It took her 4 months of solid work to make this one for me. Although she thinks she has the trick of it by now and could do it much quicker next time."

"Then just after New Years, she gave me the completed vest. It has proven to be very useful and highly effective."

"It was even able to stop a Cruciatus Curse that that bloody dipstick Nott tried to put on me. He was rather surprised when it didn't work" Dave chuckled.

"What did you do to him?" Ron asked.

Dave smiled a thoroughly evil looking grin and replied, "Not much really. Disarmed him, tied him up and then threw him in a cell."

Ron seemed a little disappointed with this until Shelly piped up and said, "You forgot to mention that you 'accidently' forgot to open the cell door before you threw him in." with a similar smirk on her face.

"We all make mistakes" Dave answered with a look of feigned innocence.

"Yeah but three times in a row?" Fireball exclaimed to the general laughter of the room. Dave could only shrug by way of answering. He seemed to be struggling to maintain his false air of innocence.

Dave was by now finally dressed in his 'work clothes' although he hadn't yet done up his tie that was still sitting lose in his collar.

He next got out several of the belts that his team were wearing. These he placed on the table and called everyone around to 'walk them through' the belts.

"These are our 'utility belts' as we call them. We have modelled them on the belts worn by the Muggle coppers as they are a good basic design."

"Each belt holds two modified muggle pistols. This one" he indicated the one sitting on the left "holds ammunition intended for use against Dementors. Just like was used yesterday."

"The other one holds standard steel tipped rounds. Both pistols have magazines that are magically enlarged to hold 50 rounds and there is a spare magazine for each pistol as well."

"Today we will hopefully not be needing these as we are aiming to capture people for questioning. However, the 'usual rule' applies. Safety first. If your safety or a team members' safety is at risk, use the appropriate tool to remove or neutralise that risk."

"These are port key hand cuffs" he held up the shiny objects that I had seen on Mick's belt before.

"When applied to a subject's wrist they will activate and transport the person wearing them to our facility in France where our interrogation and intelligence team is located."

"When you apply the hand cuffs you have two seconds to let go or you will follow your prisoner. When applying them to a prisoner place their hands behind their backs with their wrists at their waist and then snap the cuffs on."

"Ideally you will have your assigned partner(s) with you to get this done."

"The other items are a tactical baton" he held up a small metal object.

"With a flick of a wrist like this" he flicked his wrist and the metal object extended to the length of his forearm, "the baton will extend and it is ready for use. It is designed as a blunt clubbing weapon."

"These batons differ from muggle ones as they will greatly multiply the force used with them. Very useful if you find yourself up against a troll or a small giant. Or if you need to make a new door and can't use explosives or magic to achieve it."

"Or an overly large 'little brother'" Fireball said while fixing Dave with a grin.

"Only if you could catch me Fireball" Dave laughed at her.

"This canister has a spray inside it that is very effective against werewolves and even vampires to a degree. It will also stop a normal person in their tracks as well."

"When spraying it try not to point it into the wind or you will get to 'enjoy it' as well." He remarked.

"That is the load out we will be carrying today. There is a holster on the belt that will securely hold your wand as well if you desire to use it."

"The wand holster is charmed to be accessible through your clothing. It will also only allow the person who inserts the wand to remove it."

"The only exception being someone who is wearing a 'recognised talisman'. Unfortunately, we don't have time right now to make any of those for you."

"Are there any questions on any of that? I know it was very brief but we are on the clock here and need to move soon."

There we no major questions so they were all soon putting on their belts except for Arthur and Kingsley who needed to go into the Ministry and might be a little conspicuous wearing them. Dave apparently had rather unique ways of hiding his belt from detection so he still wore his one.

Ear pieces like we had worn yesterday were given out next. Dave's team already had their own but the rest were given a fresh set to use.

Dave established what he called a 'comms link' to Drunkmouse and he had a map displayed of Stoatshead Hill up on that big black thing above his fireplace. Apparently, it was a modified Muggle device called a TV. Dave promised to demonstrate its 'proper use' later tonight after dinner.

Once established Dave asked Drunkmouse to let the 'Hôtel de France' know that they were to be expecting guests soon.

"Ok now is the time for the part that everyone 'loves' the team assignments" Dave said with a smile.

"We will group into teams of three. With three teams in relatively close and another three teams placed further back."

"I fully expect the two 'watchers' to Apparate basically right next to me. But I have a feeling that there will be another team who will be watching them but not as closely."

"So the inner team will focus on whoever appears with me, while the other teams will keep an eye out for anyone who appears further out."

"Ok Inner teams will be, Team one: Shelly, Cassy and Ron. Shelly, you take charge of that group and overall charge of the inner teams"

Getting a nod from Shelly, Dave continued

"Team two will be Fireball, Mick and Harry. Fireball you will look after that team"

"Team three will be Goose, Izzy and Bill. Goose you will look after that team but if our 'friends' drop anything let Bill examine it and follow his advice."

"The outer teams will be. Team four: Rowdy, Guz and Charlie. Rowdy you will look after them and the other teams in the outer group."

"Team five will be Jono, Olly, Kingsley and Arthur. Jono, you will look after them. And both you and Olly best keep those two safe or we will all be in trouble" Dave said to laughter from all assembled.

"Team six will be Abby, Mr P and George. Abby, you will look after them"

"We will have a reserve team back here consisting of, Chief Williams, Molly, Fleur and Gawain if he feels up to it." Dave said with a look over to Gawain who while he appeared to still be rather shaken still seemed eager to participate."

"The rest of you are to guard the Burrow and assist with any communication required."

"Any questions so far?" Dave asked.

When no one spoke, he quipped, "I must be getting better at this in my 'old age'". This brought about some laughter from the group.

"Once we are done here, those of you going to Stoatshead hill get moving. Ready your groups and make sure you all know where the others are. Also 'map' the area so the 'bad guys' will be highlighted on the tactical displays."

"Olly once your position is worked out get back here so you can take Arthur and Kingsley to it once they arrive."

"Rowdy, Guz and Abby once everyone is established and Olly has left to come back here I want you lot to put up one of your special 'one way shields' to let people Apparate in but not out ok?" he asked.

"No worries Skipper" Rowdy replied to the surprise of the room.

"See I told you he could talk" Jono remarked to Mick who just rolled his eyes while the rest of Dave's team laughed at their inside joke.

Seeing that Ron had raised his hand Dave motioned for him to speak, "How many people are we expecting to be following you?"

"Anywhere between 2 and 6 would be a realistic expectation. Any more than that and it becomes too difficult to co-ordinate them all unless they have proper comms gear and someone co-ordinating them."

"Oh ok. So that means we have 19 people to take on 6? Doesn't really seem fair, does it?" Ron asked.

"Fair?" Dave remarked with a smile playing about his lips.

"I'm not interested in fair. I'm interested in keeping my team, family and those working with us safe." He said in a serious tone of voice.

"Oh I guess it makes sense then." Ron remarked a little disappointed.

Laughing Dave replied, "Ron you are adorable. But unfortunately, fair play is rarely part of our job. The people we are after will not hesitate to hurt others to get away."

"So whenever we can we plan on giving them no option to do so." Dave answered.

"If you want fair combat, you are in the wrong job. The bad guys almost always out number us."

"Fair is what happens in the Olympics." He said smiling at Ron.

"What's the Olympics?" Ron said confused.

"It's a muggle sporting event held every four years. But we can talk about that later." Dave answered.

"Is there anything else before we get going?" He asked.

At this Gabrielle got up and walked over to Dave. She put her hand on his shoulder and turned him around. She then reached up for his tie to straighten it.

But as she did so Dave started to look worried, but before he could say or do anything his tie had wrapped around Gabrielle's wrists binding them together.

Gabrielle had a look of such surprise on her face that Dave couldn't help but laugh at her expression.

"Sorry about that." He said with a smile, "it is a protective charm to stop people from trying to use our ties to choke us or worse."

By now the others had seen what had happened to Gabrielle and had joined in the laughter.

Fleur however walked over and said in a soft wicked little voice, "It's a bit early to start something so kinky, isn't it?"

Gabrielle blushed and laughed at her sister's comment, while looking at the floor. Dave however looked confused for a few moments before a look of horror crossed his face and he quickly removed the tie from Gabrielle's wrist. While he was doing this his cheeks were almost glowing red.

By the time he had the tie removed from Gabrielle's wrists she was looking up at him with a small smile. She then put her arms around him and gave him a hug (which he returned). She then kissed his cheeks. Followed by one more on his lips 'for luck' as she called it.

"You're getting better at that" came Fireball's voice from the doorway.

"A little birdy told me that last time she did that to you. She cut your legs right out from under you." Fireball commented with an evil smirk on her face. Andrea, Shelly and Cassy were wearing similar expressions.

Dave glanced over to see his sisters and cousin all smirking at him. He didn't however remove his arms from around Gabrielle.

Turning back to Gabrielle he placed his forehead against hers and remarked, "My fair lady Gabrielle, will you help protect me from those evil witches yonder?"

At this comment, he and Gabrielle both burst out into laughter and embraced again.

Fireball seemed a little disappointed that her brother hadn't risen to the bait. But the smile on her face changed just enough to indicate that she was happy for her 'little' brother. Her sisters and cousin were wearing similar smiles also.

The rest of us also had a chuckle at the exchange and going from their smiles they also approved and were happy for the couple that seemed to be getting off to a good start before our eyes.

Ivan the stepped forward and cleared this throat noisily to get Dave attention.

"You need to get dressed and get moving." He said to his son.

"Yes dad." Dave replied. He quickly squeezed Gabrielle once more in a hug that she seemed to fully enjoy if her smile was an indication.

Dave then crossed over to Gawain and shook hands with him after getting his approval to 'dress' as him. He then changed into Gawain and crossed to the door in his tent that he used for travelling.

Kingsley and Arthur met him at the door and together they went through it, back into Kingsley's office. The door was then pulled closed behind them.

Once the door was closed the map on the TV (as Dave called it) changed to show the dots that were forming up around Stoatshead Hill and three dots in London.

A few moments after they left we could hear the voices of the three of them as they left Kingsley office and split up. Not long after that the dots indicating Kingsley and Arthur appeared at a few random points on the map before they once again entered Dave's tent.

Olly joined them shortly after their arrival.

"Dave said he is going to head down to the café in the Atrium and get something to eat quickly. He hopes that this will give us about 10 minutes to get things ready at the other end." Kingsley informed us. As he and Arthur both grabbed a 'utility belt' each and put them on along with their ear pieces.

Just as he was turning to leave Fireball's voice sounded out saying, "Someone is trying to use the Imperious Curse on Dave. The protective charms are holding it at bay though."

Everyone instantly went quiet while Ivan replied, "Does he know who it is and what are they wanting him to do?"

"It is someone in a set of Wizengamot robes. He doesn't recognise them but he has gotten a good look at them and can produce an image for you later. He appears to be a rather dumpy person with a large black moustache, is the best description Dave can give right now." Fireball answered.

"It's a good start" Ivan answered making a note of this information.

"What is he wanting Dave to do?"

"He is wanting Gawain/Dave to tell him about the meeting with Arthur and Kingsley."

"Dave is telling this person that they were discussing a potential witness who has information on the whereabouts of several known Death Eaters who are still at large."

"He is also passing along to them that this person with the information will not divulge it until they are guaranteed immunity from prosecution."

"He is now telling him that he is on the way to a 'meet' with this person to formally accept their offer of help and agree to their terms. As well as to place them into witness protection."

"This appears to be making this bloke in the Wizengamot robes very nervous." Fireball informed us all.

"Is he giving Dave any instructions?" Ivan asked.

After a few moments Fireball again answered.

"Dave is being told to wait at the Apparition point for three minders who will accompany him to this meet." She answered.

"Heads up all. Dave will be inbound with a minimum of three targets to your location." Ivan broadcast.

"Acknowledged" came the reply from Shelly.

The sets of dots around Stoatshead hill changed slightly in position. After a few minutes there came a call of "Apparating!"

This was very quickly followed by a call of "DOWN!" followed by a chorus of voices yelling "Stupify". While this was happening, the screen was showing the arrival of Dave and his three 'minders' as well as another team of three further out from the main group.

This second group had the misfortune to land almost directly in front of Rowdy, Guz and Charlie. They very quickly dispatched them and their markers soon changed to red X's.

The three who arrived with Dave were also unlucky. They had spread out to ensure that Gawain/Dave was surrounded by them. This only placed them almost directly in front of each of the teams that was lying in wait for them.

They too quickly changed to be represented by red X's on the map.

Not long after this there were several calls of 'Cuffed' and the red X's disappeared from the map. Soon after there was a notice from the 'Hôtel de France' acknowledging the arrival of 6 guests who were being prepared for interrogation and accommodation.

Dave and his team along with my boys, Kingsley and Arthur returned shortly afterwards. They all had grins on their faces from the successful completion of the mission.

Dave quickly crossed to the kitchen and grabbed a tray and a jug of water. He brought them back to the table and then put the tray down and filled it with water.

He quickly calmed the water and then concentrated for a moment. Waving his hands over the water a face appeared in it of a rather dumpy looking person with a large black moustache who was wearing a set of Wizengamot robes.

"That's who was trying to put the imperious curse on me. Does anyone recognise him?" Dave asked us all.

Harry was the first to look at the image.

"I don't know his name but he is definitely a member of the Wizengamot. As he was at my trial for use of underage magic." He said with a frown while he was trying to recall the name.

"What sort of underage magic did you do?" Dave asked with a questioning look.

"I blew up my Aunt" Harry replied with a sheepish look.

"WHAT!" Dave exclaimed. "How did you not end up in Azkaban for that?"

Harry looked rather startled at Dave's reaction until Hermione stepped in.

"He means blew up as in 'inflated' not 'exploded'." She said with a smile at Dave's startled expression and Harry's confused one.

"Ohhh… ok. That makes more sense now." Dave remarked.

"I had trouble reconciling the hero of the wizarding world here with the thought of him casually blowing up his Aunt." Dave said with a sheepish grin.

"Hey, I'm not the hero of the wizarding world." Harry protested.

"Really?" Dave asked him.

"Is he a Hero to you?" Dave asked Ginny, who was struggling to hold back a grin at Harry being put on the spot.

"Always." Ginny replied giving in to her grin and battering her eye lashes at Harry in an imitation of Dave's earlier effort.

"Ok. Hero of the wizarding world it is then. Until new evidence comes to light." Dave replied with the same off-hand manner he used on his sisters to great effect.

Harry meanwhile was rather confused about the whole exchange and unsure about what it meant. Sandra quickly walked up to Harry and whispered something into Harry's ear that seemed to remove some of that confusion.

I could make out her saying "Later" to him. It sounded like a more interesting conversation was to continue at a later date.

"Anyone else recognise him?" Dave asked.

Kingsley finally made his way through the crowd to look at the image in the water.

"Eldon Wigworthy." He said confidently.

"Wigworthy?" George remarked with a snigger. "That Wig he's wearing isn't very worthy if you ask me." He said before his laughter got the better of him.

"Excellent. Let's go and collect him, then shall we?" Dave said enthusiastically.

"Collect him?" Kingsley asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Pick him up and throw him in an interrogation room and start asking him some questions." Dave remarked.

"You just can't go and throw Wizengamot members into interrogation with no cause." Kingsley said rather stiffly.

"No cause?" Dave questioned.

"The bloody galah performed an imperious curse on me. He has obviously performed it before on Gawain also."

"He attempted to interfere with what he thought was a witness that was coming forwards to offer evidence in exchange for protection."

"They seem like pretty bloody good reasons to pick the wanker up." Dave said a little heatedly to Kingsley.

"You can't treat Wizengamot members like they are common criminals…" Kingsley was trying to say when Dave cut across him.

"Ok so he is an un-common criminal then." He said with his frustration on display. I could feel that Dave's team were in agreement with him.

"They have rights, Dave. Protections under the law." Kingsley tried to explain.

"That must be such a comfort to them. Wish I knew what that felt like." Was Dave's rather devastating answer.

Kingsley was caught by surprise by this response and it clearly showed. He tried to speak a few times but nothing came out.

"For any 'common criminal' what we have already is more than enough for them to be brought in for a chat. What is so different with this joker? Other than his job?" Dave asked Kingsley with a very intense look in his eyes.

"You see, it is a very serious matter to accuse a Wizengamot member of such behaviour." Kingsley tried to explain.

"As opposed to say using an unforgivable curse on your Head Auror?" Dave asked clearly not backing down.

When this got no response from Kingsley, Dave continued.

"Ok, forget for a moment that he used an unforgiveable curse on an outcast like me," Dave remarked and in that one statement, you could clearly see the hurt in him that he felt in being excluded from the Magical society.

The others also seemed to pick up on that statement as you could see them flinch at the mention of it.

"Under what conditions is it legal to cast an unforgiveable on the head Auror and try to force them to divulge the subject of a closed meeting with the Director of MLE as well as the Minister of Magic?" Dave asked.

"I can't think of any." Kingsley replied.

"Ok. How about interfering with witness protection?" Dave asked.

"Or about being involved in the kidnapping of the pregnant wife of a Ministry Employee to use as leverage in getting them to comply with your wishes?" Dave asked even more intently.

"Ok you have made your point. Auror Webb." Kingsley replied in exasperation.

"If we move against a Wizengamot member and it turns out we were wrong there will be serious repercussions involved."

"Any more serious than them already behaving like they are above the law?" Dave asked Kingsley.

"Dave. Just what are you planning?" Ivan asked his son in an almost formal tone of voice.

"Nothing that wasn't in the proposal I sent to you back in Feb." Dave answered still with his eyes on Kingsley.

"Which proposal? You have sent quite a few since then. It is rather difficult to keep track of them all." Ivan answered to the confusion of all in the room.

"The one about 'bag limits'" Dave answered turning to face his father.

Ivan's eyes widened in surprise. "I thought that you were joking about that one." Ivan replied shocked.

"Why would I joke about something like that? You told me to follow this where ever it went. And it went to that mob of archaic bureaucrats."

"The laws I listed in that proposal are valid and can be applied to them without restriction." Dave answered.

"But you won't get the support from the required governments." Ivan countered.

"Want to bet on that one?" Dave asked his father with a very predatory grin.

"You haven't?" He asked his son.

"Just about." Dave replied, "I have secured the sign off and approval of the Magical Governments of, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Russia and Switzerland."

"Currently missing the French Ministry's approval but their Minister has been ill and off work. He is back in the office next week and I have an appointment to see him on Monday morning." Dave explained.

Ivan was shocked. Everyone else was clearly confused about what they were discussing.

"Just what are you working on Auror Webb?" Kingsley asked.

"He is planning on arresting the entire Wizengamot." Ivan answered to the surprise and shock of everyone present.

"Are you mad?" Kingsley almost screamed at Dave.

"Apparently not. Otherwise the legal divisions of those governments wouldn't have agreed with me." Dave answered very calmly.

"Just what do you intend to charge them with?" Kingsley asked.

"Crimes against humanity. For starters." Dave answered.

"Who is the arresting power going to be? I can't see the Australian Magical Parliament being able to enforce such an arrest." Kingsley said in disbelief

"You could be right on that. Thankfully I proposed a different organisation."

"Who?"

"The International Confederation of Wizards." Dave replied.

The emotions running through Kingsley were very interesting to watch. He went from outright anger and disbelief to cool professional politician then finally his Auror side seemed to win out and he started to laugh.

Eventually he was almost in hysterics at the thought of the entire Wizengamot being clamped in cuffs and marched off to The Hague.

Arthur was also very confused at this turn of events but as he began to grasp the idea behind Dave's plan he too couldn't resist succumbing to laughter.

Eventually Kingsley got himself under control enough to look at Dave with clearly demonstrated admiration in his eyes.

"I must say Auror Webb, you are indeed as dangerous and resourceful as your file indicated you to be." Kingsley said with a broad smile on his face as he looked down at this young man who had just seemed to grow even more in Kingsley estimation of him.

"Minister, it is a very rare and resourceful and forceful son you have here. You should be very proud of him." Kingsley said to Ivan.

"Thank you Minister. We are rather proud of him, and his team." Ivan said looking with pride at his son and the members of his team that were gathered there.

"He is a bit of a handful at times, and you do need to be careful when you turn him loose. As he tends to keep at a problem or a target until it is dealt with."

"I didn't realise how far he and Jimmy would take this when I arranged to send them here. But they do appear to be doing their usual thorough job. And living up to their Units Motto and history." He said smiling at them all.

"What would their Units Motto be?" Kingsley asked.

Ivan simply looked over to Dave with a raised eyebrow. Dave immediately snapped to attention and called out:

"We are the light in the darkness" he bellowed with a smile, the rest of his team also snapped to attention at almost precisely the same moment and responded with:

"And a shield of the weak." After which they all yelled "Oohrah".

If they were not all smiling I would have been worried. As it was slightly intimidating.

Kingsley seemed to be impressed at the response.

"I'm certainly glad that they are on our side." He remarked to Arthur with a large smile.

"So am I Minister." Arthur replied.

"Dave, when do you expect to have all the signed International warrants for the Wizengamot?" Kingsley asked.

"If the French Minister agrees with our proposal, which I fully expect him to do. I have been told to expect the warrants by Tuesday evening if the paper work is submitted by Monday afternoon." Dave answered.

"That quickly? That is rather surprising." Kingsley replied.

"Not really." Dave answered with a grin.

"I've kind of made a nuisance of myself amongst various European Governments over the last year. Especially in The Hague. I think they are fast tracking this paper work in the hope that I will leave them alone after this." He explained.

"You? A nuisance? I find that hard to believe." Ivan answered grinning ear to ear, "You're too much like me."

"Where do you think he and Jimmy learnt it from?" Sandra answered giving her husband a rather direct look.

"My mother I think." Ivan answered before deftly dancing out of range of his wife's rather quick swipe at the back of his head.

"I'll let her know that you said that." Sandra replied to a round of laughter.

"Dave, if I may I would like to make a suggestion, in regards to Eldon Wigworthy" Kingsley asked Dave.

"Go on. Suggest away" Dave answered with a look of curiosity.

"Given that you are likely to arrest them all on Wednesday morning anyway. Wouldn't it be a good idea to put some of our own watchers on Mr Wigworthy until then to find out who he speaks to between now and then?" Kingsley suggested.

"We may even find a few extra fish for the net you are casting." He remarked with a smile.

Dave seemed to think for a few moments before a smile formed on his face.

"A good idea Minister. I like it."

"Rowdy, Olly. Do you two want first shift of a job where you can sit down most of the time?" Dave asked with a grin. It seemed to be something of an inside joke as they both feigned being forced into it.

"Sure Skipper if we HAVE to." Olly answered.

"Don't get too comfortable. Once Semi and his team are rested up I will send them over to relieve you from your onerous duties." Dave laughed.

"Get yourselves a decent lunch and make sure your snack bags and water bottles are full. You don't know where this joker is going to be going in the next few hours once he realises that his cronies have disappeared."

"Good oh Skipper. Moving off now." Olly replied and the two of them headed out of the tent.

Dave then turned to Shelly and motioned to Gawain to come over as well.

"Do you want to take Gawain to our safe house near Marseille so he can see his wife?" Dave asked her with an oddly tender expression on his face.

Shelly looked to be about to object when Dave added, "I understand that a certain French liaison officer is currently at that location looking for an update briefing on our recent work."

The effect on Shelly was instantaneous. She broke into a brilliant smile for her brother.

"We will see you back in time for dinner?" he asked her with a wicked little smile on his face.

"Briefings don't take that long Dave." Shelly answered rather quickly.

"Well then I guess you will need to find something else to occupy your time in southern France for a few hours then won't you." Dave said while struggling to keep a straight face.

"Maybe mend some international relations?" he said as he lost his struggle to keep his straight face.

Shelly got his meaning at once. She darted forward and hugged her brother and kissed him on the cheek. Then she grabbed Gawain's arms and almost literally dragged the poor man from the tent as she raced off.

Dave could only laugh as his sister took off.

Dave's other sisters were openly smiling at their little brother. I even heard Fireball remark to Fleur,

"He might be as thick as two planks about women. But occasionally he gets it very right too."

"Oui" Fleur answered as the two of them enjoyed a laugh.

"Can I interest anyone in some lunch?" I asked the assembled group.

"Always" Ron answered to some laughter. He wasn't the first one off to the tables however. Jono being quicker on his feet than Ron.

As we were walking to the door Sandra sided up next to her son and asked,

"So just what sort of international incident would warrant sending your sister off to try and repair our relations with the French for? Hmmm?"

While Sandra had been talking to Dave, Gabrielle had sided up on the opposite side of Dave and linked her arms through his as they walked off to the tables for lunch.

What Dave didn't notice was the other girls and his remaining sisters and cousin also formed up around him as he was marched to the tables. It is also probably highly inappropriate to remark on the similarities between this formation and the one surrounding a condemned man as they are lead off to the gallows.

If it wasn't for my own curiosity about the 'Paris Incident' I would have felt sorry for poor 'little' Dave.


	19. The Paris Incident

_**A/N:** Well here it is, the chapter that some family members of mine have been waiting for. Hope that you all enjoy it._

* * *

By the time we had reached the table poor Dave had a look on him like that of a hunted animal that knew it was cornered.

Sandra, Gabrielle, Andrea, Fireball, Cassy, Fleur, Madame Delacour, Ginny, Hermione and I must confess me had effectively surrounded and cut off Dave from any hope of support from any of the other boys. Even the girls from Dave's team Izzy and Abby had helped by 'randomly' choosing seats that pushed Mick and Jono further down the table.

Gabrielle still had her arm looped through Dave's. Although I could no longer tell if that was for her enjoyment, to support Dave or to keep him from escaping. Or maybe even a mixture of all of them who can tell. She is a rather devious woman when she sets her mind to it.

I have always prided myself on the subtle ways I could extract information from my children without them ever knowing what it was that I was trying to find out. My sister on the other hand uses a much more direct approach. Commonly referred to as a 'frontal assault' to get information out of her children. It was on full display during this interrogation, I mean conversation with her son.

It also enlightened me as to where Dave truly got his own 'eloquence' from despite any objections that my sister might raise on the issue. Dave truly seems to be his mother's son when it comes to the fine art of being subtle.

"Now Dave, I find myself in the 'difficult' position of needing to know everything that occurred in the so called 'Paris Incident' back in March." Sandra began with a deceptively straight face.

"Now that we have started to mend relations with the British it is imperative that we not alienate any other European governments as well."

"So I need you to give me a full de briefing…" she began to say before Fireball and Andrea totally lost the struggle at keeping a straight face and began to laugh almost to the point of hysterics.

Dave just sat stoically much like a prisoner of war might, while giving his sisters such a filthy look that I could imagine that had it been put into words we would need to be washing his mouth out.

"If you two young ladies can get a grip on yourselves…" Sandra tried to say. This only seemed to set them off even more.

"You told them, didn't you?" Dave said to Fireball giving her a very direct look that probably would have reduced most other people to tears of terror instead of tears of hysterics.

"You happily sold me down the river in Paris and now you have done it again, haven't you?" Dave remarked to his sister.

Fireball eventually got herself under enough control to hold her hands up in mock surrender and protest her innocence.

"I swear I haven't told another living soul." She managed to say before once more succumbing to an attack of the giggles.

"So why then is Andrea also in near Hysterics then? I mean if you haven't told anyone how did she find out?" Dave questioned.

"I read about it." Andrea replied in between fits of giggles as well.

Dave's eyes looked like they were almost about to fall out of his head. "You mean it made the papers?" he asked in abject horror.

While some of us girls were struggling to keep a straight face at this point Andrea and Fireball felt no such conviction. They were reduced to gooey puddles of mush at the look on Dave's face.

Even Gabrielle had by now a slight upturning of her lips at the continued antics of Dave's sisters.

Eventually Andrea was composed enough to answer, "No. I didn't read about it in the newspapers."

You could see a degree of relief start to appear on Dave's face.

"It was more like the official report from the police that arrived on the scene and rescued you from that group of women." She managed to get out before both she and Fireball began laughing so hard that they fell off their seats.

Poor Dave wasn't fairing any better. He had managed the magnificent feat of somehow going white as a sheet while still retaining the ability to blush hard enough that it was just possible to feel the glow from his cheeks, neck and ears.

It was at this point that Gabrielle could no longer hold a straight face and started to smile at the proceedings. Her timing proved to be almost fatal for poor Dave who had looked to her for support only to see her ultimately lose her battle and begin to smile and laugh.

Of course, his look of surprise just sent her over the edge and only served to set her off even more.

Dave collapsed onto the table and tried to bury his head in his hands.

At this point we could have used him for a heater in the winter time.

"I'm never going to be able to show my face around here or in France again after this." Came a voice from within the folds of Dave's arms on the table.

"But it ez such a cute face." Gabrielle almost purred to Dave.

He lifted his arms away and off his head and raised his eyes to enable him to look up to Gabrielle. She smiled at him and added, "Especially when you blush like a little school boy."

At this we all just lost it and fell into fits of giggling. I honestly couldn't say if it was from Dave's reaction or Gabrielle's reaction to his reaction. All I can remember it was some time before we had ourselves under a semblance of control.

Eventually through the liberal application of some well-placed kisses and hugs Gabrielle was able to coax a still glowing Dave out from under his arms.

When he eventually did sit up, he wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. Not even Gabrielle, but he was 'allowing' her to put her arms around him for 'support'. Or it could have been that she sensed he wanted to flee the scene. Like I said she is a devious woman at times.

"Do you still have a copy of this report Andrea?" Sandra asked her daughter while Dave cringed.

"No I don't. I really wished that I was able to keep a copy but when a certain French Auror realised that it had been 'accidently' left out on the table he hurriedly collected it and put it away." She said between giggles.

"Jean-Luc had a copy of that report?" Dave asked with increasing worry.

"That means that Shelly has seen it too as he shows her every bloody thing." This remark set Andrea and Fireball off into another fit of laughter.

"Get your mind out of the gutter girls." Sandra chided her daughters.

"You are supposed to be helping me de brief Dave…"

This resulted into another round of hysterical laughter which almost caused an injury to Fireball when she tried to stand up.

"Now really girls what is the problem with you two?" Sandra was starting to get rather frustrated with her daughters at this point.

Eventually around alternating fits of laughter between them they managed to get out,

"But…"

"…that's…"

"…what…"

"…those…"

"…women…"

"…were…"

"…trying…"

"…to…"

"…do."

Before they completely lost control.

As realisation dawned on the assembled group as to what they had implied, Dave now found himself the target of 8 different sets of stares all from women who now JUST HAD to know what had occurred in Paris.

"I think I'm just going to go and hide away in my tent until you all forget about this ruddy conversation." Dave said as he made to get up and leave.

Only to be forced back down into his chair by Gabrielle who then promptly sat herself on his lap to ensure he wasn't going anywhere.

I told you she could be devious at times.

She placed her fingers under Dave's chin and lifted it up till his eyes met hers.

Then displaying her own predatory grin, she said one simple word, "Talk"

Dave now knew that he was well and truly trapped with no hope of escape. Gabrielle's gaze held him as surely as though he was chained to the wall.

To soften the blow somewhat she leaned in and gave him a solid set of kisses. Solely for medicinal purposes she would claim later.

Whatever her real motivation for the kisses, they seemed to have done the trick of loosening Dave's tongue.

Get your own mind out of the gutter here also. I simply meant that he began to talk. Really! Some people.

"I blame 'Pretty Boy' for the whole mess." Dave said as he acknowledged his inevitable defeat and began to spill the beans as to what happened.

"How is Thomas to blame for this incident?" Sandra asked her son.

"He's the one who performed the Translation charm on me to teach me French." Dave answered a little defiantly.

"But Thomas doesn't speak French dear." Sandra replied a little confused.

"Yeah I know that... Now." Was Dave's answer

Sandra's only response was an amused look at Dave and a raised eyebrow to indicate that he should continue.

"After some disastrous attempts at French during my time here I decided to give in and use one of the Language spells from the Ministry. After all I figured, 'what's the worst that could happen' you know"

Andrea and Fireball were now at the point where their self-control was a touch and go kind of thing.

"So when I was home in Feb, I looked up the list of people who were qualified to cast the spell for French and found Pretty Boy's name on it. Given that he owed me some favours I asked him if he could perform the charm on me before I had to head back to France on the next day"

"He agreed and did the spell for me right then and there. I thought that all was going well and I would easily be able to carry out Grandma's request and organise part of her present when I was back in France."

"What was your Grandma's request?" Sandra asked.

"She wasn't happy with my 'formal attire' that I wore to her Birthday last year. So, she requested that I find something more suitable for this year, preferably from Paris. Given that it is her 90th I thought that was a reasonable request and decided that I would get something special in Paris on my next day off."

"That's what you get for having only 2 rules of fashion Dave." Fireball smirked at him.

"What are your two rules of fashion?" Hermione asked Dave.

"Does it fit?" Fireball answered

"Is it comfortable?" Andrea answered next.

"I don't understand?" Fleur questioned.

"I have had so much trouble over the years finding 'fashionable' clothes that fit me I just basically gave up on what I was wearing." Dave answered.

"That's one way to describe your wardrobe" Fireball laughed.

Seeing Fleur's questioning look Dave continued, "I would make my decisions on what I would get based on what fitted me without splitting when I moved or sat down." Andrea was close to losing it at that comment.

"Every single female in my family seemed to think this was a betrayal of the world of fashion for some reason I could not understand."

"They would take every opportunity to point out the short comings of my wardrobe to me." Dave said with a sigh.

"But not Emma?" Gabrielle asked.

"I wish." Dave replied, "She was the ruddy ring leader in this particular campaign." Dave remarked.

Gabrielle had to stifle a giggle at this point mostly due to the expression on Dave's face.

"You have to understand it from her point of view Dave. If she was going to be seen in public with you, she wanted you to look a bit better than a beach bum with no fashion sense." Andrea said before having another fit of giggles.

"Yeah, when he isn't working Dave's idea of formal is shoes and socks." Fireball added.

"I still don't see what your problem with my T-Shirts and Shorts are Fireball?" Dave asked clearly bewildered.

"You wear them all the time. That's my problem with them." She answered.

"You make it sound like I have only one set or something." Dave shot back.

"No I mean all the time. You even had them on when we were in Scotland during the winter for crying out loud." She exclaimed.

"What was wrong with that?" Dave asked.

"It was snowing." Came the reply from a disbelieving Fireball.

"So?" Dave asked.

"It was snowing Dave. It was bloody cold. We were all wrapped up in whatever we could find and here you were walking around in a T-Shirt, Shorts and Sneakers."

"I wasn't" Dave answered indigently.

"You bloody well were." Fireball added.

"I had a jumper on as well" he replied to the disbelief of the rest of us there.

"A bloody jumper? Like that would have made a difference."

"It did. I was comfortable." Dave replied

"Well I wasn't. Every time I looked at you I could feel myself loose another degree or two of body heat." She added.

"You might be a human hot water bottle, but the rest of us bloody well aren't." Fireball exclaimed. I did notice Gabrielle take note of that particular comment though.

"So don't look next time if it bothers you." Dave replied.

"I had to look as we were following you. You great big galah." Fireball added in exasperation.

"Galah?" Gabrielle asked with an amused look.

"It's a type of bird in Australia. They are notorious as being a bit dim witted and silly creatures." Sandra explained.

"Oh I see." Gabrielle replied looking back at Dave with a very amused smile on her face.

"Please don't encourage her." Dave almost begged Gabrielle.

"Who said I was going to encourage 'er?" Gabrielle said with a wicked little grin.

"No one. I could see it in your eyes, what you were thinking." Dave said with his own smile.

"Ah… Zen I don't need to say it, do I?" Gabrielle said with a throaty chuckle followed by a kiss.

This got more than a few smiles around the table as well as a knowing glance between Sandra, Fleur and Madame Delacour.

"Ok now that we have discussed the faults of Dave's wardrobe. Can we get this conversation back onto its intended topic?" Sandra asked as the colour once more departed Dave's face.

Sandra smiled at her son and remarked, "You thought that you had changed the topic didn't you?"

The rueful look on Dave's face was all that was needed for this to be confirmed.

"So we have you planning on going into Paris to try and get something decent for Grandma's 90th" Sandra said to get things back on track.

"What happened next?"

"I made the monumental mistake of agreeing to take Fireball along. She said that she would help me pick out something special for Grandma's 90th party".

Fireball was once again sitting on the edge of her seat with a look of almost pure evil again on her face.

"We jumped over to Paris and found one store that Jean-Luc had recommended to us. We went in and found the salesman who seemed to be very helpful. He started to assist me with finding both some formal robes as well as a Muggle style suit."

"While I was trying on the suit, which was actually quite comfortable by the way. I stepped back outside of the change room to ask the salesman if he had any shorts that would match the suit."

At this Fireball rolled her eyes and groaned at her brother.

"What?" he asked her.

"If we have a formal occasion at Uncle Jason's place in Cairns it would nice to have something a little cooler to wear than full length trousers don't you think?"

"Don't try to change the subject Dave." Sandra reminded him.

"But mum this IS the subject." Andrea replied gleefully.

All eyes again turned to Dave who was trying to fade away into the background.

Once more Gabrielle lifted his face up and planted another kiss on him and told him to keep talking.

"Well you see, when I stepped out to ask the salesman about the possibility of shorts I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around me." He said to the ever-increasing volume of giggles coming from Andrea and Fireball.

"Go on" Sandra said.

"I tried to ask him in French about the possibility of shorts to go with the suit. I didn't realise that the person I was talking to wasn't actually the person that I thought it was."

"Or what you had said either" Fireball remarked with glee.

"It was a simple translation mistake." Dave replied, "But she seemed to want to take it literally."

"She?" Sandra asked

"Yes. She." Dave said in resignation.

"The salesman had been called off to a different part of the store and a young saleswoman had taken his place."

"So when I stepped out asking for the possibility of trying on a pair of matching shorts I didn't realise who I was talking to."

"Or that she would be so enthusiastic about her job suddenly either." Dave added starting to go red.

Fleur had been starting to smile when she asked, "What word did you use to describe what you were after?"

Dave just looked at the ground and refused to say anything. Gabrielle tried to lift his face again but he wouldn't allow it. He buried his face into her shoulder in an attempt to hide.

Needless to say, this crowd that wasn't going allow that tactic to work.

Eventually after some prompting from Gabrielle, Dave whispered something in her ear.

She immediately began to giggle almost as bad as Andrea and Fireball were.

Fleur's eyes flashed and she said in a very stern voice "Just say it Gabrielle."

Once she had a degree of control Gabrielle said, "un caleçon"

Fleur's eyes and that of Madame Delacour both went wide and then they too began to laugh.

Poor Dave meanwhile was still trying to hide his embarrassment in Gabrielle's shoulder. She also didn't seem to mind him snuggling up to her like that either.

Sandra and the rest of us were a little annoyed at being left out of the joke. After a few moments Fleur regained enough control to say,

"It is a word in French zat can have multiple meanings. One meaning is as per Dave intended to describe shorts."

"But ze ozer meaning is for what ze English call 'boxer shorts' as in underwear." She said with a smile.

"Did she offer to measure you?" Fleur asked Dave with a knowing grin.

"I have no idea what it was that she said" came the voice from Gabrielle's shoulder.

"What did you say back to 'er?" Fleur asked.

"It was when you didn't reply that she took ah… 'matters' into her own hands that the trouble began." Andrea said with tears now running freely down her face.

Dave now extracted himself from Gabrielle's shoulder and fix his sister with a very direct look. One that was a mixture of curiosity and horror.

"Just how much information was in that report?" he requested from his sister.

"More than enough to keep you 'honest' in its retelling" she replied while struggling for breath at the ever-growing worry on Dave's face.

"So what happened next Dave?" Cassy asked him with feigned innocence.

"She suddenly became far too enthusiastic about her job." Was all that Dave would say.

"Can you blame her?" Fireball asked.

"Yes, I most certainly bloody well do." Dave replied with his cheeks once again starting to colour up.

"Now come on Dave I'm sure it was an 'honest mistake' on her part." Fireball replied trying to defend this unknown sales woman.

"Look at it from her point of view, will you?" she said as fresh tears of mirth ran down her cheeks.

"You stepped out of the change room with your shirt on but all undone. You had your pants on but not done up all the way"

"That's because they had those silly bloody hook things that I can't use because my hands are too dam big. I still don't see why they can't use a normal fly and a button." Dave remarked.

"Be that as it may Dave. When you were umm 'mostly dressed' like that can you blame her for wanting a closer look?" Fireball got out before she and the rest of the ladies around the table (yes including Sandra and Gabrielle) burst out into laughter.

"A closer look at what?" Dave asked. Only to be met with looks of incredibility by Madame Delacour, Fleur, Gabrielle, Ginny, Hermione and myself.

"You dummy." Fireball answered rolling her eyes.

"Why would she have wanted a closer look at me for?" Dave asked with genuine confusion.

Fleur looked like she was about to say something rather naughty (judging only by her smile and expression) at this point, but she caught the almost imperceptible shake of Sandra's head. It gave a clear indication she wished the conversation to not venture into that area.

"Per'aps she only wished for better access for 'er tape measure? No?" Fleur said instead of her original comment.

Sandra smiled at this statement (along with the rest of us) she also mouthed 'Thank you' to Fleur who smiled by way of reply and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Sandra acknowledged the response and mouthed 'Later' to her, which Fleur seemed to accept.

Madame Delacour and Gabrielle caught this exchange also and were equally curious about it. But they seemed willing to wait for the more private discussion to come 'later'.

It goes without saying that Dave missed this whole exchange and continued with the conversation.

"Maybe but that's still no reason to try and remove my dacks." Dave replied to renewed laughter from his mum, Andrea, Fireball and Cassy.

The rest of us were confused for a few moments until Sandra explained that 'dacks' was an Aussie slang term for pants or trousers.

With this bit of information, we all joined in with the laughter.

"She didn't have to pull them down by much. As you basically jumped the rest of the way out of them."

"I thought you were going to end up in the next aisle of clothing." Fireball said, now having to hold her sides due to the strain of laughing so hard for an extended period.

"Now that part wasn't in the report." Andrea said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"The sight of your bear arse running behind that rack of clothes was one of the funniest things I had seen in a long time." Fireball added to Dave's abject horror.

"David!" Sandra exclaimed, "I certainly hope you had something on underneath." She said before her own giggle caught up with her surprise.

"I did mum. Despite the accusations from my supposedly 'loving sister' I had a pair of undies on. So, don't worry."

"Given how old and threadbare they were, you needn't have bothered." Fireball shot back, clearly happy that she had added some extra embarrassment to her brother's predicament.

"About the only part that wasn't threadbare was the writing on the back of them." Fireball said just as Dave went fully white.

"No. You wouldn't" He exclaimed.

"Try me." She answered with her predatory grin once more on display.

Dave opened his mouth to speak only to have Gabrielle place her hand over it and motion for Fireball to continue.

Grinning from ear to ear Fireball said, "#1 petit mignon bum" before having a fit of hysterics.

Madame Delacour, Fleur, Gabrielle, Andrea and Cassy all were now in hysterics also. The rest of us along with Sandra were all rather confused as to what it meant.

Dave had once more taken refuge in Gabrielle's shoulder and she had happily enfolded him in her arms and was rubbing his back trying to impart some sort of comfort to him. All the while merrily joining in with the laughter.

Sandra eventually spoke up and said, "I don't see what's so funny? You said yesterday that it was a surfing term."

This of course just set Fireball, Andrea and Cassy off again.

"He might have been given that 'title' during a surfing comp mum. But it certainly isn't a surfing term." Andrea said looking over at Dave who was now clearly dreading his mum finding out just what it meant.

"Is it related to this LCB term that I used to keep hearing about?" Sandra asked.

Andrea could only nod her head by way of reply.

"So what does it actually mean?" she almost demanded. The rest of us were also itching to find out as well.

It was Madame Delacour who ended up selling Dave out when she said, "It means, Little Cute Bum."

It was like someone had released a tickling or laughing hex on the group of us.

Sandra's eyes were as big as tea cups as she realised the meaning and then she succumbed to the hysterics that were affecting all of us.

Even the boys at the other end of the table now knew something was up. They seemed happy to leave Dave to his fate however.

I noticed that Abby and Izzy were also using every inch of their own self-control not to also burst into laughter at their boss. While they were struggling mightily I could also tell it was a losing battle and would only be a matter of time.

Dave was looking over at Madame Delacour with such a look of shock that she felt sorry for him. She got up and came over to him and said, "I'm sorry Mon cher, but a mère should know zese zings about 'er enfants."

After this she kissed his cheeks (I was almost worried about her getting burnt from the glow that they were now producing) and gave him a hug before going back to her seat. Once there she also was laughing hard enough to produce tears.

Gabrielle had a very amused little smile on her face and she had to again extract Dave from her shoulder. Once he was looking at her she asked, "Where did you ever get such a pair of un caleçon?"

Dave did not have a chance to reply before Fireball answered for him.

"They were a gift for him from Emma." Fireball answered.

"Emma?" Sandra exclaimed. "How did she find out about that 'title'? As she wasn't there."

"Yeah Fireball." Dave asked rather pointedly, "How did she find out? I wonder who would have told her ALL about it."

Fireball was trying to display an air of innocence at these accusations. But she was also far too busy laughing at her brothers' embarrassment to be able to pull it off.

"Oh all right. I told her about it." Fireball admitted, "You both were still in the hospital and having a rough time of it too. I thought that anything that could raise her spirits would be worth a try."

"One day while you were off having your physical therapy she had a rather bad episode happen. When she came around she was rather unhappy as you were not there. I wanted to attempt to cheer her up, so I told her about the 'title' that you were awarded by the girls at the surfing championships."

"It was the first time I had seen her properly smile since you were bitten. She thought it was absolutely hilarious."

"I do believe that she also agreed with their decision." Fireball added with a VERY naughty grin at her brother.

"She then decided that someone with such a title should have a 'crown' worthy of it." Fireball added with a grin that was in danger of splitting her face wide open it was so big.

"After I also told her about the Magazine article she just HAD to see it."

"Magazine?" Dave asked with real worry showing on his face, "What Magazine is this?"

"Yes, Dave a magazine. Please do try and keep up." She smirked.

"Unfortunately, I didn't get a copy while we were in France as I had other things on my mind at the time." She said with an almost tender expression on her face as she looked at her brother.

"Emma was a rather determined and resourceful young woman, especially when she set her mind to something. It goes without saying that she was determined to see that magazine."

"She asked her father who has significant contacts back in France if he could track down a copy of it for her. After he recovered from his own attack of hysterics he readily agreed."

"Oh no. Emma's dad knows?" Dave asked as his face seemed to crumple in on its self.

"Of course he does. You don't think she would have hidden something like this from him do you?" Fireball added with undisguised glee.

"She was very 'proud' of your 'title' and I think she told most of the family." Fireball added. Poor Dave looked like he wanted to make himself invisible at this point.

"Thankfully I was able to get to him before he obtained a copy of the Magazine for her. I told him that the Magazine also had an article in it about the shark attack along with a few rather graphic photos. I didn't think that Emma would be able to deal with them just now. Her dad thankfully agreed also."

"He apparently spoke with one of his business contacts in France who arranged to get a copy of the article about Dave (and not the attack) sent to him."

"Once Emma got her hands on it she devoured the article in record time. When she finished reading it she had tears of joy in her eyes she was laughing so much."

"For that fact alone it was thoroughly worth it." Fireball said while smiling a genuine smile over to Dave.

Dave meanwhile had his own wistful smile on his face as he listed to Fireball's story. Gabrielle had been carefully studying Dave's face during this story as well. She had an expression of such tenderness on her own face that it just couldn't help but tug at your own heart to see it.

"After reading the article she changed her idea for a suitable 'crown' for her #1 LCB. She organised for a set of undies to immortalise it for Dave." Fireball explained while Dave was exploring new shades of red to display.

"A set?" Sandra exclaimed with a giggle, "Just how many of these undies do you have Dave?" she asked her son.

It was clear that Dave didn't want to answer the question but Gabrielle was relentless and would not allow him to escape her own questioning gaze. Eventually he showed some common sense and gave in. Although the kisses Gabrielle offered him may have contributed to his decision to capitulate also.

"It was a pack of 7 undies that she had 'customised' for me." He eventually admitted.

"How is it that I have never seen them before?" Sandra asked her son with an arch little smile.

"I'm not in the habit of showing my undies to other people mum…" Dave tried to explain before his mother cut across him,

"No. Only to French women apparently." Sandra remarked with a raised eyebrow and a very cheeky little smile. At his comment BOTH Dave and Gabrielle broke out in a fresh round of blushing. It was amusing to watch them both trying to hide in each other's shoulders.

"I can understand Dave blushing 'ere, but why are you blushing also Gabrielle?" Madame Delacour asked her daughter with a knowing look.

At this everyone turned their attention to poor Gabrielle who was now experiencing the same sort of scrutiny that Dave had been experiencing just moments ago. Dave also looked up at Gabrielle with his own questioning look for her. Upon seeing his expression Gabrielle broke out into uncontrollable giggles for a few moments before she could squeak out a reply.

"Pardonne-moi" she said with her own very naughty little smile. This only seemed to confuse Dave even more until Fleur supplied the missing information he needed.

"It seems zat ze door to Dave's chambre didn't fully shut when 'e was getting changed earlier." Fleur explained to a now rather worried Gabrielle and a VERY embarrassed Dave.

"Gabrielle bravely took on ze job of making sure zat no one else could observe ze goings on in zere 'owever." She finished with her own evil grin on full display.

Poor Gabrielle looked like she wanted to flee but Dave's arms were already around her waist and they tightened ever so slightly to ensure that she didn't get away. There followed a whispered conversation between the two of them that had a lot of giggles coming from Gabrielle during it.

Eventually a peace offering of some kisses was 'extracted' from Gabrielle by Dave (she really didn't seem to mind this 'punishment') and they again re-joined the conversation. Albeit with a smile still playing at the corners of Gabrielle's mouth.

"At least I had on a new pair of plain undies today." Dave commented to himself. Before all the girls had another round of the giggles at him.

"Well if that magazine brought some joy to Emma I guess it is worth all of this embarrassment." Dave said trying to get his blushing under control. "As long as it never sees the light of day again that is."

"I must ask Jackie if she knows it where it is" Sandra remarked, "as I would dearly love to see it."

"It wasn't with her things in the hospital mum. As we didn't see it when we were packing up her room." Fireball said with a touch of sadness.

"I zink zat I still 'ave a copy of it at 'ome" Gabrielle said in an offhand manner.

The look on Dave's face could only be described as adorable as he was both bewildered and frightened at the same time. He was totally focused on Gabrielle's face with such a pleading look that he missed the outburst of laughter from his sisters before they launched into a bidding war amongst each other trying to persuade Gabrielle to allow them to see the Magazine.

Poor Gabrielle was at a loss as what to do with all the attention from Dave's sisters and cousin. Eventually Sandra broke through the noise.

"I think that Gabrielle should turn the Magazine over to her mother and between the two of us, as the responsible adults here we will decide if it is suitable for viewing by a group of impressionable young ladies." She said trying to maintain a straight face the entire time.

"Don't you agree Madame Delacour?" she asked.

"Absolument." She replied also trying very hard to maintain a straight face as well. "Per'aps Molly could 'elp us judge zis magazine as an impartial witness?" she asked.

"I would certainly be happy to offer my services." I replied while smiling at the expression on Dave's face.

"There, that was easily settled." Sandra said before breaking out into laughter yet again.

Dave was now clearly imploring Gabrielle to ensure that she never found the magazine in question. She however only smiled at him and in between a few more kisses said, "Don't look at moi like zat. You were ze one wearing ze naughty boxers."

"They were not boxes Gabrielle. They were briefs." Fireball informed her.

"Briefs?" she asked a little confused.

"un slips" Fleur answered for her. At this Gabrielle seemed even more amused.

"un slips? 'ow did zey fit all ze writing on zem?" she asked.

This of course did absolutely nothing to help Dave's cause. It only served as more fuel for the fire.

Ginny was the one who first managed to gain a degree of control and tried to get the story back on track. I don't know if this was from a genuine desire to know the rest of the story or to try and get even for Dave's earlier antics.

"What was the sales woman's reaction to see that?" she asked with a look of wide eyed innocence that fooled no one.

"I think she wanted to check validity of the statement." Fireball replied.

"However our 'brave' Auror here was now cowering behind a rack of clothing. Trying very hard to keep it between him and the sales woman."

"He must have been very flustered as he forgot the cardinal rule of combat." Fireball said with even more mirth dancing in her eyes.

"What's the cardinal rule of combat?" Ginny asked.

"It's 'check six'" she replied to a sea of confused female faces. The exception being Andrea and Cassy as well as Izzy and Abby.

"Check Six?" Fleur asked.

"It means check your 6 o'clock. Or look behind you." Fireball answered once more struggling for control.

"I did check behind me while I was moving. I just forgot once I stopped." Dave answered not willing to lift his eyes from his shoes.

"Yes well. If you had kept on moving, you might have been safe. But why you stopped in that particular location I have no idea." Fireball replied.

"Where did he stop?" I had to ask to keep the story going.

"Let me put it this way, the area behind him had a sign that said, 'Lingerie feminine' along with a contingent of now very curious trainee saleswomen." Fireball almost cried out.

"Oh non…" Madame Delacour said losing her battle to keep a straight face yet again.

"Oui" Fireball said in between fits of giggles.

"With our brave Auror holding out his hands in a valiant but ultimately vain effort to fend off the one saleswoman he could see, he failed to realise that his shirt had ridden up and his undies (as well as their message) was on full display to this group of curious trainee saleswomen."

"Such a bold claim just had to be… shall we say, 'investigated' by this group of suddenly very dedicated women." Fireball said from the ground as she had again fallen off her chair from all her laughing.

"Just how many women were there Dave?" Sandra asked her son.

"It was about to be a case of six on one. Seven on one if I count Fireball on their side. As she certainly wasn't on mine."

"Hey I had prime seats to the best entertainment that I had seen in years. I was going to enjoy it to the fullest." Came the reply from the floor.

"Are you trying to tell me Dave that you couldn't defend yourself against six saleswomen?" Sandra asked her son her amusement clearly evident.

"We might have to speak to the academy and get them to deal with this chink in your armour." She added with a knowing glance at Gabrielle.

"Their teamwork was some of the best that I had seen. Besides if I had started tying them up or cuffing them they probably have taken that as even more of an invitation than they thought that they already had." Dave said with his glow now spreading to his neck.

"Teamwork?" Sandra asked with a smirk on her face.

"Just what did they do that demonstrated good team work?" she asked with the smirk growing larger.

"Well they got his shirt off him very quickly apparently." Andrea added because Fireball was incapable of speech just now.

"You were only in your un slips?" Gabrielle asked with great amusement. She was clearly picturing the incident in her mind.

"He was." Andrea added 'helpfully'. "Although they had designs on them as well as per the report."

"It was at this point Dave remembered his fancy footwork and the fact that he is 'magical'" Fireball added. Once again able to speak after having a short break from commentary.

"He started to dodge and weave and was slowly making his way back to the men's changing rooms. Obviously hoping to find sanctuary with in."

"He was almost back to the change rooms when one of the saleswomen got a solid grip on his undies."

"Dave then demonstrated some truly creative magical abilities as he managed to summon another set of undies to appear underneath the pair that he was already wearing."

"The saleswoman who had a grip on his original undies was most disappointed." Fireball giggled.

"Spoilsport." Cassie remarked to poor Dave. This of course only brought about more bouts of giggles.

Dave was once more trying to hide in Gabrielle shoulder but I think she was having more enjoyment from watching his face throughout the telling of the story. As she kept on 'digging him out' from her shoulder with sets of kisses.

"Dave eventually broke free of the woman who had a grip on his undies. However, in his enthusiasm to get away he over balanced and crashed through the men's changing rooms."

"There was no sanctuary to be found there now."

"FINALLY remembering his Auror training, he used the noise and chaos as cover to grab his original clothes and make a break for an alternative location."

"His plan was obviously to try and get dressed in peace and then sneak out of the store or something." Fireball explained with tears still flowing freely.

"It was and it would have worked too if you hadn't had pointed out to those women where I was." Dave said rather indigently to his sister.

"Why did you do that to your brother?" Sandra asked Fireball with her own lips twitching into a smile.

Fireball could only shrug and smile in response. Her power of speech was a touch and go thing at this point.

"Where did 'e run off to zen?" Gabrielle asked.

"The only change rooms still standing. The women's ones." Andrea answered for her sister.

"As per the report that's where the French Magical Metro Police found him."

"The cubical that he had selected was the only one without a working lock. So, he was having to hold the door shut against 6 very 'helpful' saleswomen and hadn't been able to try and get any of his clothes back on." Andrea eventually explained.

"I would have paid good money to have been there when they eventually opened the door and let him out." She said relishing the scene in her minds eye.

"They could have at least let me put my own clothes back on before making me get out of the dressing room." Dave said a little bitterly.

"There was a very simple reason for that Dave. As an Auror you should have known it." Andrea said with tears once more starting to fill her eyes.

Dave gave her a filthy look and was obviously trying to tell her something with his eyes.

"And zat was?" Gabrielle asked.

"They needed to photograph the 'evidence' for the report." Andrea said as all of us just collapsed in laughter. I hadn't laughed that hard in years.

"That was only because the senior Police officer on the scene was a woman. A bloke would have been ok with a description only." Dave said a bit sullenly.

Eventually once we got ourselves back under control Sandra asked, "Is that the end of the story?"

"I bloody well hope so." Dave answered to another round of giggles.

"Jean-Luc apparently let Shelly know that a framed copy of that 'evidence' photo proudly sits on the desk of that Policewoman and another framed copy resides in the Female change room of her police station." Andrea said with a grin at her brother who was once more impersonating a radiator.

"Why would they put it in their change room?" Dave asked, rather to the amusement of Fleur and Gabrielle.

"Apparently, the other female officers at her station requested it be put there. For in their words 'why should the boss get all the fun'." Andrea said as Dave once more blushed and turned white, then repeat.

"I hope you fixed the men's change rooms before you left." Sandra asked Dave.

"I had to." He answered. "It was the only place they would let me change back into the clothes that I had on when I arrived."

"They even gave you a 'guard of honour' as you walked from the women's change rooms to the mens' ones didn't they." Fireball added.

"And you wonder why I never want to go clothes shopping with you or any of my so called 'loving sisters'." Dave said to Fireball.

"I think I would prefer combat against Dementors to another experience like that." Dave answered.

"After all zat did you end up getting any clothes for your Grand-mères 90th?" Madame Delacour asked Dave.

"Not even close." Dave answered, "After they were finished with their photos and statements and they finally let me get dressed. I got out of there as quickly as I could."

"I scrapped the plans for the rest of my 'weekend off' and headed off to Normandy for a meeting with Mr P instead." Dave answered.

"Ah so that's where you went." Fireball replied, "I thought you had been spirited away by those lovely Policewomen who were so eager to 'help' you."

"They did make a rather lot of suggestions. But I had had my fill of female help for the day." Dave answered with his ears now adding to the number of glowing body parts.

"I thought that work was shaping up as the safer option. At least there there're rules that make some sort of sense."

"So you still need to get some clothes zen?" Madame Delacour answered.

"Yeah I do. I'm planning on trying a trip into London this weekend to see what I can find. As I'm sure after that incident I will not be able to walk into any store in Paris ever again." Dave said.

"Oh non-mon cher, if your Grand-mères wanted you to get somezing nice from Paris you must do it."

"I would be very 'appy to accompany you to Paris and 'elp you find something suitable." She said to Dave as hope began to dawn on his face again.

"If you are lucky we might be able to persuade a certain someone to also come along and assist as well?" she said looking to Gabrielle who was now smiling and blushing at the thought.

Dave looked to Gabrielle with such a puppy dog expression on his face that she just had to kiss him again and say "Oui, I will 'elp if you wish me too."

"Very much." He answered to her obvious pleasure.

"I zink zat I could be of 'elp as well if you wish" Fleur offered to Dave.

With a glance at Gabrielle who quickly nodded her agreement Dave also gratefully accepted her help as well.

"Thank you very much ladies, for you very kind offer of assistance." Dave said with his gratitude clearly showing. "It promises to be a much safer experience with your help. Especially if we could somehow ban my sisters from Paris for the weekend." He said with an evil grin of his own directed at them.

"It is ze least zat we can do for you after all your 'ard work, mon cher." Madame Delacour answered.

"Did you manage to get your Grand-Mères present organised as well?"

"No I didn't as the weather wasn't co-operating that weekend. So, I had to abandon the attempt. With the way, the weather has been on those occasions when I have had enough 'time off' I don't think I will be able to get it organised in time."

"What are you trying to organize?" Madame Delacour asked.

"I wanted to find Grandma's brothers." Dave answered.

Madame Delacour looked rather confused at this answer. Sandra, Andrea, Fireball and Cassie however had stopped giggling at their brother and were now looking at him with their hearts in their eyes.

"Ses frères?" Madame Delacour asked.

"Yes. She is the youngest in a family of three."

"Her eldest brother was killed in action during World War One. He died in one of the last great big battles on the Somme. I believe that I have located his grave there, but want to visit to make sure."

"If it is indeed him then I want to get a good photograph of it and a memory of the place that I can give to her." Dave answered. His sisters, cousin and mother were all smiling so warmly at him that he was becoming embarrassed.

"Il était un ANZAC?" she asked surprised.

"Yes he was. He was in the 8th Australian Battalion"

"Sang et bandages?" she said, when she saw Dave's confusion she said "Zey were ze ones called 'Ze Blood and Bandages'?"

"Yes they were. Their unit insignia was white over red going horizontally."

"I know of zem. Zey fought at Pozières in 1916." She remarked.

"Yes they did. Grandma's brother Otto was in that battle. He along with a lot of his mates from his section were badly wounded there. Many more died. But he survived only to be killed near Amiens in 1918."

"My parents remember the ANZACs and especially the 4th and 8th Battalions. As they saved their village in 1916 from ze German Army."

"It will be an honour to 'elp you find your Grand Oncle's resting place." She said beaming at Dave.

Dave was very surprised by this piece of news. He was also appeared to be very happy for the extra help.

"Who is the other Grand Oncle you are trying to find?" Madame Delacour asked

"He was a member of the RAAF and was killed a few days after D-Day in WWII. From what we know he was shot down outside of Caen in 1944."

"He is supposedly buried in Ranville Military cemetery."

"They have not responded to my requests for information on him though. I was planning on going there and searching for him myself." Dave answered.

"My Mari, Julian has Famille in Caen still. If you can give me 'is details I will happily ask zem if zey can check ze cemetery for you. As I do believe it is only a short trip from where zey live."

Dave was now the one with tears in his eyes. He asked Gabrielle to allow him up (she reluctantly did so) and he crossed to Madame Delacour and engulfed her in his arms and hugged her tightly. All the while saying Thank-you to her. It was very clear that it meant a huge amount to him.

Gabrielle also had tears in her eyes at this scene. As she was just beginning to fully understand exactly how important family was to this young man.


	20. Questions and Answers - Part One

Eventually Madame Delacour released Dave from her embrace (I think she rather enjoys his hugs also) and Dave quickly headed off to write down the details of his Great Uncle who he was trying to locate near Caen.

While this was occurring, the others moved off to see what (if anything) was still available for lunch. Interrogating Dave was after all hungry work. By the time that Dave returned to the table with the information for Madame Delacour the girls were all happily enjoying their lunch.

I did notice that Gabrielle had collected some sandwiches and a drink for Dave in addition to herself. Dave seemed to be suitably appreciative of her efforts if the kiss that the two of them enjoyed was anything to go by.

Lunch passed with enjoyable but rather general conversation around the table. Dave and Gabrielle seemed to be enjoying their own private conversation if the smiles and laughter were any measure of it.

It was during this round of conversation that it was let slip by Ginny that we were all going to be accompanying Hermione back to Australia. The effect on Dave was rather surprising as it seemed to have slipped everyone's mind that he was not aware of this development.

"Really?" he asked showing surprise and delight.

"You are all coming back with us for a visit?" he said looking around the table, but with his gaze lingering on Gabrielle. When she smiled in return and nodded Dave's face lit up with such a wonderful smile that Gabrielle almost blushed.

"How long are you all going to be there with us?" Dave asked everyone.

"We haven't really decided yet Dave." Sandra answered him with a small smile playing on her lips.

"I was thinking a week or possibly two would be a long enough time to get Hermione's parents memories sorted out and to spend some quality time getting to know my 'little sister'. What do you think?"

"2 weeks sounds good to me." Dave answered with an innocent look that was not fooling anyone. Although Gabrielle seemed to agree with his assessment.

"Molly? Apolline? Does 2 weeks sound ok to you both?" Sandra asked with her struggle now starting to show.

"I think it sounds lovely." I answered to the obvious pleasure of Hermione, Ginny, Dave, Fleur and Gabrielle.

"It does seem zat it would allow enough time for all ze tasks Sandra mentioned to be done. But what will ze children do wiz all zat time?" she asked with a cheeky smile to Fleur and Gabrielle.

"Oh I'm sure we could find someone willing to show them around." Sandra said with her smirk now showing through. "Couldn't we Dave? I mean you know so many people back home I'm almost positive you could locate someone who would be willing to give up two weeks to act as tour guide."

Dave had obviously picked up on his mum's comments as he played along, "I'd be happy to volunteer my services if it meets with the approval of our guests' mum."

"It all boils down if they would be willing to be seen in public with me or not." He said with his own smirk on full display. Looking over to Gabrielle he asked her, "Would you have any objections to me being 'your' tour guide for your time in Australia?"

"Non. Non at all." She answered with her own brilliant smile. Going so far as to seal the deal with a kiss.

"Ginny? Any objections?" Dave asked.

"Not that I can think of off the top of my head." She answered with her own smirk showing, "I mean if you do get too embarrassing to be around we can always swap you for one of your sisters."

"Such a tough crowd." Dave remarked with mock hurt.

"Fleur do you have any objections with me being your tour guide?" Dave asked.

"Non. I zink zat you will do." She added with a smile to her sister, who readily returned it. While Dave bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"Hermione?" Dave asked.

"No, no objections from me. Besides I think Ginny is right with her idea." She said trying not to laugh.

"Thanks. I think." Was Dave's reply.

"Have you all given any thought as to what you would like to see or do during your visit?" Dave asked everyone. Not seeing any forth coming answers Dave decided to plough on.

Dave then described with great passion all of his favourite spots 'Down Under', along with his favourite activities to do. He also made a great many suggestions on other possible activities as well. It was clear that he had a very deep and abiding love for his home country. It only increased my desire to see it. The others all appeared to be similarly affected by Dave's enthusiasm.

Dave suggested a few books from his collection that might help us make up our mind. He also suggested something called 'DVDs' that he said we could watch to get an even better idea of what he was talking about.

He then had an idea that brought a real light to his eyes.

"If we are lucky we might even be able to persuade Mick's dad to give you one of his special tours of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. They are always special no matter how many times I have done them." Dave said with a smile.

"Zat sounds like it would be lovely" Fleur replied with a smile. Glancing at Gabrielle she flashed a cheeky grin and asked, "Are you going to take us all out dancing at all?"

At this comment Ginny, Sandra, Andrea, Cassy and Fireball all burst out laughing at the suddenly worried look on Dave's face.

Noticing the look of concern on Dave's face Gabrielle asked him, "Is zere somezing zat I should know about zis?" she said with a smile.

"It all depends on if your dancing shoes have steel caps in them or not." Ginny replied with undisguised glee in her eyes.

"Pardon?" Gabrielle asked.

"They are trying to warn you Gabrielle about Dave's dancing ability. Or the distinct lack of it." Sandra answered for her embarrassed son.

"When we were talking to his Grandfather's soul before he commented on Dave's lack of co-ordination when 'trying' to dance." She said with a smirk.

"Zat should be non problem. Wiz ze proper teacher I'm sure zat Dave will be able to dance very well." She said while beaming at Dave.

"Are you offering to try and teach me how to dance?" Dave asked in a small voice that was almost a whisper.

"Oui. I am." Gabrielle replied full of confidence.

"She's a brave woman. I'll give her that." Fireball said smiling at Gabrielle.

"I'd rather give her some steel capped shoes to save her toes." Andrea answered to giggles around the table.

Dave looked at Gabrielle with a very tender expression and asked, "Are you sure? As they are really not that far off the mark."

"Oui, I am sure Dave. If you wish me to teach you I will." Gabrielle said smiling broadly at him.

At this point Dave reached out and picked up a surprised (but pleased) Gabrielle. He then sat her down in his lap and wrapped his great big arms around her (as she wrapped her arms around him). Dave then proceeded to kiss her properly.

Gabrielle seemed to just melt into his embrace and no one could get the attention of either one of them for some time.

"I do believe that he has accepted her offer." Fireball remarked to Cassy as they both had a fit of the giggles. Along with the rest of us.

When the two of them came up for 'air' they both had the goofiest smiles on their faces. But you couldn't deny the affection that they were showing for one another.

"Thank you." Dave said to Gabrielle.

"Oh non, mon cher. Thank you!" Gabrielle answered before she had a fit of the giggles and collapsed into Dave. The other girls around the table all had rather wistful smiles on their faces also at this exchange between the two of them.

Fleur in particular, seemed to be regarding Dave almost with admiration for this 'achievement'.

The rest of 'the boys' chose particular moment to interrupt and join us.

"I can see that you have all finished your 'lunch' now." Ivan remarked as he pulled up a seat next to Sandra across from Dave and fixed his son with a little smirk that caused both Dave and Gabrielle to blush all over again.

Us girls also had another good giggle at this comment.

"If you are up to it Dave we would all like to ask you some questions." Ivan requested.

Dave looked suddenly worried. "It's not another de-briefing, is it?" he almost groaned while the girls had a bout of hysterical laughter.

"I feel like I am missing something here dear." Ivan said to his wife with a questioning look.

"Don't worry dear it will all be in the formal report." She replied to the utter horror of Dave. Whose expression had just set off another round of laughter amongst the girls.

"No Dave, I won't do that to you. It will only be a verbal report." She replied with a smirk.

This didn't completely placate Dave's worries but he seemed to think it was the best deal that he would get out of the incident.

Ivan then spoke to Dave (attempting to change the topic of conversation). "Dave, I… we, would like to have a chat to you about some recent reports about changes in your abilities".

"Going from reports about the incidents yesterday, as well as some incidents that happened in India and Thailand it seems to me that your skills and abilities have taken another jump. Much sooner than was expected."

"We would like to understand more about this development so we can take any actions that might be necessary."

"Are you happy to discuss this here?" Ivan asked his son.

"After what I've just gone through?" Dave said with his crooked smile once more on display, "Talking about this will be a walk in a park."

Ivan looked over to his wife and remarked, "I get the feeling that I'm really going to need to hear your report, and soon." He said smirking.

"Of course dear. Anything you wish." Sandra said in a deceptively compliant voice.

Ivan seemed to have picked up on this also as he had a rather suspicious look on his face.

"What are you up to?" He asked with a curious expression, "What are you after? You only agree with me like that when you're after something."

"You make it sound so cold and calculated when you say it like that dear." Sandra said with a cheeky smile at her husband while the girls had a bout of the giggles again.

Ivan wasn't taken in however, he just continued to regard her with a questioning look and a raised eyebrow.

"Oh all right." Sandra said in mock resignation, "I want to go first with my question. Is that ok with you?"

"Of course 'dear', all you had to do was just ask." Ivan said with a smile playing at his lips.

"Why thank you dear." Sandra said with a smile of her own as she turned her attention to Dave.

"Dave, we have had a good chat with Gabrielle and the others here about what happened both during the ambush as well as during the effort to heal her."

"During both of those events you exhibited significantly greater abilities than you possessed back around Christmas time. It is almost as though you have 'levelled up' again by several notches."

"Can you tell us what has happened? And when this occurred?" she asked.

At this question the entire group went quiet and all eyes turned to Dave, who while he was aware of the attention didn't seemed to be concerned by it. That could have been due to Gabrielle still being present on his lap and running her fingers through the hair on the back of his head though.

After a moment's thought he replied.

"I don't think I have 'levelled up' again yet mum. But I do think there is another one, a big one coming rather soon." Dave tried to explain. I saw the very quick and rather worried look that Ivan and Sandra shared between them. It made me wonder just what was involved in a 'level up' for Dave to cause that sort of concern.

"I think what has happened is I have understood somethings finally. Things that both Mick's dad and Grandpa have been trying to get across to me for a while now."

"That understanding has brought a different view of somethings and given me an alternate set of options for them. In yet others it has allowed me to achieve the same results as before but with significantly less energy being required to achieve them."

"Does that make sense?" he asked his mum.

"It might. But can you tell me what has changed?" she asked with her eyes intently focused on his.

"We were all at our base in France, it would have been the day before New Years Eve. We had the camp fire going and had been sitting around it chatting since dusk."

"Eventually everyone had headed off to bed except for me, Abby and Shelly. We were still talking. Somehow the topic of Abby's remarkable shields came up."

"Abby then launched into a description of how she constructed the various shields that she makes. A lot of what she said that night didn't make any sense to me at the time. But I did my best to hold onto it so I could think about it later. But one thing she mentioned really stuck with me."

"What was that?" Sandra asked.

"She said that she wove her shields. Actually, wove them." Dave answered.

Sandra looked down the table to Abby who had been listening to the conversation. Abby nodded in agreement with Dave's comment.

Sandra seemed to be rather surprised by this information. Everyone else seemed to be interested in it but were not sure about what it meant.

"You mean she wove them like weaving a carpet?" Fireball asked, "Or say braiding someone's hair" she said with an evil little smirk that didn't make any sense to those outside of Dave's immediate family.

"Not exactly but that is a very good analogy to use though." Dave replied, returning her look with some sort of unspoken message.

"She said that depending on what she wanted the shield to do she used a different 'weave' to achieve a different result. Instead of changing the amount of power in her shields she more often changed the weave."

"By this time it was very late and we were all tired so we put the fire out and went to bed. But her comments stayed with me and something made me keep on thinking about them."

"A few days later we had some downtime so I asked her if she could demonstrate what we had been talking about before New Years."

"Thankfully she agreed and she spent a few hours walking me through how she made her shields and how she manipulated the magical energies that she used."

"It was utterly fascinating how she worked them into the different 'weaves' to achieve the desired results."

"After many frustrating attempts I was able to replicate some of her simpler shields."

"I found myself practising them whenever I had a 'spare moment' to myself."

"Trying to make me obsolete are you Syd?" Abby asked with a cheeky grin.

"Never Abby. You are too valuable to this team to ever be obsolete." Dave replied with a grin to Abby's obvious pleasure.

"After I started to get the hang of weaving basic shields I tried to 'see' if there were weaves in other spells. What I eventually came to understand rather surprised me."

"What was that Dave?" Ivan asked him.

"They all had a weave of one type or another. Some were simple, some were almost incredibly complex. But they each had a distinct weave."

"All spells have a weave?" Arthur asked Dave.

"Yes. Well at least so far I have been able to see a weave in every spell I have 'looked' into." Dave replied.

"That was how I was able to recognise Ginny's Bat Bogey Hex that she tried to use on me in your kitchen. I recognised the fundamental weave of her Hex."

"She had changed a few elements of that weave to get the usual counter Hex to produce even more Bat Bogey's. But the fundamental weave was still there."

I looked around the table and everyone was utterly stunned. None of us had ever heard of Magic being described in this manner before. Everyone seemed to be completely absorbed in what Dave was saying.

"When I'm next at home I'm planning on discussing it with a certain undesirable to see what she thinks about this idea." Dave said with his crooked smile.

"David. Your sister is an 'Unspeakable' not an undesirable." Sandra reminded him.

"Oh… Yes, you are correct that's the word." Dave said with his cheeky grin back at her.

"I started to wonder if this concept applied to the other Magical energies. After some investigation, it appeared that it did apply to them as well. The only thing I haven't been able to confirm yet is 'pure sorcery'. As true or pure sorcery is a thought released through a word that aligns with that thought."

"So either the weaves involved are so incredibly fine to the point that they are undetectable. Or it doesn't involve any weave at all."

"I have even been thinking about weaving the different magical energies together to see what the results are when they are combined."

"So far the results have been interesting to say the least." Dave remarked.

"What results have you found so far?" Ivan asked his son.

"My own healing abilities have strengthened significantly. Also my ability to heal others feels like it has gone through the roof in several areas." He said rather calmly.

After a glance at Gabrielle (to obtain her permission I guess, as she nodded to her) Sandra asked, "Is that how you were able to heal that faulty valve in Gabrielle's heart yesterday?"

"Yes. Yes it was." Dave answered with a small blush on his cheeks.

"Can you explain it for us?" Sandra asked.

"You know that old teaching axiom about the ways boys and girls differ in their learning approaches?" Dave asked him mum, who nodded by way of reply.

"Well I found that I had fallen into that same trap myself. Without being aware of it."

"If I had been smart enough to work out what Grandpa and Mick's Dad had been trying to tell me earlier I could possibly have been able to heal Emma's heart much more safely. Then she might have let me try and heal more of her." Dave said with a look of such loss on his face.

"Each time I healed her heart it was almost like I had to physically wrestle with the different threads of energy to get them to do what I needed them to. I could 'see' the structure of what her heart needed to be in my head. I just wasn't smart or strong enough to be able to create that structure for her." Dave said with his head bowed.

Gabrielle simply wrapped her arms around Dave's neck and pulled him into her and just held him. It struck me as a very mature sort of response for a teenager to take.

"Excuse me Sandra. What teaching axiom is Dave referring to?" Hermione asked.

"It is more of an observation than an axiom, but the one Dave is referring to says that when learning something new involving physical components, girls tend to pick up the technique first then learn when and where to use physical strength. While boys (especially teenagers) tend to focus too much on the physical aspects before focusing on the actual technique required."

"It isn't a hard fact and there are always exceptions but it does playout more often than it doesn't." she answered.

"It was certainly true at the academy in the martial arts classes. The girls generally got the technique that was required long before the boys." Fireball added thoughtfully.

"So, how did you heal Gabrielle's heart so quickly and easily yesterday?" Sandra asked him.

After a moment Dave raised himself up off Gabrielle's shoulder and she also smiled encouragingly at him. I also noticed that Fleur and her parents were listening with rapt attention.

"After Healer Grant and Jones had finished their excellent work I thought about the next step that was required. More importantly what stresses it would place on Gabrielle's body, specifically her heart. For even though her heart wasn't beating at that time the change in her blood would still have placed a significant stress on it."

"With this thought in mind I decided to…" Dave blushed at this point, "I decided to 'check her out'." He said with a shy smile at Gabrielle. She readily returned it and gave him a kiss.

"I'm very 'appy zat you did." She said while beaming at him.

Dave returned her smile and seemed to draw strength from it.

"When I 'checked her out' I noticed that one of the valves in her heart wasn't working properly. It appeared to not be able to close properly. Much like the problems that Emma had with the valves in her heart at different times."

"While looking at it I could easily see the pattern that it needed to be. I also found that I could 'see' a weave that would enable me align her heart to that 'perfect pattern'. While there was a difference between the two I was confident that I could produce the required weave to bring them together."

"Being able to repair that heart valve would significantly reduce the risk of harm to Gabrielle. So I made the decision to repair the valve before purging her blood of the poison."

"When I produced the weave and released it into her heart I was very (but pleasantly) surprised at how readily it healed the valve in her heart."

"Once the valve was healed I allowed the weave to flow over the rest of her heart. It applied some minor changes to the healing that Healer Grant had already done on the knife wound. These changes removed any possibility of scar tissue ever forming along that wound."

"After her heart was fully healed I knew that she would now be able to survive the change to her blood. Although I wish I had been able to identify a weave to enable me to purge her blood without having to perform that change on her. As it was rather painful for her."

"I'm so very sorry that I couldn't think of an alternative to putting you through all of that." Dave said to Gabrielle with his heart clearly showing in his eyes.

"You 'ave nozing to feel sorry for Mon Cher." Gabrielle told him, "You told me it would hurt, but only for a time. It was my choice, to allow you to carry out ze change. I'm very 'appy zat you did." She said as she once again hugged him rather fiercely.

"Merci." Dave replied, causing them both to have a small giggling fit.

Dave's and Gabrielle's parents were both smiling at this scene unfolding in front of them. Fleur and the other girls (yes I'm including myself in this) also seemed to be approving of them as well.

"Dave, have you noticed any other abilities that seem to be affected by this new-found understanding." Sandra asked him with her smile still playing on her face.

"One of the most interesting is I when I combine a selection of sorcery and magic I find that I can still perform magic and sorcery when I'm in animal form." Dave said almost offhandedly.

Ivan and Sandra both looked like they had been stunned. Kingsley looked like his eyes were about to fall out of his head.

"Can you show us?" Hermione asked with her eyes alight with fire and curiosity.

"Yes please, can you show us?" Arthur asked with such enthusiasm that Dave could only smile by way of reply.

"Dave! Dave, can you do the one that you did for Shelly on Tuesday?" Fireball asked almost politely but also very excitedly. "I missed that one and she said it was absolutely adorable." She said with a smirk at Dave and a wink for Gabrielle.

At the mention of the word adorable all the girls set to work to convince Dave to choose that form. The boys were not fussed about the form but were willing to go along with the girls' suggestions.

"Ok." Dave replied with a slight blush.

"Could you let me up please Gabrielle. If I change here into the requested form, you will end up squashing me." Dave said with a cheeky grin.

"I could be persuaded to move." Gabrielle said cheekily to Dave. But she got the kiss that she was obviously hoping for so she stood up and allowed Dave to stand.

"Stay aware of your talisman Fireball. I'm going to try something and want to see if it works or not." Dave asked her. She indicated that she would.

Dave stood still for a moment with his head bowed as he took a few deep breaths. Then his body just seemed to melt and he disappeared behind the table.

The people on the other side of the table could see what he changed into however. Their responses did indeed seem to indicate that the form Dave had assumed was indeed adorable.

After a few moments Fireball's eyes went wide with surprise and she seemed very excited by something.

"Gabrielle, Dave is asking for you to please sit down on his seat." She said in surprise.

"You can hear him?" Sandra asked with her own surprise and excitement on display.

"His thoughts, yes. Not his words so much but definitely his thoughts." She said still excited.

Gabrielle sat on Dave's seat still staring at Dave's form with adoration in her eyes. After a moment, she jumped a little in surprise as something landed in her lap.

The next thing I saw was a set of paws on the edge of the table directly in front of Gabrielle. Then the head appeared.

As soon as the head of Dave's form appeared all the girls (and Arthur) let out a collective moan of 'Awwwww'.

Dave's form was that of a Tiger cub. Complete with whiskers and fluffy fur. The cub looked around at everyone who was present at the table. It then (a little awkwardly) tried to climb onto the table itself. Gabrielle ended up having to help Dave onto the table.

The cub turned and did a bow to Gabrielle that she thought was adorable.

"He says thanks for the assist." Fireball said still smiling at Dave.

"'e is welcome" Gabrielle replied still smiling.

Dave then walked up and down the table so that everyone could see him. Purely to be mischievous no doubt he even drank out of Fireball's glass.

He then walked back to Gabrielle and stopped in front of his own glass. He seemed to stare at it for a moment before it was transfigured into a saucer with some milk in it. Which he then proceeded to lap up.

This got a reaction from everyone. As it was truly remarkable.

"Is it only in that form that you can do magic?" Kingsley asked Dave.

The tiger cub cocked his head to one side as it looked at him. Then it closed its eyes and suddenly a Labrador puppy was in its place.

The puppy walked over to sit in front of Gabrielle. Gabrielle seemed delighted and had her hands on her cheeks in delight at the sight in front of her. She tentatively reached out and began to pat the puppy, who did seem to enjoy it as he leant into her hand. The puppy then thoroughly licked her face causing Gabrielle and everyone else to laugh at the scene.

Satisfied with its work the puppy went back to the saucer of milk and took a taste. Finding it not to its taste the saucer of milk became a bone for it to chew on. The puppy then looked up to Kingsley and Fireball spoke, "Does that answer your question?"

Looking at the puppy with a mixture of amusement, delight and wonder Kingsley replied, "I do believe it does."

The puppy bowed and then jumped off the table albeit a little awkwardly. A short time later Dave was once again standing before us all.

None of us knew what to say until Ginny spoke up, "I think he makes a cuter puppy than a boy." She said to Dave with a very cheeky grin at him which he returned.

This caused another round of laughter amongst those present. Although Gabrielle didn't seem to agree with Ginny's assessment, as she seemed very happy with Dave in his natural form.

"How many animals can you transform into?" Kingsley asked.

"If I do it through sorcery alone I have an almost unlimited choice. Provided I have a solid understanding of the animals' anatomy I can usually change into them."

"If I want a form where I can still do magic of some description then I'm limited currently to about 15 different types." Dave replied.

"Limited to 15?" Kingsley said. "That is unbelievable. Animagi can only become one type of animal."

"Can you become any magical creatures?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Not yet." Dave answered.

"What do you mean not yet?" Ivan asked his son.

"Jimmy and I with the help of Semi had been trying to learn how to change into magical creatures. It is far more difficult than with normal animals."

"As with a magical creature you need to know not only about its anatomy but also its magic before you can change into it."

"Jimmy could partially turn himself into a phoenix. But he could not hold it stable for very long at all before he had to change back."

"The best I can do currently is a few funny looking golden hairs. We don't even know what creature they are from, as even when I meditate on it I can't see all of the animal."

"All I get is a sense that it isn't ready for me to know just yet. It is almost like it is waiting for me to reach a certain point or understanding before it will reveal itself fully." He tried to explain.

"Can you show us?" Ron asked clearly excited.

"Sadly no. Not now, as the effort required is still very considerable. If I tried now I would most likely need to spend the rest of the day in bed asleep." Dave answered a very disappointed Ron.

"What else have you found by combining energies?" Sandra asked her son.

"A few things but most are not yet safe enough to try outside of controlled conditions." He said thoughtfully.

"My Illusions have also improved though." Dave said with a devious smile.

"What sort of illusions?" Ivan asked.

"Well let's just say they are different to Jimmy's ones." Dave answered cryptically.

He then walked away from the table to almost where the training floor was still setup. He then stood still with his head bowed for a moment or two.

I'm not sure how to describe what happened next other than to say that Dave seemed to just multiply. Soon there was a crowd of Dave's milling around.

We were all looking very surprised at the scene before us. No one seemed to know what to say.

Fireball was the first to speak up, "It's like I'm living some sort of nightmare." She said with a disbelieving look on her face.

This triggered some surprised laughter and caused the crowd of Dave's to turn and bow to her before pulling a variety of faces at her as well.

"Oh, I don't know, I razer like it." Gabrielle said with a smile playing about her lips.

"My thanks, my lady" The crowd of Dave's replied in unison. This caused a small round of applause for the effort.

"That is a very remarkable and useful trick." Ivan said to his son, "How many can you produce?"

"At this range this is the most I can make." Dave answered, "The closer I get the more the illusions begin to break down."

He demonstrated this by walking closer to the table. When he got to the point where he had been standing during his change into animal form you could easily tell the difference between him and the illusions.

Of the 20 Dave's now standing before us only one of them was truly solid. The others looked more transparent, much like the ghosts back at Hogwarts.

"If I reduce the number of illusions" he said as the crowd shuffled about and merged into each other until there were only 5 Dave's standing before us.

"They become more solid yet again." The crowd said with a variety of smiles.

"These illusions however will break down if they need to interact with something." He explained as he went to try and pick up his chair with one of the illusions. The hands of the 'Dave' that tried to pick up the chair just passed straight through it.

"If I really focus and further reduce the number of illusions. This happens."

The group of Dave's milled around again until there were only two left. Both of these Dave's were able to move the chair. This caused an excited reaction from the rest of us.

"The big problem at the moment is working out how to interact with actual people."

"Somethings I can do easily without giving away which is the illusion and which isn't." this he demonstrated by walking over to Fireball and each Dave gabbed a bit of her hair and lifted it up for all to see.

"More significant contact causes problems however." He said as he held his arms out to Gabrielle. As she stepped up to embrace him however she found herself stepping through him. Rather to her own surprise and everyone else's laughter.

Gabrielle corrected this issue by giving the real Dave a hug while the illusion disappeared.

"The odd thing about illusions is that I can do other people better than I can do myself." He demonstrated this also.

After a whispered conversation with Gabrielle he stood with his back to us for a moment. When he moved clear there were two Gabrielle's standing in front of us. They both appeared to be equally surprised at the sight of the other.

Both of them walked to the table and were moving objects around on it. This was truly remarkable.

"Illusions I make of others are also able to better interact with people as well." With a nod to the Gabrielle's he demonstrated this by having each of them kiss Fleur on either cheek one after the other.

Fleur's eyes were wide in shock as she realised that both of the kisses felt real to her. She was looking at the two Gabrielle's with eyes filled with wonder.

"Much like the illusions of myself though more significant contact causes the illusion to break down." He said as one of the Gabrielle's went to sit in Fleur's lap and promptly fell through it.

This left the real Gabrielle standing next to her sister with a shy little smile on her face.

Fleur got up and gave her a hug, "Just to make sure you are ze real one." She said with a smile.

"I can see how that would be very useful in your line of work" Arthur said in amazement to Dave.

"Do you need to be able to see the illusion in order to control it?"

"At this point I do need to be able to see the illusion to control it." Dave answered.

"I have a feeling however that the more I practise with it I may eventually be able to allow it out of my sight."

"That is almost unbelievable." Arthur remarked to Kingsley.

"Truly. I would have had difficulty believing it if I hadn't seen it myself." He added.

"Do you think you will be able to teach others how to do this?" he asked.

"I might be able to." Dave replied thoughtfully, "As the Threads of sorcery I used to do this are not close to the CORE of sorcery. They are more aligned with wandless magic."

"But I will need to practise more myself to get things straight in my own mind before I try to confuse others with it." He added with a smile.

"Understood Dave." Kingsley answered, "I would be most interested to hear what you eventually work out on that score. I could see this being very useful and potentially lifesaving to many of our Aurors."

"The same thoughts occurred to me as well Kingsley." Dave answered in his coldly professional voice as he returned to his seat.

"Is there anything else you have found different since this new discovery Dave?" Sandra asked almost excitedly.

"Well I have noticed that my Wandcraft has now significantly improved also." Dave answered with a crooked smile.


	21. New Wands & Abilities

"Wandcraft?" Kingsley asked, "You mean you can actually make wands?" he said with surprise and awe on him face.

"Yes, Grandpa Webb was teaching me before he passed. His soul is now trying to continue that teaching. But until recently I was struggling to understand what it was trying to tell me."

"Since this new understanding about the weaves involved with spells I have been able to produce Wands that are much more successful than earlier versions."

"Your Grandfather was able to make wands also?" Kingsley asked with surprise "Even with all that was done to him?"

"Yes he could. He made my first wand that I ever had." Dave answered.

"He was unsure where the knowledge came from however. As it seemed to be something he had 'before' he was broken. But he always thought that the greater part of what he had known about it was missing."

"For this reason he never made a living as a wand maker and became an Auror instead."

"He was very motivated to see that others never faced a miscarriage of justice like he had experienced at the hands of the Potters." Dave said with a guilty glance at Harry.

For his part Harry, did look slightly embarrassed about this comment but he acknowledged it and indicated for Dave to continue.

"For Grandpa Webb Wandcraft became more like a hobby to him. Because he wasn't doing it commercially he felt free to experiment with different woods and cores. Items that commercial wand makers wouldn't use for fear of harming their reputations."

"Very few wand makers will utilise native Australian woods in their wands insisting that the 'traditional' woods from the 'old country' are the only way to produce a true wand."

"Grandpa on the other hand would readily experiment with and investigate any potential new material or core. He uncovered many new potential combinations that have proved to be highly effective over the years." Dave answered with obvious pride.

"I have also tried to experiment and investigate like Grandpa did. But until recently my efforts were very much hit and miss and even when they did work they were not very capable."

"Once it dawned on my thick head that the patterns Grandpa kept talking about aligned to the weaves that I can see, things started to make much more sense to me. My success rate went up and the power and capability of my wands also greatly increased."

"Very recently I have even been able to produce a wand very different to anything before." He said with a proud smile on his face.

"What was different about this wand?" Ivan asked his son.

"I have managed to produce a wand that functions for sorcery. Much like a 'normal' wand functions for magic." He said to the utter astonishment of everyone but particularly his father.

"May I see it?" Ivan asked him.

"If you wish. Give me a moment to go and fetch it." Dave replied. At this he had to again 'bribe' a disappointed Gabrielle to allow him up. He then headed off to his tent and returned with a bundle under his arm.

Once he was back at the table he untied the bundle and rolled it out. It was full of different wands, of all different types. The choice was simply astonishing to see.

Dave selected a wand that was made from a reddish coloured wood with a very distinct pattern in it. He handed it over to his dad handle first. When Ivan held it you could see a glow come from it. He also had a smile on his face as he held it.

"It feels friendly." He said in surprise to his son.

"I should hope so. I was thinking of you when I made that one." Dave said with a smile.

"Try it and see if it works for you." Dave requested. "See if you can 'encourage' that small tree over by the rock wall."

"What from here?" he asked.

"Yes. Might as well make it a real test." Was Dave's reply.

Ivan stood up and pointed the wand at the tree. He then nearly dropped it in surprise when the tree began to grow and was several meters tall in a very short period of time.

Dave was grinning ear to ear at his father's reaction of surprise. The rest of his family were also evidently surprised but pleased as well. Ivan moved to give the wand back to Dave but he indicated that he should keep it.

"I made it for you dad. You should keep it." Was his reply.

"Thank you. It is truly a precious gift." He replied.

"What is it made from?" he asked.

"The wood is Snow Gum from the big tree near Grandma's place." He replied.

"The core?" Ivan asked.

"Diamond with a touch of gold." Was Dave's slightly embarrassed reply.

"Diamond?" Ivan asked.

"Yes. There are no sorcerous animals that can be used for a wand like this." He answered.

"But during our trip to China a few years back I learnt that they use various gems to focus their sorcery and some magic through. Diamond being the main gem used for sorcery although sapphires were used very commonly to."

"I had to experiment a bit, but I found I could create a very thin 'thread' of diamond. If I made several threads and mixed in one or two similar threads of gold as a type of re-enforcement. Then when they were 'woven' together just right I found I could focus sorcerous energy through it much like a lens."

"When that 'core' is combined with a suitable and compliant wood it formed a wand that behaved much like a 'regular' wand for a witch or wizard."

"Only that wand will not respond to someone who cannot manipulate sorcerous energy" he explained

"That's remarkable." Ivan said to the general agreement of everyone present.

During this conversation Gabrielle, had been looking at the various wands that Dave had created. One wand in particular seemed to have caught her eye. Tacking advantage of the lull in conversation she asked, "What is that wand over there?" she said indicating one of the wands near the end of the roll.

Following her gaze Dave asked, "Which one?"

Gabrielle raised her hand to point to the wand in question. As she did so the wand leapt from its location into Gabrielle's out stretched hand.

"I guess she means that one." Fireball laughed before she caught the look of utter surprise and awe on Dave's face.

Dave appeared to be completely thunderstruck. He kept on looking between the wand in Gabrielle's hand and her face. Whenever he returned his gaze to Gabrielle's face his own expression became one of such complete awe it was almost embarrassing to look at.

Gabrielle seemed to be getting a little flustered at Dave's lack of response to her questions. She ended up kissing him again to get his attention. This seemed to bring Dave out of whatever trance he was in.

"So THAT's the trick to getting his attention." Fireball exclaimed to her mother. "No wonder we have such a hard time with it." She said before having an attack of the giggles.

This seemed to once again set off the rest of the girls as well.

"Does it work for you?" Dave asked Gabrielle with a burning curiosity in his eyes.

"What is it made of?" She asked him.

"Please. My questions first? What do you feel when you hold it? Does it work for you?" Dave asked again with that burning curiosity still in his eyes.

"It feels warm, like it ez welcoming me." She replied with a small smile.

"Do you feel anything else?" Dave asked very intently.

"There is a strange feeling with it." She said returning Dave's rather intense gaze.

"Can you describe it? Please?"

Gabrielle closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, "I would say there is a feeling of Safety and Strength" she replied. She then opened her eyes and stared very intently into Dave's for a moment before whispering something into his ear.

I couldn't catch what she said to him, but whatever it was caused a full body blush on Dave. Dave didn't even notice the comments that were being freely offered by his sisters, cousin and fellow team members. Whatever it was that Gabrielle had said to him had his complete attention.

For her part Gabrielle was standing facing Dave with a rather naughty little smile on her face. She was enjoying every moment of this I'm sure.

Finding his voice again Dave asked her, "Do you want to test it?"

"Oui"

Dave pointed to the training floor that was still in place from this morning and a target much like the ones used for his earlier demonstration appeared at the far end of the floor.

Dave then whispered something to Gabrielle and she nodded by way of reply. Dave then stepped back and gave her a clear shot at the target.

Gabrielle raised her wand at the target and fired what appeared to me to be a stunning spell at it. The effect on the target however was rather unique. Instead of there being a red mark on the target as had happened earlier in the day, there was now a piece missing from it.

Everyone was on their feet and cheering at Gabrielle's effort. But she only seemed to notice Dave's brilliant own smile and his applause for her.

"Another test?" he asked her.

"Oui. Ok" she answered.

Dave walked over to the low rock wall and came back with a loose stone that he had found. He grabbed his chair and moved it back from the table so that everyone could see and then placed the stone on the seat of the chair.

He next walked over to Gabrielle and whispered some instructions in her ear. "Just like that, but also don't force it." I heard him say as he stepped back to join the others at the table.

Gabrielle focused and pointed her wand at the stone. The stone seemed to shimmer for a moment and then it just seemed to flow into the shape of a flat bowl. The bowl was not made from common stone though. It looked as though it was now made of quartz.

The look of astonishment on her face was only matched by the look of joy and excitement on Dave's.

"It bloody well worked." Dave said with his face alight with joy

By now everyone was getting a little annoyed with Dave. As they all wanted to know what was so special about that wand that had him so worked up.

Ivan was eventually able to get Dave's attention and asked him, "Just what is that wand made from Dave. And why are you so excited about it working?"

"The wood in that wand came from BOTH Emma's and my trees back home." He answered.

"Both of your trees?" Sandra asked in astonishment.

"Yes both. I blended the wood in that wand much like I did for that dressing table I made for Grandma Webb." He said still smiling.

"What do you mean 'your trees'?" Kingsley asked Dave.

"Back home at mum and dad's place, there are two trees that kind of 'adopted' Emma and me as we were growing up. I'm still not entirely sure how the magic of it works, Mick's dad would be the one to ask for the best explanation."

"The short version is that these trees seemed to recognise us as 'kindred spirits' to them and to each other. So, the trees 'adopted' us to protect and guide us and to also serve as an anchor in times of need." Dave explained.

"I have always carried a twig from my tree and Emma's tree with me wherever I travel. It helps me to avoid feeling homesick when I'm gone for too long."

"What trees are you referring to Dave?" Sandra asked.

"The big Red Gum and the Ironbark on the bank of the river near the beach, the ones with all the Bowtruckles in them." Dave answered.

"Oh, I see." Sandra said with a knowing smile. "What about the core of the wand? What is it?"

"It has two cores actually." Dave answered to the astonishment of everyone.

"What are they?" Sandra asked, but I'm sure all the rest of us were only moments away from asking the same question.

"The first core is almost identical to the one in the wand I made for dad. Except that I added a few strands of sapphire as well." Dave explained.

"Hang on. You said a core like that couldn't be used by a witch or a wizard." Ivan remarked.

"Correct Dad. That's exactly what I said." Dave answered while looking into Gabrielle's eyes. She was as surprised as everyone else.

"Did she use that core at all?" Ivan asked Dave.

"If she followed my instructions she did." Dave answered, "She would have used it when she transformed the stone I found into that quartz bowl." He answered.

"Didn't she just transfigure it?" Hermione asked.

"Did you Gabrielle?" Dave asked her, "How did you achieve that result." He asked her.

"I just told it to change. Zen it changed in front of me." Gabrielle replied, still astonished at what she had done.

"That's all? You just said 'change'?" Hermione asked disbelievingly.

"Oui" Gabrielle answered, "Alzough I didn't say ze word out loud." She clarified.

"Does zis mean I am a Sorcerer?" she asked Dave.

"No. Well not yet anyway. But you most definitely have the native ability and strength to be one."

"With the right training and a good teacher of course." He answered her with a smile.

"Will you train me?" she asked with a shy smile.

"If your parents allow it and if you desire it. I would be happy to teach you." Dave answered with his own rather shy smile.

"It is a lot of work and it takes a long time to properly develop the skills. But I do believe that you have the right temperament to be able to control and eventually master it."

"Some of your native Veela traits will also serve you well in this training." Dave said with a smile.

"What you have already done today it more than some people can do even when they have been training solid for a year or more."

"Yes you had a wand to help focus your energies. But the fundamentals, are the same regardless of there being a wand involved or not." Dave tried to explain to a still very surprised Gabrielle.

"You will have French law on your side, as they allow their citizens to learn and practice sorcery. The only provision being that you sit a test much like the one for Apparition to show that you have mastered the required basics."

"Something for you and your parents to keep in mind also." Dave said smiling at both Gabrielle and her parents.

"To the best of our knowledge the French Ministry currently does not have ANY sorcerers who have successfully passed the licencing requirements." Dave explained to Gabrielle's and her parents delight.

"As soon as they are made aware of your natural talents and what you have achieved here today, they will be trying their very best to convince you to come and work for them. You will also within reason, be able to almost write your own employment contract if you so desire."

"But of course you didn't hear any of that from me did you?" Dave said with a very cheeky grin at Gabrielle and her parents.

"Hear what Monsieur." Exclaimed Monsieur Delacour with his own devious smile on his face and the sound of laughter from all assembled.

"Well played Monsieur Delacour." Dave replied with a little salute to him.

"What is the other CORE that is in Gabrielle's wand?" Hermione asked with her curiosity still in the hunt for answers.

Here Dave began to look a little nervous and a slight blush began to form on his cheeks.

"David!" Sandra said with some irritation. "Answer the question. What is the other core in that wand?"

"It's… It's me." Was Dave's very surprising answer.

Upon hearing his answer Gabrielle blushed to the roots of her hair and Dave quickly copied her. Everyone else was just gobsmacked.

"What do you mean, you?" Ivan asked his son. "Please explain it son."

"When I try to transform into my magical creature, all I can achieve so far is a collection of golden hairs as I mentioned before. When I showed Grandpa Webb what I could do he collected some of them from me."

"One of those golden hairs is in that wand." Dave said more than a little embarrassed.

"I wanted to see if my magical creature was 'good enough' for Wandcraft. But when I tried to use the wand it wouldn't respond to me."

"Until today I thought that I had royally screwed it up and wasted one of those hairs." He said looking at his feet in embarrassment.

"That's why I was so surprised when that wand accepted Gabrielle as its master and worked for her so wonderfully." Dave said with a quick glance at Gabrielle and a shy smile at her before he again examined his shoes.

For her part Gabrielle was looking at the wand in her hand with a new sense of wonder. She also seemed to be regarding Dave in a new (and VERY approving) way.

"Zose feelings I was getting from ze wand. Zey are ultimately coming from toi?" Gabrielle almost purred to Dave with a fierce light burning in her eyes.

Dave seemed to be a little dumbstruck at this observation and his power of speech also seemed to have left him.

'Thankfully' for Dave his father was close at hand to 'help' him through this 'difficult' moment.

"From what I know of Wandlore, given that the wood is from Dave's and Emma's own trees that alone would indicate that any emotions you feel from that wand would indeed be connected to him."

"Add to that the fact that the magical core IS Dave, that could only serve to magnify and add to the emotions carried with in the wood itself." He helpfully explained.

"Merci Monsieur Webb." Gabrielle replied to Ivan with a wonderful little smile. "I zink I need to borrow your son for a bit so we can 'ave some time to properly talk togezer."

Without waiting for a reply, Gabrielle used her free hand to grab Dave's and 'dragged' him off to the orchard in search of somewhere private to 'talk'.

"Should we send a protective detail after them?" Fireball asked her parents. Her eyes were alight with mischief.

"To protect who?" Ivan asked, "Gabrielle seems to be in good hands." He remarked.

"I do not zink it is Gabrielle who may need protecting in zis case." Fleur said with her own naughty little smile on her face as she struggled with her own case of the giggles.

"If zey are not back in an 'our or two we can always send some policewomen in to rescue Dave." Madame Delacour said before succumbing to a bout of the giggles herself. She seemed to have started a chain reaction amongst the other girls also.

Ivan looked to his wife with a confused expression on his face that was just so very similar to Dave's. Sandra could only smile at him and run her hand lovingly along the side of his face and through his hair.

"Oh my dear, there are just some things that they don't teach our Aurors at the academy." She said with a smile before joining in with the fresh round of laughter that had erupted.

"I get the feeling that this is related to that report that you had promised me earlier. Isn't it." He asked with a very intense but curious expression.

"You could say that my dear." She answered, before she proceeded to tell her husband what she had learnt of the events that took place in Paris back in March. All the girls were only too happy to assist with the commentary.

Without Dave, around to engage in futile attempts to defend himself the story went so much quicker. Ivan and indeed the rest of the males there (yes including the ones from Dave's team) were greatly enlightened by this story.

I also got the feeling that poor Dave would not be living this incident down for a significant amount of time to come.

The most interesting thing to come out of the retelling of this story was the admission by Monsieur Delacour that he thought that he might have been the one to supply a copy of the magazine. As he had a business partner of his own in Australia that had once requested that he track down a copy of a surfing magazine for his daughter.

Ivan asked him the name of his business partner in Australia and he replied, "John Thompson".

At this Ivan and his family fell into Hysterics. Eventually they informed us that he was indeed the father of Dave's Emma. This only seemed to embarrass Monsieur Delacour for the embarrassment he had brought to Dave.

Dave's entire family on the other hand were profusely thanking him for his efforts. Going from the looks on the faces of my own boys I was sure that they were also appreciative of the efforts of Monsieur Delacour as they all (George particularly) looked like they were planning something 'suitably memorable' for Dave.

It was the second time that day that I began to feel sorry for poor Dave. But in the end my curiosity won out and I had to see what they would do to the poor boy. I also have to admit I was interested in what Dave's response would be also.

Dave, when you get to this part of the story I hope you can forgive me for not warning you about the plans of my boys. I know that you still get teased about this story, but it is only because we all love you so much. Besides your future bride still LOVES to hear the story retold and we can't disappoint her now can we my dear.

As to your rather unique response to their antics. Those stories have brought more joy and laughter to our family than you can know. Angelia nearly suffered an injury when she was told about what you did to poor George. Of course the photos provided by Ginny are among some of her most treasured possessions (although she does need to keep them out of the reach of George).


	22. Ginny's Introduction

As the next few chapters of this journal relate to some events that were either a little traumatic for my mum, or for events that occurred when she wasn't around. It was felt that I (along with some others later) would contribute to the next couple of chapters for her. Mum's memories of some of these events are a little shaky as well. She was either a little overwhelmed by them, or she was frequently quickly removed from the scene for reasons that should be obvious.

Writing this also gives me an opportunity to set the record straight with a certain cousin of mine around selected incidents that have made it into family 'lore' and 'legend'. The stories about me wearing my hair in curls or worse rollers, I was not involved. It would have been that oversized lump of a cousin of mine. Along with some other 'loving' family members.

Sure, various women in my family (I can think of one in particular) may claim he has many 'redeeming' qualities, but he can also be one of the most infuriating men known to woman kind. With the only possible exceptions being my own dear husband and his best mate my 'dear' brother Ron. Put those three together (or worse add in some of 'his' cousins, I'm talking about you Joseph) and any women who want to keep their sanity should just give up and leave the immediate area.

Ok, I will admit this person does have 'some' redeeming qualities that have enabled me and various other family members and friends to escape serious injury or harm (or worse). He occasionally (but only very occasionally) can be one of the sweetest people around as well. But that only serves to make him even more frustrating as it shows how well he can behave (well at least when his soon to be wife is around to keep him in line) when required.

As my mum, has pointed out already my own introduction to him got off to a rather bumpy start. But thankfully he offered me a 'reset' of our short relationship. In so many ways I am glad that I took that opportunity as we have both gained a great deal from it. Not the least of which is his friendship, love and support that he (and his family) have shown to me and the rest of my family over the years.

While I do still thoroughly enjoy teasing my cousin over the 'Paris Incident' and some similar ones since (I just can't understand what that boy's problem is with fashion/clothing in general) he isn't as bad as we all try to make him out to be. Sometimes he is even worse. But even with all of that I am grateful that he and his family are in the lives of mine.

I hope you enjoy our chapters here and who knows I might even contribute some more before this journal is over. As I know several good stories that took place at a certain school (namely some classes that didn't quite go to plan, or some detentions that ended up proving to be rather popular instead of a deterrent) which I don't think your bride to be knows about just yet.

Scared yet cuz? You should be, they are great stories.

I hope you all enjoy my memories of my newly discovered cousin and his family.

Ginny Potter.

P.S. Another word to the wise for my family, any time you hear of an incident or are shown a photograph of me in pink clothing ANY type of pink clothing I can solemnly swear it wasn't me. I don't care if Harry was spotted with me or photographed with me. IT WASN'T ME. My wardrobe has not, does not and never will contain any items of pink clothing. The blame for those events can be laid squarely at the oversized feet of a certain oversized cousin of mine. Along with my husband and youngest brother. I swear if it happens again I will HEX all three of them in public, I don't care who may be around as witnesses next time.


	23. First Lessons (Ginny's POV)

It goes without saying that the job of locating my 'missing' cousin fell to me. For some reason whenever that particular lump of a male disappears it seems to be my job to locate him. His sisters are much more capable of locating him quicker than me, but for some reason my mother always seems to select me for this job.

Another infuriating thing about him is that given his size you would be forgiven to believe that he would be easy to locate. The reverse seems to be the case though. He is usually located when you walk right into him or trip over him. That can also lead to some 'odd' situations, but more on that later.

On this particular day, I was looking for Dave as he had been 'dragged off' by a certain French Female for a 'discussion' of some sort. Given the determined look in her eyes as she left with him I was reasonably sure as to what form this 'discussion' would be taking. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to locating them if they were still in the middle of their 'discussion'.

With that thought upper most in my mind, I tried to make as much noise as was practical as I began my search of the orchard. While searching through the orchard I found my mind drifting back over the events of the past two days that had forever changed my world. It was a lot to take in and try to process.

I still had a hard time believing that I had tried to attack an Auror from behind. Even more unbelievable was his response to that attack and then afterwards his response to me. Given what I have since seen him (and other members of his team) do to others who tried similar attacks I know how truly lucky I was.

On top of that particular event was the attempted ambush on my family and then the way that everyone worked together to heal Gabrielle of her injuries. While I was rather irritated with her that day I certainly had no wish to see her get hurt like that. I found myself feeling very relieved when she was successfully healed. The way in which she was healed however had me questioning a lot of what I thought I knew about the nature of magic.

Sometimes I think the truly 'magical' thing about my newly discovered cousin (and the rest of his family) is how open they are, almost eager to share what they know about the various forms of magic. Once Kingsley had the English laws around sorcery sorted out they were also very happy to share that knowledge with us as well.

Many other people in the wizarding world would have hoarded the store of knowledge that Dave and his family possess and only begrudgingly share it with others.

This willingness to share and explain his knowledge and the obvious joy he gets from it. Especially when people truly comprehend what he is passing along, have lead me to one opinion about my cousin Dave. That despite all his obvious flaws and faults and bloody annoying tendencies, he is first and foremost a teacher. While Dave claims that Harry is a naturally gifted teacher who truly cares about his students and loves to see them grow and learn I would say that he also fits into this category.

I was about to experience this first hand as I conducted my search for him.

After coming up empty searching through the orchard I sat for a moment and thought about all the places that someone would head off to for some quality 'alone time'. It wasn't long before I thought of the pond. On the other side of the small dock that extends into the pond there is a rather cosy little depression in the ground at the base of a willow tree. This little depression is perfectly suited for two people to hide themselves in and be almost impossible to spot unless you are deliberately looking for them.

Gabrielle had found Harry and myself there just recently so it seemed logical that she would make use of it. Unknown to her though is another well sheltered spot not far from there where one can watch without being seen, if only you can sneak into it unobserved.

With this thought in my mind I set out for this spot to see if I could catch those two in a position that would be worthy of a little blackmail later on.

Getting myself into position I found that Dave and Gabrielle were indeed seated at the base of the willow tree. Gabrielle was located in her favourite seat (Dave's lap). While they were both obviously a little 'mussed up' from some earlier 'activities' they were indeed deep in conversation. I couldn't hear what they were discussing as some sort of privacy charm had been put into place around them. But from the wrapped expression on Gabrielle's face I could tell that she was greatly enjoying whatever the topic of the conversation was.

After watching for a few moments, I noticed that Dave seemed to be trying to teach Gabrielle something. As he was using some intricate hand movements to get his point across to her. Gabrielle would then take her new wand and point it at a stone or a small branch and then it would move a small way.

She would then put her wand down and concentrate on the same object that she had just moved. Sometimes the object she focused on would move as before, other times it would just twitch slightly. But the truly astonishing thing was, she had without a doubt been able to move objects near her without a wand in her hand. It wasn't clear if this was done through magic or sorcery though.

Regardless I found myself fascinated by what they were doing. I settled down to watch some more, careful to keep myself hidden.

You may no doubt be laughing at me already for my belief that I could observe an Auror undetected. Let's just say that Dave is very good at 'putting people where he wants them' especially when he is wanting to make a lesson out of something. If you don't believe me I invite you to try and sneak up on him when he doesn't want to be observed.

After Gabrielle, had completed whatever lesson she was working on with Dave. The topic of their conversation appeared to change to the trees that surrounded them. I found myself wondering what he could be teaching her about the trees surrounding the lake.

I found out what he was teaching her when I felt myself being grabbed from behind, picked up and turned upside down by something very hard and unyielding. Once my initial shock was over I realised that the tree I was sitting under had reached out and enfolded me in its branches. It was currently holding me a good two meters off the ground. To say that I was annoyed was a slight understatement.

This was only made worse by the very calm and even cheerful greeting I got from Dave.

"Would you look at that? We seem to have caught a Little Fireball." Dave said with that crooked smile of his.

"Hello there cuz. You are most welcome to join us if you wish. No need to hide over there at all." He said with that annoying smile of his. He wasn't even gloating at having caught me. He just seemed pleased with himself. Even Gabrielle seemed too happy to gloat as she waved for me to come and join them.

"It's a little difficult to join you when I'm tied up like this." I told him, while trying to remain calm.

"You know, you could be right about that." He replied and then the tree put me back on the ground (the right way up) in a surprisingly gentle manner.

I was all ready to go over there and give him a piece of my mind about his behaviour. But they were both so genuine in their invitation that I found myself wanting to know what they had been so happily discussing.

Once I was back on my own feet and had straightened out my clothes I walked over to them and sat down opposite them. "So what have you two been so happily discussing here all this time?" I asked with an arch little.

"Non-verbal communication." Dave replied with a very straight face. Although Gabrielle had a shy little smile that she couldn't quite hide.

"Oh is that's what it's called 'down under' is it?" I tried to see if I could get him to crack first. I didn't realise at the time that they indeed had been working on non-verbal communication. As it is apparently a very common ability for those with sorcerous abilities. Unfortunately for me I didn't realise it at this point in time and I was only going to be digging myself in deeper as the conversation went on.

"I think it is known as that just about everywhere." Dave answered still with that deceptively straight face of his (I hadn't yet learnt to read his face as well as I can now).

"Would you like me to demonstrate with you?" he asked with a raised eyebrow while he leaned in towards me. Gabrielle seemed to understand what Dave was talking about as she had a sly little smile. This caused me to become a little worried as I was thinking that I was being out manoeuvred somehow.

It was only when I realised that I was blushing did I understand just how well he had managed to out manoeuver me.

"Ah no thanks. I'm good." I replied in a futile attempt to cover my blushing before they both had a good laugh at my expense.

After they recovered, Dave explained that they had indeed been previously practising some non-verbal communication. This involved 'throwing' or 'casting' your thoughts to the other person and then replying in kind.

Now I understood why he had could keep such a straight face. As he had indeed been telling the truth. Boggarts.

"So what were you trying to do with the stones while I was watching you?" I asked with my curiosity getting the better of me. Yes, I know that I had forgotten that I had been sent to collect Dave and Gabrielle. But we will get to that.

"I was beginning to explain to Gabrielle how to enhance her movement with magic. Much like I did when I caught your Hex yesterday." Dave answered.

That had my full and immediate attention as I was VERY curious as to how he had managed that.

"How do you enhance your movements?" I asked.

"Fundamentally it is a very simple idea. It is the execution of that idea where it gets complicated." Dave explained.

"Have you ever noticed how when you cast a spell that the magic seems to flow from and through you?" he asked me.

I must have given him a rather blank stare as he smiled back at me and said, "Don't worry not many people do notice it unless they are specifically concentrating on it."

Dave proceeded to repeat the lesson he had been working on with Gabrielle. It involved casting a very simple spell, but doing it very slowly and lightly. The object being trying to feel the magical energy move through your body.

Eventually I could begin to feel something. It was like a very light tickle almost like 'pins and needles' and it seemed to flow from the middle of me down my arm to my wand and then out through my wand only to push over the stone which I had my wand pointed at.

Dave must have been watching me as he seemed to recognise when I could notice this. Once I could feel the energy move through me he got me to see if I could do it without a wand. Then when I could to try and hold the energy for a short time before releasing it through my wand once more. This proved to be a harder task. I was still working on this when I noticed Dave sit up and look around.

"We are about to have visitors." He advised.

"Visitors?" I asked.

"The golden trio" he answered with a smile.

"Should we welcome them as we, did to you?" He asked me with a crooked grin.

"Sounds fair to me." I replied returning his grin.

Dave closed his eyes as he said it enabled him to 'see' them better. He seemed to be waiting for something but eventually he smiled. When he did so, I thought that I could faintly hear and almost feel something leave him and move over to the small dock and then beyond. I was about to mention this when Gabrielle spoke,

"What was zat?" she asked Dave.

"What was what?" he asked her with a knowing grin.

"I felt somezing from you. It moved zat way." She said pointing to the small dock.

"Yes and it made a funny sort of sound as well." I added.

"Did it indeed?" he asked me with that same annoying grin.

"The two of you may be more talented than you both realise. But we will speak more on that later."

"Let's check on our guests, shall we?" he offered.

A little reluctantly I got up along with Gabrielle and Dave and we walked over to the small dock. Once we reached it we could see the results of Dave's greeting.

The sight before us was VERY amusing. I couldn't help but break out into a smile and laugh at it.

Poor Harry had been grabbed from behind by a large willow tree and was now held very securely against its trunk. Ron and Hermione had been pinned together by the same willow tree and were now securely wrapped in its branches facing each other but also hanging upside down.

Hermione was struggling with trying to be mad at the situation, but also trying not to laugh because of Ron's antics. Apparently, his struggles to free them were rather ticklish to her.

"Hello all." Dave called out.

"Were you looking for us by any chance? Or are you just out enjoying the woods?" he asked in that annoying casual voice he has. I more clearly understood his enjoyment at catching me before after watching the faces of the golden trio.

"Let me… Us down. Now. Dave" Ron was bellowing.

"You seem to be a little worked up Ron. Whatever is the matter?" Dave asked him.

"I thought you would have enjoyed some 'together time' with Hermione?"

At this both Harry and I burst out laughing at the comments coming from Ron and the laughter now emanating from Hermione as the tickling from Ron's movements finally got too much for her.

Dave and Gabrielle were both smiling broadly and fighting against their own laughter. "Should we release Harry first? He seems to be the most composed." Dave asked.

"Ok I agreed. But I would like to try something first, if I may?" I asked Dave with a smirk on my face. He must have caught my meaning as he indicated I should go ahead with my plan.

I walked over to Harry with a rather evil grin on my face and I could see his own worry grow the closer I got.

"Gin? What are you up to?" He was almost begging. I didn't answer, I just added a bit more evil into my grin.

Once I reached him I began to tickle his stomach. Solely to prove an earlier idea I had, not for any ulterior motive I must admit. Well maybe not completely.

My earlier suspicions proved to be correct as Harry was soon laughing almost hysterically, while trying to call me all sorts of names at the same time. I let him calm down and then soundly kissed him by way of an apology (of sorts).

While I was kissing Harry, Dave decided to release him from the embrace of the tree. As I felt Harry's kiss change to a grin as he quickly grabbed me and started to tickle my own stomach. He knew dam well how ticklish I am there and he was also taking full advantage of his stronger grip as well.

Remembering the earlier demonstration from Dave (against Ron) I tried the same technique on Harry and to my surprise it worked. His momentary surprise was all I needed to take off and start running through the orchard trying to escape from him.

Dave must have let Ron and Hermione down at around the same time as I recall them begin to bicker about whose fault it was that they got caught.

None of us noticed Dave and Gabrielle head back to that little depression near the Willow together. I think that might have been part of his devious plan all along. As he can be a sneaky bugger when he wants to be.

Eventually we all remembered that we had been sent into the orchard to collect some certain individuals. So we trouped back to the Willow tree where I was very sure we would find them.

Find them we did indeed. They were happily snuggled together once more talking together quietly and exchanging kisses on a rather frequent schedule.

"Decided to stop playing amongst yourself and come and join us have you?" Dave asked with his face alight with mischief.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asked him. I should have guessed that would be the first thing out of her mouth. A question.

"Until Kingsley gets the laws changed here I'm afraid that I can't tell you that."

"But I can say that Harry nearly got away. Did you feel the 'spell' hit the tree?" Dave asked him.

"I don't know if I felt it, but I definitely heard something." Harry answered.

"So did your little lady here." Dave answered.

"Looks like you both have some latent abilities near the surface." Dave said approvingly. "It shouldn't take much work to get you both to better recognise them."

Both Harry and I had smiles on our faces at this news. For some reason learning these new skills seemed VERY intriguing and important to me.

"So what have you all be been doing here all this time." Ron asked.

"Non-verbal communication." I said before I could help myself and then collapsed into laughter at the looks on their faces. In my defence Dave and Gabrielle also were laughing along.

"Sorry, it was a location joke. You had to be there." I replied.

"Dave was showing Gabrielle and me how to better feel our magical energies so we can 'enhance our movements'. Is that correct?" I asked him.

"Very well put Little Fireball" Dave said with his own smirk showing. "Would you all like to try it?" he asked.

They all readily agreed eagerly.

In a very short time we were all trying to nudge our small stones from the log in front of us. Harry was the first one amongst us to be able to briefly hold his magical energy before releasing it.

Gabrielle managed it next and then Hermione and I achieved it. It was a very strange but rather pleasant feeling.

Ron seemed to be struggling with it a bit. Dave had to 'bribe' Gabrielle to once more vacate his lap so he could go over to Ron and help him. He put his hands on Ron's shoulders and asked him to relax, then he began to massage Ron's shoulders to get him to unclench them.

As soon as he relaxed his shoulders he was able to briefly hold his energy before releasing it. The look on his face was priceless.

"The next part of the process is to release the energy that you are holding into the muscles of your arm. Not out through your wand."

"The reason we do this with such a small amount of energy is that if you use too much your muscles will tear themselves apart."

"That isn't a fun experience. Trust me." He added with a rueful smile.

He next summoned a small branch to him. This then hung in mid-air as he turned that crooked branch into a perfectly straight, round and smooth bit of timber.

We were all fascinated watching this. Harry even more so as he had not seen Dave work with the metal yesterday.

Soon the branch was the size that Dave seemed to require it to be. It would have been almost as long, as he was tall. He next looked around for some green leaves which he gathered together and wrapped them around the piece of timber that he had just made.

Soon these leaves were made into a padded handle (for want of a better term) that could slide up and down the length of the timber rod that he had just made.

Dave set the padded handle in motion and it was soon moving up and down the rod quite quickly.

"The object of this exercise is to grab the puck or the handle when it is directly in front of you. At the moment, it is moving just fast enough that 'normal' human reflexes will not be quick enough to grab it. The puck is also soft enough and has sufficient cushioning charms on it so that if you miss you will not be injured by it."

"The hardest part of this exercise is to consciously control your muscles. As at the start it is just like learning how to walk. You need to consciously order your muscles to move and the magical energy to move into them."

"Practise this now. Consciously think about the major muscle groups that you need to move to lift your arms and grab something."

We must have been a strange sight all siting there concentrating on moving our own arms and hands to try and grab an imaginary object in front of us.

"The key is to make your movement as smooth and 'graceful' as possible. The smoother you can make your movement the faster you will be eventually be." He said with a smile.

After another 30min or so of this exercise we were all starting to complain of sore arms.

"Excellent." Dave answered our complaints. "That means we are ready for the next part." He said with a grin. I now know that Dave has the soul of a Drill Sergeant at times. When he is teaching, no one not even his bride to be gets to cut corners.

"We will try this one at a time. I will go first. Watch me not only with your eyes, but with your other scenes as well. See if you can detect the energy flowing through my arm. I will try to be a bit more obvious than usual to try and make it easier for you."

"Ready?" he asked us. We all answered that we were.

Dave then took a breath and watched the puck moving up and down the stick. His hand just shot out and grabbed the puck on the first try. Even though I had seen him move like this yesterday I was still surprised by it.

The rest of us were also suitably impressed.

"Did you see what I did?" Dave asked.

"That was amazing." Harry exclaimed. "It would be a huge advantage in Quidditch to be able to move like that." He said a little wistfully.

"I'm not sure about the rules here, but back home this is banned in professional and school sports. There is also a cost to being able to move like this." He explained.

"Cost?" Hermione asked.

"Yes all magic has a 'price' or 'cost' to it. Mostly as in the case here it is just energy expenditure. You can move much quicker than 'normal' but it also take a bit more than 'normal' out of you."

"For this reason it is best used for brief spurts of speed only. Not for extended periods of time."

"For longer periods of time there are other techniques that can be used."

"One 'side effect' of being able to move like this is the development of more 'efficient', 'smoother' or even 'graceful' movement. This translates into movement that is overall measurably faster even under normal conditions." He explained.

"Who would like to try first?"

Harry was the keenest to try it next, so we let him have a go at it first.

"Just relax and make your assessment on when you should make your grab. It might take a few goes to get used to the speed difference." Dave tried to explain.

Harry's first go was so very very close. He just caught the tail end of the puck. But you could see from the look in his eye that he was pleased with himself.

His second go was even closer. On his third try he caught it cleanly. The smile on his face just melted my heart. I could tell that the smile on Dave's face was having a similar effect on Gabrielle as well.

"Excellent work." Dave said grinning ear to ear, "How does your arm feel?" he asked.

"Tired." Harry replied.

"That is very normal. It takes a god deal of practise to get your body used to this sort of enhancement. So it is a good idea to work on it slowly, only small amounts at a time."

"Who would like to try next?" Dave asked looking around at us.

"I would." I told him optimistically.

Harry and I quickly changed places and I found myself in front of the training device. My first 3 attempts while close were not as close as Harry's first one. I was starting to get a bit stressed. At this point I noticed Dave whispering to Harry. Just when I was about to snap at them both for distracting me I felt Harry lean in and whisper in my own ear.

He whispered encouragement to me. I closed my eyes and just listened to his voice. After a few moments, I opened my eyes and looked at the puck moving up and down the rod.

I only remember thinking about grabbing it and then my hand was around it holding it securely.

For a moment or two I couldn't believe what I was seeing. But it was definitely in my hand. When I looked up I could see Harry grinning like a mad man. Ron also looked impressed, Hermione was happy as well.

Dave had a smug little smile on his face like he knew I could do it and I only had to prove it to myself. I couldn't help it I returned his grin.

"Well done." Was all he said, "Who wants the next go?" he asked.

"Moi" was the answer.

So, Gabrielle and I swapped places and she studied the moving puck. Her first attempt was so very close we all let out a little groan at how close it was. Her second attempt caught it securely. She was obviously delighted with her achievement. As she launched herself at Dave and covered him in kisses. He didn't seem to mind though.

While she was attacking Dave, Hermione stepped up to the device. Like me she missed on her first three attempts. Dave repeated the technique he used on me. After extracting himself from Gabrielle he got Ron to whisper encouragement and calming thoughts to Hermione.

After listening for a moment or two she caught it on her next try. Her smile and giggles were infectious. We were all soon giggling just like she was.

Ron was the next one to try. The annoying git caught it on his first try. The look of delight and surprise on his face caught me completely by surprise and I just collapsed into hysterical laughter. Hermione also seemed to enjoy the look on his face as well. She certainly didn't complain about the kisses he bestowed on her.

"I'm impressed with you all." Dave remarked after Ron and Hermione had come up for air. "Not many people manage to catch the puck that soon."

"What you all just managed to do today didn't involve any new fundamental skills. Just using skills you already possessed, only in a slightly different way."

"That is the true object of this lesson. It isn't what you have. But how you use it that makes the biggest difference." He said while beaming at us all.

"When we get back make sure you all have a good drink of water and have something to eat. Ideally something with some protein in it as your muscles just had a good work out."

"But very well done to you all." He said still smiling. The joy that he had on his face was infectious. This was also before Gabrielle came over and hugged and kissed him thoroughly again.

"So that's what you have all been doing." Came a voice from the dock.

Looking up we noticed George and Charlie standing on the dock looking at us all with an amused expression on their faces.

"Interesting training technique you have there Dave." George said with a smirk.

"Can anyone learn that?" he asked.

"Well, Ginny managed to." Dave answered with his own smirk at George.

Without thinking I struck out to hit him in the arm. Only to cry out myself as I hurt my wrist again on the bloody dense slab of meat that is his upper arm. To add insult to injury he just looked at me with that questioning look he has and remarked.

"You do remember what I told you yesterday don't you?"

Before he held my wrist for me and once again fixed it.

"Yes I do actually." I replied before clipping him over the back of the head. This seems to be the safest way to belt Dave, as while his head might be the densest part of him it is also the softest to actually hit.

"Once you all have finished playing over there." George remarked, "Ivan and Kingsley have requested the presence of a certain Australian Auror who seemed to need two rescue parties sent after him."

"Now while they might not be French Police Women they were all we had easily to hand." He said with a massive grin (Charlie was also thoroughly enjoying himself). Dave on the other hand was laying on the ground groaning about female family members who can't keep information to themselves.

Gabrielle was 'required' to administer a few rounds of 'medicinal affection' to get Dave to sit back up.

George and Charlie were still grinning like mad men over on the dock.

"They also requested that he bring his badge with him as it is time for him to earn his keep." George replied in a more serious tone of voice that immediately caught Dave's attention.

He soon had us all up on our feet heading back to the rest of the family.


	24. Finances and Contracts

Arriving back at where the tables were still setup with my family gathered around I noticed a good number of smirks and giggles directed at Dave. He however seemed to have resigned himself to this (especially from his team) as he seemed 'happy' to grin and bear it.

This approach made me more than a little curious, it was only later that I found out his reasoning for it. After learning the reasoning for his approach I started to see why he had the fearsome reputation that he does in various circles. More on that to come. Sorry George, but for 'historical accuracy' it does need to be told.

Having Gabrielle holding his hand also seemed to make him impervious (or oblivious) to what was going on around him. The exception being the looks he was getting from his parents.

While they were showing obvious signs of laughing very hard recently (they were still wiping the tears away when I was asked to locate Dave) they both now had very serious looking expressions on their faces.

Dave sat down opposite his parents. He was a little surprised, but pleased when Gabrielle again sat in his lap. But I was a little surprised/worried that Dave's sisters were now either side of him. I got the feeling that something was up.

"We were starting to get the feeling that another search party would be required to locate you to." Sandra said with a smirk showing through her straight face.

"Yes, I get the feeling that recent events requiring rescue parties for me have been under discussion here." Dave answered giving his mum a rather direct look.

"Events that could potentially affect our relations with other countries do need to be 'carefully' discussed. Don't you agree dear?" Sandra asked her husband.

"Absolutely." He replied with only the faintest of smiles, "Your poor sister has been having to put in a lot of overtime with our French Liaison Officer recently. In an attempt to smooth over a recent event. I'm sure what we have just discussed was the cause of it." He answered still with a straight face.

"Don't be too concerned for Shelly dad. She enjoys 'working' under him." Dave said with only the slightest trace of a smirk. But this was more than enough for his mum to pick up on. I could see her eyes light up as she learnt this new piece of information about one of her children.

This slip on Dave's part seemed to have been very carefully calculated also. His dad may have missed the signal but his mum caught it. I started to find myself wondering what form Shelly's revenge would be on her brother once she found out about his 'accidental' slip.

Or what it would be worth to him for my silence. As I did remember his advice about the need for blackmail material in his family.

"That may be. But we do need to keep up good relations with the French." Ivan explained as Gabrielle's smile grew more than it should have.

"They are providing a great deal of support for our operations in this part of the world."

"I will do what I can to make sure that they are kept happy dad." Dave replied with only the slightest glance and smirk at Gabrielle. She seemed to have caught both of them as she smiled back and blushed slightly.

"Glad to hear it son. They can be a handful at times, but in the long run it is definitely worth while keeping them happy." Ivan answered as he grabbed a pile of folders that were next to him.

In doing so he completely missed the looks exchanged between Gabrielle and Dave. I'm very sure they were planning on doing their utmost to maintain good 'international relations' as well.

Fleur seemed to have caught the exchanges between them as well. She also seemed to be approving of what she was seeing. This surprised me a little, I wondered why she was so openly accepting of Gabrielle's and Dave's obviously growing affection for one another.

Was it because Dave was so much closer to Gabrielle in terms of age? Or was there something there that she could see or know that I was missing.

Those of you who have read the earlier chapters will indeed know what piece of the puzzle I was missing at the time. So we will leave it there shall we?

"Earlier today we spoke of the goals of this deployment." As Ivan said this I could see Kingsley, Dad and Mum sit up more and take a much keener interest in this conversation.

"While some of the main goals are indeed going to be the; rebuilding and retraining of the much depleted Auror Department here along with the continued search to the various 'Ledgers' to help those currently under our care."

"There is another much more personal goal of this deployment that is going to need our attention." Ivan said while fixing him with a very intense look that seemed to be conveying a great deal of information.

"This is connected to the ambush that we found yesterday, isn't it?" Dave replied calmly returning his dad look.

"You have identified the intended target. Haven't you."

"Indeed, we have Dave. Indeed, we have."

"Well who is it?" Dave asked.

Ivan glanced over to my parents and Dave followed. "It's me Dave." Mum answered in a small voice.

I was looking directly at Dave's face when she told him. I could actually see it change from that of my cousin into the professional Auror that he was. It was like one of those muggle switches had been thrown. However, it quickly reverted to my cousin once more. He looked directly into mum's eyes to offer her his assurances that he wouldn't let harm come to her.

"We will all have your back, Aunty Molly." Dave said to mum with his eyes showing the resolve behind that statement. Mum picked up on both the spoken and unspoken messages as she started to smile back at Dave. Dad also caught the meanings as he had a grateful smile for Dave also.

My brothers and Harry were showing support for Dave's statements as well. I would bet that they would be willing accomplices in any plans that were made.

Dave turned back to his father after taking note of the expressions around him.

"Personal or Professional?" Dave asked his father in overly calm voice.

"A little bit of both Dave." Ivan answered carefully watching Dave.

"Explain." Dave requested.

"A professional contract has been offered but for personal reasons." Ivan explained.

"By who"

"Rodolphus Lestrange." Ivan answered in a voice that seemed to hint he was expecting trouble. "He has placed the contract because Molly killed his wife in a duel at the Battle of Hogwarts recently."

Several things seemed to happen all at once. Gabrielle suddenly had a rather surprised look on her face as she felt the rush of 'goose pimples' across Dave's arm and his neck.

At the same time, Dave's eyes almost seemed to ignite with a cold blue flame. For a moment, there I would have sworn that there were actual blue flames rising out of his eyes. There also seemed to be a golden ripple that ran across his body as though something long hidden had finally started to stir.

The most frightening thing however was the sudden drop in the temperature. The day had been a beautifully warm spring day and we were all in light clothing. But right now, I was beginning to wonder where my snow gear was as I was feeling a definite need for it.

To my surprise, I realised that Dave seemed to be the cause of this sudden drop in temperature. As the angrier he became the colder it got. Gabrielle had come to the same conclusion as well, as she started to run her fingers through the hair on the back of Dave's head, while whispering something to him. I'm not sure how she figured that out but I am very glad she did, as her actions seemed to have a very strong calming influence on Dave.

A few moments were all it took for Gabrielle to dilute Dave's anger enough that the temperature started to return to where it should be for a lovely spring day. Eventually Dave seemed to have calmed enough that he could regain control of his emotions. With a thankful look to Gabrielle he continued.

"That blockhead! You're sure?" Dave remarked with some surprise. Seeing the confirming nod from his father Dave sat back in his chair. "We have had him marked as a key 'person of interest' with regards to several sets of ledgers that we have been tracking also." He commented.

"Rules?" he asked with a calculating look at his father.

"The usual ones for now." Ivan reminded him.

Dave seemed a little disappointed in this reply. "Are we working with the British Ministry on this one?" was his next question.

Ivan looked to Kingsley for his response,

"Yes you will be. We will be willing to lend you and your team any support that we can." Kingsley answered.

"Makes a nice change." Dave said to Kingsley with that familiar smile of his. Kingsley returned it.

"If we have official sanction for this action then I suggest we take advantage of some dubious laws that the previous administration brought in." Dave began with an evil looking smile.

"What do you have in mind Dave?" Ivan asked him with an evil glint coming into his own eyes.

"Going by what we faced yesterday I'm sure that they are not offering chicken feed." He asked.

"Correct the bounty is Five Million Galleons." Ivan replied.

"Ok then. Given it is something substantial, we should leverage certain financial laws while they are still on the books." Dave explained.

"Such as?" Kingsley asked.

"One of the rules brought in by the previous administration gives the Minister of Magic the ability to freeze all family related funds of any individual who carries out any acts deemed by the Minister to be against the best interests of the ministry." Dave explained as his grin just got bigger and bigger.

"I'm reasonably confident that the current Minister 'might' find this act against the Ministries current interests?" Dave enquired of Kingsley.

"You could VERY safely assume that yes Dave." Kingsley replied.

"Just how far reaching is this law you mention?" He enquired.

"Minister, I'm afraid it has extremely far reaching powers that could cause all sorts of economic hardship for families at which it is targeted." Dave replied with manufactured concern.

"We would need to hope that the government wouldn't overstep its authority and fully implement it." Dave answered with vast insincerity and a wink to Kingsley.

"Oh dear." Kingsley replied, "That is cause for concern. We will have to hope that the current government will use its 'best judgement' in the matter at hand."

"Just what sort of worries do you have for the families that 'may' be targeted by this law?" he asked with his eyes afire with curiosity.

"Well Minister, it could allow for the seizure of the assets of the ENTIRE Lestrange family." Dave said with a manufactured look of concern.

"What a shame" Kingsley replied while taking notes, "Please do go on."

"The seizure of their funds would only be the begging of their troubles I'm afraid." Dave said with even more 'concern' showing.

"How so?" Was Kingsley's reply.

"Well, the way that the law is written it states that to regain access to their funds the family so targeted would need to satisfy ALL of the governments 'concerns' about the past and potential future use of the funds in question."

"Just what sorts of 'concerns' are listed in this law?" Kingsley enquired.

"Well going from the original copy that we 'borrowed' from the Ministry the section covering the governments list of concerns is actually blank. There is a note saying that the concerns are to be defined by the serving minister at the time of the law being applied to a specific family." Dave answered with only the slightest hint of a smile.

"That's just scandalous." Kingsley replied with mock shock.

"Do you still have a copy of this law you speak of?" Kingsley requested.

"Well, now that you mention it Minister. I do believe I know where there is a copy of it being held 'for safe keeping'." Dave replied.

"However, to gain access to it would require the authorisation of a certain Minister of Magic from a country on the other side of the globe."

"Given the odds of a representative of that Government being available and willing to cooperate the likely hood of it being accessible is rather low." Dave said with a wink to his father.

"You mean this law scroll?" Ivan asked as he held up a rather official looking scroll and handed it to Kingsley.

"Oh dear. I have never been so disappointed in government red tape in all my life." Kingsley said with a straight face as he looked over the scroll.

"It does indeed carry all sorts of nasty provisions in it doesn't it." He said with a chuckle coming through.

"The space set aside for those 'concerns' you were so worried about is rather limited." Kingsley said a little disappointed.

"I see Minister. Well that is a hope that may protect the families targeted by this law. We would need to hope that the original doesn't fall into the hands of a world class 'document specialist' now won't we."

"Izzy. I'm sure you can advise the Minister on just the sort of people who shouldn't be around this copy of the scroll now can't you?"

"Given that you currently happen to have nothing scheduled for tomorrow." Dave asked with a wink.

"For certain skipper. I would be happy to assist the Minister with his 'concerns'." Izzy answered with a perfectly straight face.

"You have my most humble thanks." Dave answered.

"We wouldn't want this sort of law to fall into the 'wrong' hands and cause ALL sorts of mischief, now wouldn't we?" Dave said just as he lost his struggle to keep a straight face.

"Your concern for the welfare of our citizens warms my heart." Kingsley replied with his own grin.

"Just how straight forward is it for such a horrible law to be enacted." Kingsley questioned Dave.

"I do believe that the only thing currently protecting any targeted families from this law is the signature of the current Minister of Magic. As the Full Wizengamot has already signed it." Dave said 'worriedly'.

"That is very worrisome." Kingsley answered.

"Another concern that I have around that law is that certain financial specialists of a rather short stature might be called in. To lend their particular expertise to tracing the past and current patterns of expenditure from the family accounts in question."

"As they tend to be rather tenacious in following money trails. Especially considering the incentives offered to them by that particular law."

"We would need to hope that no representatives from a financial organisation with access to those sorts of specialists arranges for them to be available to a government willing to make use of their services." Dave said with only the slightest of glances to Bill.

Bill for his part was starting to smile very broadly as he understood just what Dave was trying 'not to' imply to Kingsley.

"That would be cause for concern yes." Kingsley replied.

"Bill I'm sure you can provide some advice on just who shouldn't be made aware of this law?" Kingsley requested.

"I'd be happy to." Bill said not even trying to hide his grin.

Having seen that grin on Bill before I'm sure he would locate every forensic accountant that Gringotts had.

"Excellent, now that we have taken care of that particularly troublesome law. We probably should discuss worrisome Press releases that may be printed if it was ever put into effect." Dave said with an almost childlike delight.

"Can you imagine what further hardship could be bestowed on any family targeted by such a law?"

"Especially if ALL their business partners and contractors were suddenly made aware that they were not going to be getting their Money for a VERY long time. Or that they could have any recently paid sums seized by co-operative governments."

"I mean any such 'hiring arrangements' or 'investments' that they tried to put into action would just fall apart." Dave said with worry all over his face.

"The only thing more concerning than that would be if the international papers were made aware of the 'plight' of this particular family. Along with any of their past business partners or contractors." Dave remarked to Monsieur Delacour with a wink. Monsieur Delacour for his part played the 'shocked' conspirator very well.

"Although an offer of immunity (or access to money owed) in exchange for actionable information might encourage certain people to become more 'helpful'?" Dave said trying to appear innocent (and failing very badly).

Kingsley turned and regarded Dave with a very approving look.

"I may have mentioned it before but I have been reading through your file that was provided to me. In which it is mentioned many times just how dangerous various criminal organisations (and Governments) consider you to be Dave."

"Going from your actions over here and this latest display from you I can honestly say that I think they have significantly underestimated you and just how dangerous and effective you truly are."

"I am certainly very pleased and comforted that you are on our side." Kingsley said with genuine sincerity. Mum, Dad and the rest of us indicated our agreement with Kingsley in his statement also.

"Thank you Minister and to the rest of you also. I try to make myself useful as best I can." Dave answered with an embarrassed smile.

"My team are a very large part of the reason that I have been able to accomplish what I have. So they are more than deserving of that praise also." Dave said with a grateful look over at his team. I could clearly see their appreciation of his comments written across their faces at his acknowledgement of them in front of both the Ministers.

The reasons for the bonds between this group of Aurors was becoming much clearer.

"There is more to this method than just a desire to make life difficult on the Lestrange family Minister." Dave explained.

"Just about all criminals have a finely tuned sense of a RISK / REWARD balance when they consider a job."

"If we can significantly upset that balance by altering one of those items we are going to be giving ourselves an advantage. In this case, I'm planning on altering both of those items."

"My hope is to make this contract so unpalatable to any 'traditional' criminals or assassins that it will in turn be offered to the 'non-traditional' ones." He said grinning.

"How does it help us if the contract is offered to 'non-traditional' criminals?" Arthur asked.

"It helps us because the only 'non-traditional' criminals currently capable of successfully handling such a public contract are employed by various governments." Dave answered.

"Of the top 10 in that area, 6 of them 'work' for governments who are signatories to the Australasian Auror service. Of those 4 of them are me."

"I think I can be confident in saying that Molly has nothing to fear from me." Dave said smiling at mum and she returned it gratefully.

"The other two belong to people who report to the New Zealand Minister and are also related to a rather scruffy looking Kiwi sitting at the end of the table." Dave said looking over to Jono.

"I'm sure Jono and the Kiwi Minister can prevail on her to not accept this job as well. Can't you?" Dave said with a smile.

"That might be possible" Jono replied with a smile.

"What about the other 4?" Arthur asked.

"Well unless things have drastically changed one of them works for the French Ministry. One for the Spanish Ministry and two for the German Ministry."

"Now if a certain Minister were to authorise a certain Drunken Mouse to put out feelers to those Governments (who owe us for successfully extracting their entire diplomatic personal and their families by the way) I feel that the chances of them providing their co-operation might be better than average?" He said smiling at Kingsley and Ivan.

"I do believe that could be arranged." Ivan said to Dave.

"How does a non-traditional criminal work?" Hermione asked Dave.

"In a few ways. Most commonly, instead of being paid in Galleons or gold, we are paid in something more significant.' Dave answered.

"Information." He answered seeing Hermione's questioning look.

"Ah I see." She replied, "I could see how that could be useful."

"At other times, we are bidding for the work only to secure a meeting with the person who wishes to hire us. The purpose of the meeting being so that we can capture and arrest them." Dave explained.

"Do we have any more information on this contract at all?" Dave asked.

"Yes we do." Ivan answered handing over the pile of folders. "That pile contains dossiers on the most active assassins in Europe. We currently are checking the cover legends for assassins working for us and other friendly countries in our region. We are also making enquiries around Europe to see who this contract has been offered to."

"Once the Lestrange family assets are frozen we believe that the only serious takers will be governments or someone with a personal agenda who isn't interested in financial reward." Ivan explained to his Dave.

Dave listened to his father and then pulled the pile of folders towards him. I expected him to begin reading them, however he did something rather different.

He closed his eyes and put his hand to the cover of each folder briefly and then began sorting them into piles. Very soon he had 3 piles of folders.

"That pile on the far left are already all in jail." He said in a rather offhand tone to Ivan.

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked showing a very confused look.

"Because 80% of them are in jails at our safe houses around the globe. The others were handed over to friendly governments and then thrown in jail." Dave asked in a rather calm manner.

"No I mean, how do you know who is mentioned in those files? As you didn't read them." She remarked.

"No I didn't read them. I didn't need to." Dave said very matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean you didn't need to read them? Did they just tell you what was in them?" she asked with her irritation growing.

"Something very much like that yes." Dave answered.

"That doesn't make any sense David. How can a report tell you what is in it?" Hermione almost demanded.

"It's called the summary and index spell." Dave said a little surprised at the passion in Hermione's statement. "It tells you the main subject of the book, scroll, report etc.… that you are touching. With practice, you can even search on multiple topics with each use."

"The what?" She replied, "I have never heard of such a spell."

"Just because you haven't heard of a particular spell doesn't mean it doesn't exist Hermione. This particular spell is a very common one, almost an everyday type of spell in certain professions." Dave tried to explain.

"What professions?" she asked almost indignantly.

"Librarians." Dave answered very calmly.

At this point I just had to laugh at the expression on Hermione's face. Ron and Harry also were also trying mightily to keep straight faces in support of their friend.

The thought that there was an apparently 'easy' spell that would greatly speed up searching in the library for information seemed to have an almost orgasmic effect on Hermione. The fact that she hadn't known about this spell before now seemed to be inducing the opposite effect at the same time. The struggle between these two forces was very entertaining to watch.

"Does it work on any written documents?" Kingsley asked.

"Provided you can read the language that it is written in yes. It seems to work on any written documents. Not so much good on stone carvings though for some reason." Dave replied.

"And it is a common spell for Librarians you say?" Kingsley asked again while Hermione was trying to come to terms with this new information.

"Yes Librarians, archivists, researchers even accountants make use of it frequently."

"Certainly, the Aurors in our service both the local one and the Australasian one routinely use it. As it greatly speeds up searching for information. Given enough practise with it you don't even need to touch the book you are searching."

"Someone like Izzy can stand at the front of a library cast the spell and basically walk straight up to the book or scroll that she is after." Dave explained to us all.

Hermione made a painful groaning noise and then buried her head in her hands. At one point, I thought that she was going to cry as she thought back over all the time she spent searching in the Hogwarts library.

"Is it a difficult spell to learn?" Kingsley asked while he looked at Hermione with a worried expression.

"No, it is a very simple spell actually. Especially when used on books one at a time. To use it without making contact that is when it becomes complicated." Dave answered to even more groans from Hermione.

"You seem to be in some distress Hermione. Would you like Andrea to examine you and find the cause of it for you?" Dave asked innocently.

"I know the cause of my distress David." Hermione said looking up. "It's you."

"Me?" Dave asked in surprise.

"Do you know how many hours, days, and weeks I have spent in the library looking for information?" Hermione exclaimed. "Only to find out now that there is a much simpler way to locate it." She said starting to get frustrated.

"Nope. Not at all." Dave answered, bravely I thought considering how worked up Hermione was getting.

"AAARRRRGGGHHHH!" she screamed. "Men! Why are you all so bloody frustrating" she exclaimed to the general amusement of everyone gathered.

Dave was watching Hermione with a kind of confused amusement.

"I take it then that you never asked your school's librarian if there was a simpler way to search for the information that you were seeking." He asked.

"Just shut up David and teach me the spell." Hermione exclaimed. "Otherwise I'm going to have to kill you."

"You will need to take a number and stand in line for that one Hermione I'm afraid." Dave replied with a strange little smile. His comment however gave us all a little insight into his world.

"The spell David." She said giving him a very direct and angry look.

"It doesn't work when you are angry Hermione, it requires a calm mind to function." He tried to explain.

Hermione next pulled her wand and pointed it at Dave. She looked about ready to Hex poor 'little' Dave. Still looking completely relaxed Dave simply opened his hand and Hermione's wand flew directly to it.

"It also doesn't need a wand. Librarians often have their hands full with books you see." He said very calmly.

The rest of us were however very surprised and a little alarmed at how quickly and easily he had removed Hermione's wand from her. Hermione also was brought to her censes by this little demonstration.

"Please?" She asked with an almost genuine pleading look.

"If you wish. The incantation is; 'Notitia Revelare' it is performed non-verbally. As librarians, don't usually like talking in their establishments."

This seemed to kick off a hysterical fit of giggling for Hermione. I don't know what she found so funny with that statement. But I do know that I was getting a great deal of entertainment out of watching her.

Dave handed Hermione's wand over to Ron, "Maybe you should hold onto this for her until she regains a measure of control." He said still looking at Hermione with an amused expression.

"Probably a good idea." Ron agreed placing Hermione's wand alongside his own inside his jacket.

"What about the other piles Dave?" Ivan asked.

"This middle pile are the 'non-traditional' criminals for the French, Spanish and German governments. As I said before if we reach out to them I'm very confident that they will agree to help."

"The last pile?" Ivan asked with interest.

"This pile are the troublesome ones." Dave answered thoughtfully.

"One of these people I'm reasonably sure is a Russian Ministry operative. But Jimmy was the one who mainly dealt with the Russians, so I can't be completely sure."

"If we spoke to Günther Bräuer from the German Ministry I'm sure he could arrange introductions for us." Dave offered.

"Günther Bräuer?" Ivan said with a thoughtful look on his face, "The name sounds familiar to me for some reason."

"It should." Dave said with a rather evil grin. I quickly glanced at his sisters and cousin. They also had similar grins on their faces.

"Why should it sound familiar?" Ivan asked him with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't cause an international incident with him, did you?"

"Me?" Dave said with mock shock. "No Jimmy caused this international incident. Not me." He added with his evil smirk on full display.

"Only it wasn't with Günther was it. I do believe it was with his sister. The Ambassador's daughter to the UK at the time." Fireball added with her own fully formed evil grin on display.

Ivan and Sandra's eyes went wide with recognition and then two started to have a chuckle at the memory. "Yes I remember now." Ivan remarked.

"She was extremely co-operative with Jimmy wasn't she." He said struggling to keep a straight face.

"That she was. She made attempts to be co-operative with him on multiple occasions if memory serves." Dave said with an evil delight in his eyes.

"What sort of 'incident' was zis?" Fleur asked, her eyes alight with curiosity.

Dave looked over to his dad for permission to tell the story. With a grin, Ivan nodded giving the ok.

"The German Embassy had been set alight one night. We hadn't planned on moving them for another two nights as they were still getting ready for the move. We were however nearby at the Spanish Embassy moving the last of their personnel out."

"When we saw, what had happened, me, Jimmy, Jono, Olly, Rowdy and Shelly quickly raced to the Embassy grounds to check on their personnel."

"We quickly located the people who were still on the embassy grounds and started to gather them into one location where we could open a door for them back to France."

"During the rounding up however the Ambassador realised that his daughter was missing. We quickly did a check for her in the wing where her rooms were. She was eventually found passed out in her bedroom."

"We got her out via a separate door back to France."

"Once there we were able to organise treatment for her injuries. Thankfully they were relatively minor. A touch of smoke inhalation and some small burns."

"She came too as Jimmy was carrying her in his arms to the Healers tent." Dave said with a smile.

"Because Jimmy was the one carrying her she assumed that he had rescued her from the burning building."

"Her father made the same assumption." Dave said now struggling to keep a straight face. Dave's family were also trying very hard to keep a straight face as well.

"Despite Jimmy being fully fluent in German she somehow 'misinterpreted' what he meant by 'being examined' as he placed her in the healer's tent." Dave said as tears started to form in his eyes.

"She started to disrobe right there in front of him. Just as the Ambassador and his wife were coming into the tent." Dave started to have an attack of the giggles at this point. His sisters and cousin were not much better off.

"I didn't read that part in the report." Sandra said her eyes alight.

"Yes I think Jimmy tried to 'clean up' the official version." Dave answered.

"The Ambassador seemed to think that some sort of 'intimate' moment was occurring so he went to leave the tent with his wife. Poor Jimmy leaped up and grabbed them, he almost dragged them back into the tent and then made his getaway." Dave said now with tears coming down his cheeks.

Gabrielle seemed to be enjoying the story also. Although I'm not 100% sure if her enjoyment was from the story itself or from seeing Dave laugh so much.

"The report certainly doesn't read like that." Sandra told Dave.

"Does the report say how many times she turned up to his tent asking him if he would like to complete the examination?" Dave said almost in hysterics.

"I know I pointed his tent out to her at least twice." Fireball said with her 'innocent' look on display.

"Was this before or after he moved his tent?" Cassy asked, "As I know I pointed it out to her about three or four times after he moved it the first time."

"The first time?" Sandra asked, "Just how many times did he end up having to move it?" she almost begged for the information.

"I saw him move it at least three times." Dave answered, "I strongly suspect that Shelly was the cause of another 4 moves also."

"She seemed to have some sort of agenda to convince Jimmy to keep our main base of operations in France instead of Germany for some unknown reason." Dave said with his own 'innocent' expression.

"Yeah, it's funny that is." Fireball added with her own smirk.

"It wasn't until we moved out the following day did Jimmy finally escape her."

"The following Day?" Sandra asked with her eyes wide, "You mean Jimmy had to move his tent that many times in one night?"

Dave, Fireball and Cassy could only nod their heads. When Sandra looked to the rest of the team for confirmation they were all nodding as well.

"Oh my." She said in exasperation.

"So, Dave, why do you avoid Herr Bräuer so much?" Sandra said fixing him with a direct stare.

"I don't avoid him so much, as avoid his daughter." Dave replied with a shy smile at Gabrielle.

"Explain." Sandra requested.

"Well I'm a little concerned that she might realise one day that it was actually me who pulled her out of her burning bedroom." He replied.

At this the entire table collapsed into laughter. It took a while but eventually some sort of control was re-established.

"To bring this conversation back on track." Ivan said in his 'professional' voice.

"The remaining folders. What do you know about them?"

"Apart from the suspected Russian operative I believe that the last two 'might' be an Italian operative. But I don't know much about her, except that she wasn't happy with me for out bidding her on a job."

"But the Italian's owe us big time. So, they will co-operate IF it is indeed one of their agents." Dave explained.

"The last one is a Frenchman we have heard about only a few times. He seems to be trying to make a name for himself, by taking on just about any high-profile commission that he hears about."

"If you agree I would like to show it to Jean-Luc and see what they have on him." Dave requested.

"Approved." Ivan said without even a glance at Kingsley or Dad.

Dave next turned to mum, "Is it ok if I invite Jean-Luc to dinner tonight? He is easier to convince of things when he has had a satisfying meal." Dave remarked with a wink at mum.

"That is not a problem Dave." Mum replied with her own wink.

"Ok you lot, you are under orders not to let Shelly know that mum and dad are going to be here for dinner tonight after I tell her to bring Jean-Luc over." Dave said with a stern look at his sisters and cousin.

"Wouldn't dream of it Dave." Fireball said not even bothering to try and hide the smirk on her face.

"I'm quite looking forward to seeing Jean-Luc meet his future father-in-law for the first time." Andrea added.

At this Sandra got very excited and Ivan had a questioning look on his face, but a sly grin also.

"Relax mum he hasn't asked her... Yet." Dave said trying to get her to calm down. "The betting on the date is still open though. But the betting on the question of IF has been closed."

This of course caused a flurry of activity as people wanted to get in on the action.

During the commotion Dave headed off to his tent to call Shelly and arrange for this Jean-Luc to come back as well for dinner. Gabrielle made to follow him but he said he would be right back as other things needed to be organised and soon.

She seemed a little disappointed but he promised her some 'alone time' soon. This seems to have been just what she was after. Although she did closely watch him depart, not even blushing when she saw me watching her.

She only smiled.


	25. Tools of the Trade

Dave returned reasonably quickly and when he did so he was carrying a bag and a very focused expression. His team members were the first to pick up on it and they quickly arranged themselves back into their chairs.

His parents were the next to notice and they got the attention of my parents and moved them up to bring them so that they were opposite Dave at the table.

Dave grabbed a spare chair and placed it next to him and asked Gabrielle to sit in it for the time being. He said this firmly but with a pleading look in his eyes. When she agreed, he thanked her and gave her a kiss as a further thank you.

When he sat down the professional Auror was once more on display.

"Ok, with the measures that we discussed before we will be taking most of the players that we know about out of the game." He began.

"We now need to take some steps to try and counter-act the players that we don't know about."

"With that in mind I think we need to get you ALL kitted out with some of our 'bag of tricks'." He explained.

"All of us?" Mum asked him.

"Yes, all of you Aunty." Dave replied with a very determined look in his eyes.

"Remember that I can clearly see the bonds that exist between the members of this family. An attack on any one of you will be interpreted as an attack on all of you."

"I'm also very confident that if any of your family found out that you were being attacked they would be by your side in the blink of an eye." He said looking around and reading the truth of his statement in our faces.

"Given that reality the best approach is going to be to equip ALL of you with some things that are going to hopefully tilt the odds in your favour."

"Ok, to start with, most of the boys have already been given sets of the bunyip armour to wear. They will need to keep them. I have here sets for Aunty Molly, Ginny, Hermione, Fleur, Gabrielle and Madame and Monsieur Delacour." He said as he handed out the items of clothing.

"As I mentioned to the boys they can be adjusted with a very light engorgement or shrinking charm."

"The girl's sets have a slightly different cut to them to make them more comfortable. I would strongly suggest that you wear them when you are not at home."

"Monsieur and Madame Delacour and Gabrielle, while I know that the likelihood of you being targeted directly is small, there is a real enough possibility that anyone after Aunty Molly will try to get to her through you." The Delacour's looked a little disbelieving at this statement. So, Dave drove the point home with his following comment.

"If I was the one hired to hunt down Aunty Molly, I know that I would definitely scout out your family as a potential point of access or leverage to use against her." He said in his professional voice. It looked as though it had the desired sobering effect on them.

"So, I would like you also make sure you adjust your sets of these clothes here today. As I'm not willing to gamble with your safety." He said with a direct look at them all. They appeared to be a little stunned but readily agreed with him and thanked him for thinking of them.

"Ok next step is to get some more layers of security around your home here. If you are agreeable to it?" He asked mum and dad.

"Yes of course. What do you suggest?" Dad asked.

"What I'm suggesting is a layered defence like what we have at home around our houses there."

"The outer layer is commonly called a 'door mat'. It doesn't actually stop anyone or anything but it will trigger an alert to those inside it. It is also setup to trigger for any magical creature not just witches and wizards."

"This way anyone trying to gain access in animal form will also be detected. Along with any goblin, house elf etc."

"The 'door mat' typically extends out for about a mile from the property."

"A mile?" Dad exclaimed.

"Yes, a mile. It is a very light set of charms so it can cover that size of an area with no issue." Dave told him.

"Closer into the property will be a set of several layers outside your existing wards. These layers have a cumulative effect on any potential intruder. Each one by themselves is harmless, thus they tend to be missed when people are looking for wards or barriers. It is when more than 2 of them are combined that the 'fun' begins." He added with an evil grin. I noticed Bill returning it also.

"I will ask dad and Mick both, to help you configure those layers. I will also ask them to show both you and Bill some 'surprises' that can also be added to your existing wards. Between them those two can cause all sorts of mischief to someone who tries to tackle any wards they setup." He offered Dad. Dad also agreed to this as did Ivan and Mick.

"Your Apparition point is another area that needs to be secured. We can do some different things here." Dave said with a thoughtful little smile.

"A new Apparition point can be setup that will automatically stun anyone who arrives without a recognised Talisman on them or isn't identified by the 'Blood-wards' on it. It can be a useful option if you are forced to side-along Apparate home at Wandpoint." He said with a glint in his eye.

"Your main Apparition point can also be secured with a 'passcode' in it. If someone knows the correct point to use when arriving here and you can't use the first option, you can think the passcode and anyone with you will be stunned. This still gives friends and family the ability to continue to use that point as well."

Displaying an evil grin on his face Dave also remarked, "Of course the passcode can be triggered from the house as well. But if that occurs it will send out an alert to anyone you have placed on the notification list."

"Would that be suitable?" He asked mum and dad?

"They sound like sensible precautions to have indeed." Dad readily agreed, "What sort of Talismans are you referring to for use with them?" He asked, "Would they be like what you made yesterday?"

"Both yes and no. They would in many ways be very like those I made yesterday. But they will also have a different purpose and by necessity be a lot more general in nature."

"I will be starting on them shortly." He added to dad's curiosity and delight.

"That reminds me." He said excitedly, "We can give you the first batch of these." He said as he reached into his pocket and poured onto the table what looked like little silver figure eights.

Holding one up he asked, "Any idea what they could be?"

Harry was the first to answer, "They look like smaller versions of those portkey handcuffs from those utility belts we had earlier." He said while looking at it very carefully.

"Excellent answer Harry. Because that's indeed what they are." He said as he passed them out so that we all had two pair of them each.

"Now obviously at this size they won't be of much use. But simply ask them to 'grow' like this" the miniature cuffs grew to full size, "And they are ready for use. They will also shrink back down to this size once more upon the command of shrink being given to them."

"Anyone you apply them to will be sent directly to the 'Hôtel de France'. Once there they will be 'looked after' by 'Torquemada' and his staff." Dave said with a chuckle, several of his team members joined in.

"As I explained earlier today. Once both ends are applied to a person or persons you have 2 seconds to let go or you will follow your prisoner."

"These cuffs will give you a safe and 'legal' way of disposing of anyone who you have had to stun or disarm for any reason."

"The cuffs can also be used to get yourself out of trouble if you are cornered also." Dave said in a serious voice.

"If you do end up needing to use them on yourself you will need to know a few things about your destination. First off when you arrive there you will be immobilised but safe. So please relax and don't struggle." He said looking around at us all to get confirmation of this.

"You will also be asked to identify yourself. Tell them your name and that 'Syd sent you to see Drunkmouse' when the Auror that greets you hears this he will get you somewhere significantly more comfortable than where the other guests are kept." Dave again checked that we understood.

"They will ask you to remain there while your identity is checked. They will also ask you if there is any message that needs to be sent to me or my team as well. For they will assume that 'something is up' if we send friendlies there."

"My team and I will be notified of your arrival and any message that you decide to pass along. We will then notify the appropriate family members and make our way to you with them. If for any reason, we can't get straight to you we will send a message back to you, so you will know that we know you are safely there and why we can't get straight to you."

"'Torquemada' and his staff will take good care of you while you are there. Just don't eat his lasagne as it can be dangerous." He said with a laugh. This was again met with a laugh by Dave's team.

"Those miniature cuffs can be hidden in many different ways which we will go over in a few minutes."

"Next I want to setup some hidden Muggle style surveillance cameras." Dave explained. This caught dad's attention very quickly but everyone else seemed a little confused.

"The reason for the muggle cameras is that they will go to a recording device to keep a record of what they can see. This can then be played back on demand at a later date. You can also move through the stored video footage backwards and forwards as you desire to see any gradual changes that may occur over an extended period of time."

"That can highlight anyone who may be slowly building up a surveillance of your home. Or someone who is slowly sneaking in re-enforcements for an ambush like we discovered yesterday."

"The cameras will also record not only visible light. They will record Infrared light; this will show a persons body heat. In some cases, even if they are under an invisibility clock or even disillusioned. The Infrared cameras will also enable you to see at night as well. They will also record Ultraviolet light."

"This one is rather interesting as we have recently caught a few people who tried to sneak up on our safe houses with these cameras. Even if the person is disillusioned with a powerful spell or have a top-notch Invisibility clock, they will need to go to the loo at some point. When they do they never think about vanishing their wee." Dave said with a vicious look on his face.

"The odd thing is, wee shows up on these cameras like a bonfire at night. Enabling us to 'pay them a visit' too see if they are ok of course." He said with vast insincerity.

"Does that sound ok to you?" Dave asked.

"It all sounds wonderful." Dad replied. Mum was also nodding her head as well.

"Excellent. Ok the next item is to improve your communications with each other." Dave said as he pulled out two boxes.

"Unfortunately at the moment I only have two spares left. So, we will need to get the rest of you a Mirror Phone when the next version is ready. Drunkmouse and 'Q' are currently building the next version of these devices as I speak. The next version is much improved and will be replacing all our existing devices. They have both promised me sufficient numbers to cover everyone here."

"Until then I would like Aunty Molly to have one and Uncle Arthur to have the other."

"With these you will be able to call each other just about anywhere. You will also be able to call on me or my team or my family as well. If you need our help we will get to you and do our world-famous impression of an avalanche." He said with his crooked grin. The other members of his team were also grinning as well.

"I will ask mum and dad to walk you through how to use them. These two are already programmed with the contact details for my team and family."

"If required you can also pair them to the camera system that we will be putting in so you can send the footage to anyone with a mirror phone."

Very useful if we want to get Drunkmouse to run an identification on any faces that are captured."

"The security system we are going to setup can also send any alerts to your Mirror Phones as well. So even if you are not home you will still be notified."

"I would like to see the same configurations to get setup at the home of each family member. So that would-be Bill and Fleur's place at 'Shell Cottage'. George at your shop and Percy at your flat also."

"If we can get those locations done by Tuesday I would like to setup the same at the Delacour's residence on Wednesday after we have dealt with the Wizengamot in the morning."

"If you both are agreeable as well?" He asked Monsieur and Madame Delacour.

"We have no objection Monsieur. Merci for zinking of us." Monsieur Delacour replied thankfully.

"Excellent." Dave said genuinely happy.

"I would also like to request (if it is possible) for you both to stay here until we have had a chance to properly scout out your home. Provided that you both, as well as Aunty Molly and Uncle Arthur have no objections that is." Dave enquired.

"If the house is getting too crowded, we can make things more comfortable for everyone by making a family tent available to you. This will give both Gabrielle and yourselves rooms of your own." Dave offered.

"We have no objection." Mum replied with dad nodding in agreement.

"Merci Monsieur Dave. We would be happy to accept the offer." Monsieur Delacour replied. Gabrielle seemed to be happy with this also as it was very crowded with the three of us in my room.

"Ok next item to cover off is your personal security." Dave said with a direct look at us all.

"Lightweight Personal armour you all now have. But sometimes the best defence is to not be there in the first place." Dave said to some confused faces.

"Let me explain that bit better." He offered.

"When hunting or targeting someone for assassination, routine is one of the most powerful tools in the hunters' tool kit. If as the hunter, I know where you will be and when you will be there I can setup traps for you that will make it almost impossible for you to get away."

"Disrupting those regular patterns will drive someone who is hunting you more than a little nuts. I can say that from firsthand experience." Dave said ruefully.

"That explains a lot right there." Fireball added with a smile at Dave.

"Thanks sis." He replied with a resigned look on his face. There were some chuckles around the table at this also.

"Those of you with jobs in a fixed location, try to vary your time of arrival and departure. If there are multiple ways in and out of the location make use of them. Same goes for the different methods of getting in and out, try to vary them."

"Bill, you might want to ask Gringotts if you can make regular use of their portals and secure Floo system in addition to the employee apparition points." Dave advised Bill. For his part, Bill was wearing a look of profound shock.

"How did you know of those ways into and out of Gringotts?" He asked intently.

"We found the Death Eaters who were controlling Gringotts making use of them. So, we made use of them also. It was a much more convenient way to 'borrow records from them" Dave said with a smile.

"Borrow from who? The Death Eaters or the Goblins?" He asked in a very serious voice.

"The Death Eaters. They were the ones who had the records we wanted. On those occasions when we required Goblin controlled records we 'suggested' to the Death Eaters to request a copy. Then we either took their copy or made our own copy of it." Dave explained.

"Despite appearances and all the evidence to the contrary I'm not silly enough to steal from Goblins." Dave said with a smile.

I noticed that Harry bristled a little at this statement. I couldn't help but wonder if there was a reason other than the obvious one for his discomfort.

"Well at least not without a VERY good reason and laying down a convincing fake trail as well." Dave added.

"It is a fine distinction you have made there Dave. But I do think the Goblins will accept it. If they ever find out about it." Bill said with his own grin.

"Kingsley, can you enable access for Arthur, Percy and Gawain to the secure Floo and apparition points in the Ministry?" Dave asked.

"Let me guess you have been making use of them as well during your time here?" Kingsley said with a smile.

"Of course. They are so much more convenient and far less crowed than the main ones." Dave answered him with a smirk.

"I thought as much." Kingsley replied, "It will be done for all of them".

"Thank you." Dave answered.

"Something that is often over looked is 'wand safety'. How do you secure your wands when you are at home and in public?" Dave asked us all.

"Wands?" Harry asked.

"Yes wands. You would have to be silly to the point of recklessness to go out with only one wand. Especially if you don't have any other options available to you." Dave said to a suddenly silent group of people.

After a few moments, Dave started to look around at a group of rather shame faced individuals.

"You are all kidding me, right?" Dave asked hopefully.

"No, we are not. Sorry Dave." Dad eventually said.

"You're all serious? You don't carry a spare or two?" He asked us.

"Well how many wands do you carry Dave?" Hermione asked a little stiffly.

At this Dave started to produce some wands. He pulled out from over his shoulder the one we saw him use yesterday. Then from over his other shoulder he produced another one. Then he reached behind him and pulled out two more.

"That's just for starters. I usually carry more when on operations as well as some 'spares' for my team mates. In fact we all carry some spares for each other." He said to a now rather surprised Hermione.

"Why so many? It's not like you need them." She replied.

"Always use the best tool for the job. Sometimes a wand gives more precise control. Or gives better range than wandless options."

"The more options you have the better your chances of survival are." He explained.

"Ok given that you typically only operate with one wand. How do you secure it?" He asked us.

Once more there was silence. Dave was starting to look worried.

"Please tell me you don't just put it in a pocket in your jacket or pants?" Dave almost pleaded.

"Kingsley? Harry? Please tell me you two use some form of secure holster at least?" He asked them.

"I used to." Kingsley replied a little shamefaced.

Dave regarded Kingsley with a look of incredibly that was just so cute. Gabrielle certainly enjoyed the display and I must admit I was struggling not to laugh as well.

"Do any of you have an idea how many times we have captured people just by picking their pocket and taking their wand?" Dave asked Kingsley.

"Harry? Please tell me you secure your wand?" Dave asked with the air of a man gasping for 'last straws'.

Harry could only stare back at Dave with a slightly bemused and almost amused look.

"So, you are telling me that all through your recent adventures not only did you not have a backup wand. Your primary one wasn't properly secured?"

"Yes." Harry answered a little shame faced.

"I did get a second wand later though." He added 'helpfully' and Dave started to look a little relieved.

"But that was only after my own wand was broken." He said as Dave's face just crumpled and fell off.

Dave stood up and collected his wands. Returning them to their various hiding placed he regarded his team with a slightly worried expression. "Ok, anyone who has a spare holster see if you can locate it. If we don't have any, Mick ping 'Q' to see if he can put some in our trays for us. We need to get some form of secure wand storage to this lot before they give me a heart attack."

"On second thoughts, Mick just call 'Q' and tell him to send us a selection of holsters for boys and girls and we will take it from there."

"I'm going to go and get some things and will be back shortly. So, tell him to send the holsters to your tent as I need my door for something else at the moment." Mick nodded and pulled out his Mirror Phone and began tapping away on it.

With that Dave walked over to his tent muttering about people pushing their luck unnecessarily.

"Were you lot just pulling his leg? Or do you really only carry one unsecured wand?" Fireball asked us with a slightly concerned look.

"Uh… No, we were not pulling his leg." Harry said with a guilty look. "Thinking back, I can see where a second wand would have proved very useful. Quite a few times to be honest."

The rest of us made similar statements.

"Oh Merlin. I thought it was only trainees that made mistakes like that." Fireball said incredibly.

"Mick ask 'Q' to hurry up with the holsters. As I think I know what Dave is doing and we are going to need them." She said as she got up and hurried over to Dave's tent.

"Why do I feel like I'm back at the first day of Auror training?" Kingsley said with an embarrassed sigh.

Ivan looked over to him and gave an evil grin, "Just hope that he doesn't bring 'the log' back with him." He said with a laugh.

The rest of Dave's team had a good laugh at this also.

"What's 'the log'?" Kingsley asked.

"It's a 'gift' to any trainee that forgets either their primary or secondary wands during training." He explained. "They are required to carry it with them for the rest of the day. Which can get rather uncomfortable."

"How big is it?"

"About 2 meters long and as thick as your forearm." He explained.

"Yes, I can see that would be very cumbersome to carry around." Kingsley answered.

"It is designed to 'make an impression' as they say." Ivan remarked with a smirk.

At this point, Dave and Fireball returned. Dave was carrying two bundles under his arms while Fireball was carrying an odd-looking bag.

When they reached the table, Dave asked if it could be cleared. This was done very quickly. Placing the first bundle on the table he untied it and then unrolled it.

The bundle was full of wands. They were all unique and several of them looked to be quite gorgeous as well.

"These are traditional wands. Although they are a 'little' different to what you normally see around here. More on that later. They have been made with Australian native woods with a mixture of local and 'traditional' magical creatures."

"I would like you all to try and find a wand that suits you. These wands will feel warm in your hand and vibrate slightly if they accept you. If you feel a wand behave like that take it over to the training floor and give it a test with the usual flick and if it still feels comfortable try some stunners against the dummies that will be set up shortly."

"If you don't find anything that feels completely comfortable in this lot don't worry. I have some others that we can show to you."

"Please all of you try and find a wand."

"Goose, can you give me a hand to get some more target dummies setup." Dave requested.

The two of them quickly set off to the training floor. The rest of us were examining the numerous different wands that were on the table.

I was quickly drawn to one particular wand. It had a gorgeous golden honey colour to it. When I picked it up it did indeed feel warm and slightly vibrate. Feeling a little excited I gave it an experimental flick, some colourful sparks appeared from the end of it. For a better test, I took it over to the training floor where the target dummies were now setup.

Lining up in front of the target dummies I fired a few stunners at them. The wand just felt right in my hand and the stunners were right on target as well.

"Good shooting cuz." Dave said with a grin as he came over to join me, "Which wand chose you?" he asked.

I held up the wand for him to see.

"Good one. That is a Huon Pine wand with a Lyre Bird feather for a core." He explained.

"The Huon Pine is extremely resilient to things like corruption and temptation. Wands made from it tend to suit people who are very focused or driven in their goals."

"The Lyre Bird is a native Australian bird, known even to the muggles for its power of mimicry. What the muggles don't know is that they are extremely intelligent and sly creatures. They also have a very well developed sense of 'fun' or 'humour'. As they like to tease and confuse people (especially muggles) with the sounds that they make."

"I think that wand is very suited to you LFB." He said as he had a chuckle.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked him.

"Fireball also has a Lyre Bird feather as the core in her primary wand as well. It just struck me as appropriate for some reason." He said still smiling.

"Hold onto that one and I will show you some extra 'features' of it later once everyone has selected a wand."

I walked back to the table to see how the others were going. Both Harry and Ron were already over at the training floor. They were both firing stunners at targets and seemed to be very happy with the results. They were shortly joined by Hermione, Fleur, Bill, Percy, Charlie and Monsieur and Madame Delacour. They too seemed to be happy with their wands.

Mum and Dad along with George and Kingsley seemed to be struggling to find a wand from the selection available. They looked a little worried until Dave told them to relax and reminded them that there were more to select from. Gabrielle seemed content to sit and watch the goings on.

I asked her if she had found an extra wand. She replied that she already had an extra wand, the one that she was using with Dave earlier. Dave heard this and wandered over.

"I would still like you to select a wand from one of these collections Gabrielle. As they are a 'little different' to other wands. I will explain the differences once everyone has found one." Dave explained.

"Do any of these wands catch your eye at all?" he asked her.

"Non. None of zese seem to call me." She answered.

"No worries. Let's get the next selection out." Dave replied.

With this Dave chatted quickly to mum and dad as well as George to confirm that nothing in this selection really called to them. When they confirmed that he rolled up the bundle and swapped it over with the other one.

This bundle like the first was filled with wands as well. I did notice that many of them were a little more ornate than the previous ones.

Once this bundle was uncovered George immediately selected a wand that was almost white in colour as the wood was so pale. It also seemed to have a slight pattern in it as well. I noticed Dave smirking as George wandered off to try it out.

"Why are you looking like that at George?" I asked him.

"That wand has as its CORE a set of hairs from a Yowie." He said with a chuckle.

"What is a Yowie?" I asked.

"It is a local Australian Creature. In appearance, it looks to be like a large and very hairy man. Many people think that they are dim-witted creatures. But that is just how they lure in their prey." He answered with a small chuckle.

"You think it suits George because he is hairy or dim-witted?" I asked with a smirk of my own.

"No. Not at all. I think it suits George because just like the Yowie there is more to him than meets the eye." Dave answered in an almost serious tone.

I remembered thinking that maybe Dave wasn't as unobservant as I previously thought.

Kingsley also located a wand which he held up to show Dave. Dave indicated that he should try it out.

Gabrielle brought up a wand made from a light brown wood that almost seemed to have a pinkish tinge to it.

"Can you tell me about zis wand Dave?" she asked with a smile.

"Certainly, I can. It is made from a Eucalypt tree called the Silvertop Ash. It is a tree that is very resilient to fire and the heat of battle. The core of the wand is from a Drop Bear." He said struggling to hide a smirk.

Noticing the smirk of Dave's face Gabrielle asked, "What is a Drop Bear?"

"They look like an ordinary harmless Koala. But when you get in range they bear their fangs and claws and then attack." Dave said now openly grinning at Gabrielle.

"You zink zat zey suit me? Zis 'Drop Bear'?" She asked trying not to smile at the expression on Dave's face.

"Well there are some similarities in there yes." He said meeting her gaze.

"So, you zink that I look 'armless but have hidden fangs and claws?" She said now smirking at him.

"More like you look very cute and cuddly but are extremely dangerous to the unwary." He said smiling at her with a genuine and tender expression.

She must have approved of this assessment, as she soundly kissed him before heading back off to her seat. Dave just stood there for a few moments with a goofy kind of look on his face.

"Back with us yet Dave?" I just had to ask him while I tried not to giggle at his expression.

"Yeah I guess so." He said almost regretfully.

He then noticed mum and dad calling him over. Out of curiosity I followed him.

"Dave, none of these wands feel like they are calling to me or Arthur." Mum said with a slightly concerned expression.

"Nothing at all?" Dave asked.

"Well, I do kind of feel something coming from that bag next to the table." Mum said in a small voice.

Dave seemed to be intrigued by this, "How about you Uncle Arthur?" he asked.

"Same here. There is definitely something faint pulling me to that bag." He answered.

"Well then let us do some exploring then." Dave said obviously excited.

He quickly had the bundle of wands packed away. The bag was then placed onto the table and opened up. Inside of it was some rather strange looking tools as well as a selection of woods and some clear bags holding an assortment of what I can only assume to be the potential COREs for use in a wand.

Dave carefully arranged these potential COREs on the table for my parents.

"Can you tell me which of these items is 'calling' to you?" Dave asked watching my parents very intently. Looking around I saw that everyone else (including those members of Dave's team present) was gathering around. It seemed that they had all become aware of what was potentially about to happen.

Mum and Dad were both closely looking at the various items on the table. They seemed like they couldn't decide.

"Close your eyes and hold your hands out and see if anything seems to attract your attention." Dave requested.

They did this and reasonably quickly they had each selected an item. Both of their items looked to be feathers of some sort. Looking over to Dave I could see him still watching them very intently. When they seemed sure of their choices he spoke again.

"Holding the item, you have selected in your hand come down here to where I have a selection of different woods."

"Hold your hand with the item in it over the woods and you will clearly feel when you locate a match where both the wood and the item in your hand will accept." He instructed them.

Mum located a piece of wood first. It looked to be a mixture of dark and light browns with an interesting pattern in it. Dad located a suitable piece of wood soon after. His one was a very light brown timber with patches of black in it. Once they had both found their timber Dave asked them to hold them out to him. He held his hands over and below the items that they had selected but he didn't touch them. After doing this to both of their selections he smiled.

"I think you both have selected very workable combinations." He said with a grin.

"Shall we begin with Aunty Molly?" He asked.

Mum was obviously curious as to what he was going to do, so she was happy to oblige. She handed over to Dave her selected items. Dave took them and placed the piece of wood onto a device that looked to be similar to a spit that would be used for cooking. Once on it he spun it to see if it would spin freely.

Next, he removed the item from the clear bag. It was indeed a feather of some sort. It had a very thin shaft on it, much too thin to even be considered for use as a quill.

Dave stared intently at the feather for a few moments, then the feather seemed to shake itself out. I noticed something that looked like a stain on the feather. I was about to ask Dave about it when he got in first, "Please Ginny not just now. I will answer your question in a few moments. But right now, I need to concentrate." He asked.

"Ok, it can wait." I replied turning my attention back to the feather.

The feather had now begun to braid itself very tightly together. At one point, it almost looked like it was folding in on itself. Eventually it had reached the size that Dave was looking for, he then had the feather float until it was parallel to the timer that mum had selected.

Then both the timber and the feather began to rotate very rapidly. Dave's concentration was now such that he had begun to sweat. He would watch the wand and then look over to mum and stare intently into her eyes for a few moments and then he would return his focus to the wand again.

Slowly I became aware that the feather was gaining in thickness. Although I must admit that I couldn't see anything going into it. It was undeniable though that it was indeed gaining more body.

Eventually Dave began to work on the shape of the wand. Like most of his wands the shaping was subtle, but going from the wand that I had selected earlier I knew that it would be comfortable to hold.

When the desired shape was achieved, Dave stopped the wood sample from spinning. He then lightly laid his fingers on the still spinning wand and I could see the wood start to almost shine. As he slowly moved his finders up and down the wand the wood became highly polished. This he did a few times, the last two times he did it his hands were on fire with that Friendfyre flame. The result was a beautifully simplistic wand. It was a mesmerising mixture of light and deep brown patterns. But it was also very highly polished almost jewel like in its finish.

Dave presented the wand to mum with a proud but restrained smile on his face. Looking around the crowd of people who had gathered I could see that they were mesmerised by what they had just seen. I know it was something that I would remember for a long time.

Mum received the wand from Dave with a look of wonder on her face. As she wrapped her hand around it Dave asked her, "How does it feel to you?"

"It feels happy, almost content. Is the only way I can describe it." She said smiling.

Dave broke out into a very large smile and asked, "Give it a flick."

As mum did there was a shower of golden stars from the wand.

"I think that will work for you quite well." Dave said very happily, "Let's get Uncle Arthurs one done now."

With this he removed the wood that he had use for mum's wand and placed it carefully back on the table. He next placed the wood that dad had selected into the machine. Dad's feather was removed from its clear bag and examined just as mum's one was.

This feather also had a stain running across it, but I held my question until Dave had finished making the wand. The process was repeated with dad's feather and wood until a finished wand was produced. The wand was a very light golden brown colour with thin black lines running through it. Like mum's one it too was highly polished.

"How does it feel?" Dave asked after he had presented the wand to dad.

"Welcoming. Friendly. They would be the words that best describe it." He replied.

"Give it a flick." Dave said smiling again.

Grinning like a small child at Christmas gave his wand a flick, a shower of coloured sparks came from the end.

"Excellent. Give them a spin on the training floor against the target dummies." Dave suggested.

Mum & dad were quickly over at the targets and were sending stunner after stunner at the targets. They all hit as well.

After they returned to the table dad asked Dave, "Can you tell us what they are made from?"

"Your wand Uncle Arthur is made of Stringybark. It is a native Australian Eucalypt Tree. It is a very sturdy, solid and dependable wood. Able to withstand great loads."

"Aunty Molly's wand is made from Spotted Gum. Like Stringybark it too is a very solid and dependable wood."

"In fact, Aunty Molly's wood came from mum's own tree. Just as yours came from my dad's tree." Dave said with a smile to them both.

Mum seemed to be delighted at this and she was quickly running over to and hugging her big sister. Dad and Ivan also shared a handshake and a quick hug.

"What are the cores?" Dad asked still looking at his wand in awe.

"Griffin in both. In fact, the same Griffin supplied the feathers for your wands." Dave explained.

"A Griffin?" Dad asked with delight.

"Yes, most definitely a Griffin." Dave replied.

Dad had the silliest grin on his face at this news. Mum also had a wide smile.

"Do you know that at Hogwarts both Molly and I were in Gryffindor House?" Dad asked Dave.

"No, I didn't." He said with a smile, "Seems quite appropriate to me."

Everyone seemed to agree with Dave on that point.

"What were those stains or marks on the feathers?" I asked Dave.

"Blood." Dave replied with a wistful little expression.

"Was the Griffin hurt?" mum asked him.

"No, he wasn't hurt. I was." Dave answered, "That was my blood on those feathers." He said in a very calm voice.

Mum had a very shocked look on her face at this news.

"Is zat connected to ze claw marks on your back?" Gabrielle asked Dave. She seemed sad that he had been hurt but was also very curious about the story.

"Yes, it is. He gave me the feathers as an apology for attacking me." Dave said with a faraway look on his face.

Seeing the question in just about everyone's face Dave expanded on that explanation.

"I would have been about 9 or 10 and I was off exploring around mum and dads place. I headed off up the beach towards the river at the far end of the cove. I wasn't supposed to wonder off that far on my own, but I had just had an argument with Jimmy and wanted some space."

"When I reached the river, I walked along its banks until I came to the pool that formed in one of the bends. I liked this spot as I could watch the fish swim and the yabbies also."

"After just watching the fish for a time I noticed a disturbance in the trees. So I went to investigate it."

"Stepping through a particularly tanged group of trees I literally ran into a young Griffin. He had been feasting on a Kangaroo that he had caught and had not been paying attention to his surroundings as he should have."

"I quickly bowed to him as you should, but he had been frightened and he lashed out at me. He knocked me to the ground and raked his claws across my back."

"The pain was indescribable. I only remember screaming out in my mind for mum and dad before I passed out."

"When I came to my parents were there along with Grandma and Grandpa. Mick's dad was there also."

"Mum and Grandma were trying to look after the wounds on my back. While Mick's dad was talking to the Griffin."

"He was talking to the Griffin?" Dad asked Dave confused.

"Yes, he was talking to it. Mick's dad has a special gift with animals. There isn't much he can't communicate with in some way. Some he can talk to very easily and others hardly at all. But he does have a special place for the Bunyips and Griffins that are around both our properties and his own."

"Once he realised that I was awake he brought the Griffin over to see me. To say that I was a little worried would have been an understatement." Dave said with a smile, there were some nervous chuckles around the table as well.

"Mick's dad told me that the Griffin was very sorry that he had attacked me. He was so focused on his meal he wasn't paying attention as he should have. Apparently, I had frightened him."

"He also told me that the Griffin's name was Riverbeak as he loved the river that flowed from the mountains behind mum and dad's place down to the sea. This was a common hunting place for him."

"Riverbeak wanted to apologize for hurting me and to set things to rights, but he needed my permission to do so."

"I gave him my permission. Riverbeak then removed the magic from the wounds on my back, this would enable them to heal fully. Otherwise they would forever be unstable and continually break open easily."

"He also offered me several of his feathers as well. Mick's dad told me that this is a gift without price as Griffin feathers are extremely rare."

"I accepted the offers and I also made a request of him."

"My request was that if Riverbeak would in future please pay more attention when feeding on mum and dad's property, as I didn't want to be attacked again. I also asked if he would allow me to approach and talk with him when he does visit."

"Riverbeak was surprised by these requests but he agreed to them."

"He is a frequent visitor to mum and dad's place, and while I can't talk to him like Mick's dad can, we can 'talk' well enough that we enjoy each other's company. He especially likes it when I catch him a fish from that pool and give it to him. He always offers some to me, but I'm not a fan of raw fish." Dave chuckled.

"Would he allow us to approach him?" Hermione asked her eyes wide with wonder.

"The only way to find out would be to ask him. As he isn't a pet. He is more of a friend." Dave answered.

"Would you?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"I will ask him, but I can't promise anything other than that." Dave answered to Hermione's delight.

"Ok I need to explain some of the differences with these wands to what you may be used to." Dave commented.

"These are designed from the start as 'covert' wands. That is, they are designed to be hidden on you." This caused some surprised reactions from us.

"They will also be very difficult to remove from you once they are sealed to you. Either via Expelliarmus or other methods." Dave explained, "But first let's see how they will hide on you."

"Fleur, place your wand on your wrist like you did with your Talisman yesterday. Then tell it to 'hide'" he requested.

Fleur placed the wand on her wrist and issued the command. Her wand which was a lovely deep brown colour immediately wrapped itself around her wrist. It ended up forming a beautifully carved and almost woven looking bracelet.

Her eyes were wide with wonder and delight, "Incroyable." She exclaimed.

"The wands have a small amount of awareness about their owners and they will sometimes change their hidden form to better match what you may be wearing at the time." Dave explained.

"To return it to its normal form just tell it to come off, just as with your Talisman." He instructed.

Fleur issued the command and the wand returned to its original state.

"When the wands are hidden like that they can't be removed from you by anyone without your permission. They will also not show on any checks with secrecy scanners."

"Now Fleur try holding the wand to your chest as though it was a pendant on a necklace and then tell it to hide." Dave asked her.

She did so and this time the wand transformed itself into a delicate necklace with a small wooden hook shaped pendant on it. Fleur quickly retrieved a mirror to see the results. They did seem to meet with her approval.

"The girls can show you a bit later other ways they have contrived to hide their wands also. As they have been experimenting with them for a while now."

"Ron, would you like to try with your wand?" Dave asked.

Ron laid his almost blond looking wand on his wrist and told it to hide. It transformed itself into something that resembled a wooden watch. His smile was a sight to behold.

"Tell it to come off" Dave asked him.

When he issued the command, the wand returned to its original state.

"They can also make a necklace but the designs tend to be a bit chunkier and a little uncomfortable. Mostly we turn them into belt buckles, but we can go over those options later."

"Let us experiment with the other useful property of these wands." He said as he got up.

"Harry, Ron would you two like to do the demonstration?" He asked.

They both appeared to be quite eager to try them out. Together the three boys walked over to the training floor.

"Harry, I want you to try a disarming charm on Ron. Not too powerful though as we don't want to damage him." Dave requested.

The boys faced each other and Harry cast Expelliarmus at Ron. While the wand was removed from Ron's hand it just fell to the floor.

"Is that the effect that you would have expected from a spell of that strength?" Dave asked him.

"No it should have made it over to me." Harry replied.

"Ok try again, a bit stronger this time." Dave asked.

Ron had collected his wand and stood ready once more. This time the spell was much stronger as it appeared as a bright red jet of light. Once more the wand only seemed to twitch from Ron's hand and land a short distance away.

The surprise (and frustration) on Harry's face was plain to all to see.

"Swap over and let Ron have a go?" Dave asked.

The boys readily agreed and the results were basically the same for Ron as they were for Harry.

"As these wands have an awareness of their owner they are reluctant to abandon that master for any reason." Dave explained.

"This awareness can be significantly re-enforced with a simple blood magic identification charm." Dave said as he conjured two small pins and handed one to each of Harry and Ron.

"Simply prick the end of your finger and place a single drop of your blood on the very end of your wand. As you do it say to the wand 'I am Harry James Potter' and 'I am Ronald Bilius Weasley' this will seal the wand to you." Dave instructed.

The two of them dutifully followed the instructions and then banished the pins. Dave now asked for them to repeat the same exercise again.

This time neither of them dropped their wand. Even when the Expelliarmus charm was a red jet of light. Their arms twitched and you could see them change their grip on their wand to keep a hold of it. But they didn't lose control of it.

"Do you think that is a useful feature to have?" Dave asked them both.

"It's bloody brilliant" Ron exclaimed grinning widely. Harry also indicated that he thought it was a great and practical idea.

We were all keen to have our wands sealed to us and then to give them a test run. Having been the target of the Expelliarmus charm in the DA meetings I was used to its effects. This time however it was like the charm was almost muffled by something. It was truly a marvellous 'feature' of our new wands.

Kingsley was almost beside himself with glee at the results. I'm sure he would have asked Dave to make a wand for every surviving Auror right then and there if he could have.

The most interesting reactions to the new wands was from mum and dad. They had both enfolded Dave in their arms and were delivering twin powerful hugs. It is a good thing that Dave is the size he is as I don't think many others could have survived that ordeal.

When they eventually released him from their grip I could see the gratitude on their faces as well as the joy that was on Dave's face. His father was right, he certainly thoroughly enjoyed it when something he made was able to have a positive effect in someone's life.

Once we had all tested our new wands Dave asked if we could pack up the tables. He also asked his team to pack away the training floor.

"Have we finished for the day?" Dad asked him.

"Not yet, but I need to start a search for some gold and the less clutter around the easier it will be." He explained.

We were all a little surprised but also eager to see what he was going to do. So, we all pitched in to help.

"You're going to look for gold here?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"There is gold everywhere Ron. Most of the time it is only in trace amounts. There is even gold inside of you." Dave said with a little half smile.

"Me?" Ron asked.

"Yes you. Everyone, it is only about 0.2 grams but it is there." Dave informed him.

"What I'm most likely going to end up going is grabbing a little bit of gold from all the different plants here and bringing it together into a single nugget. That nugget will form the core of the Talismans that I need to make for your family." Dave explained to him.

"Oh… I see. Ok then." Ron replied looking a little disappointed.

Dave had a strange little smile on his face as he watched Ron head over to help with the packing up of the tables.

Dave quickly focused on packing up his own gear. Once it was all packed away he tried to gather it all up himself. Gabrielle noticed this and quickly joined him and took one of the bundles of wands to allow Dave to carry the rest.

They then headed off to the tents together, chatting happily. Sensing an interesting conversation, I followed.

Yes, I know what happened the last time I tried this, but I figured that there were no trees within reach of me in the yard so I should be safe. Ok!

As we got closer to the tents I was trying to work out how to position myself so that I could see into Dave's tent without being noticed. The only place I could think of was to hide next to Shelly's tent as that would partially screen me from view.

Moving into position around Shelly's tent I found a small crowd made up of Dave's sisters and cousin already there. They were intently watching Dave's tent interior also. Supressing my own grin at this scene I walked up to them and asked, "Is this a free show or do we need tickets?"

They must have been expecting me as they didn't even flinch.

"Shhh… We are trying to listen" Fireball hissed.

I joined them in their vigil and we could see Dave putting away the bundles with his wands in them as well as his tools. He quickly disappeared into his bedroom (alone) and re-emerged a brief time later in a set of t-shirt and shorts and bare feet.

He and Gabrielle then seemed to be involved in a discussion that required a lot of kissing and cuddling. As well as a fair share of giggles.

We were so engrossed in the show in front of us (especially when Gabrielle seemed to let her hand 'accidently' disappear under Dave's t-shirt) we didn't notice mum and Aunty Sandra come around the tent behind us.

"Just what do you all think you are doing here?" Mum asked us with a broad smile on her face at the sight of the four if us nearly jumping out of our skins.

"We are just trying to keep an eye on those two and make sure that nothing untoward happens" Fireball said with a well-practised air of innocence.

She didn't fool her mother for a moment. Sandra crept up and peered into Dave's tent and asked, "I wonder what they are discussing."

"If you really want to know mum why don't you just ask." Came Dave's voice from behind us.

This time the six of us really did jump and there were a few startled oaths as well. Turning around there standing behind us was Dave and Gabrielle. They both had massive smiles on their faces at having caught us in the act. They were also still carrying the bundles of wands and Dave tool bag.

Looking back into the tent I could still see 'Dave' and 'Gabrielle' happily kissing away. I then looked back over at Dave and Gabrielle behind me and then back to the tent. This time the two in the tent broke off their activities and waved to us before disappearing.

Dave's sisters and cousins seemed to take it as an almost personal affront that they had been fooled by an illusion but mum and Aunty Sandra saw the humour in it. Not as much as Dave and Gabrielle did though.

Muttering some excuses about needing to help pack up they all quickly took off. Leaving me all alone there. Boggarts.

Once I realised this I too quickly made tracks out of there.

Laughing merrily to themselves the real Dave and Gabrielle continued into Dave's tent.


	26. Delayed Conversations (Molly's POV)

My thanks to Ginny for providing the preceding chapters. It was enlightening and entertaining reading for me. I'm certainly looking forward to reading some more of Ginny's work.

Well, now we are back to some events where I was around and wasn't so distressed, and have a much better memory of them. I do hope you will enjoy these memories.

For those family members of mine who have been proof reading and are complaining about not getting to the more 'action packed' chapters quicker, I'm only going to remind you that this journal is for Dave and his bride to be. Your own journals cover many of the events that you have requested in this one. So just be patient. Yes Ron I am talking to you here.

Molly.

After we were discovered trying to 'keep an eye on' the goings on in Dave's tent we all raced off to assist with the packing up. Partly to cover our own embarrassment at being discovered, but also out of a desire to see what Dave would be doing to make the Talisman's that he mentioned.

In a reasonably short amount of time the pack up was complete. I began to look around for Dave and Gabrielle, but they were nowhere to be seen. Having failed to convince any of the girls who were caught with me outside of Dave's tent to go and collect him, I was facing the possibility of having to go looking for him myself.

At this point Mick arrived carrying two boxes and looking for Dave. It goes without saying that we took the boxes off him and sent him to Dave's tent to collect Dave and Gabrielle. Mick seemed happy to oblige although I do believe he suspected we had an ulterior motive for sending him.

If he didn't before he went to collect Dave he certainly did when he came back. As he couldn't look at us girls without flashing that brilliant smile of his at us. I couldn't help the guilty blush that quickly spread to my cheeks when he smiled knowingly at me like that.

Dave and Gabrielle were following Mick out from the tents. They had their hands around each other's waist and were very happily chatting. Gabrielle seemed to be holding something in her free hand as she frequently glanced at it as they were walking. Like his earlier illusion Dave was dressed once more in t-shirt and shorts with bare feet.

When they reached the middle of the yard the two of them stopped and once more embraced and shared a kiss. Dave then sent Gabrielle on into the house with Mick. I did notice her putting whatever she was previously holding into her dress pocket while a contented smile played about her lips. Fleur also seemed to notice this and had the same questioning look on her face as me. Glancing at my sister I saw that she also had a knowing sort of smile on her face as well when she looked to Dave and Gabrielle. She saw me looking at her with an unspoken question on my face but she only winked at me by way of reply.

Dave was standing in the middle of the yard and was staring at the house. Initially I thought he was simply watching Gabrielle, but then I noticed Fireball also standing simply staring back at him. They were communicating somehow. After they broke off their conversation I noticed Dave switch his gaze to following Gabrielle as she walked from the yard.

His blush betrayed him when he noticed Fleur and I watching him though. He smiled cheekily at us and then sat down cross legged in the yard facing the house. He rested his arms on his knees and closed his eyes.

Once Gabrielle and Mick reached the House I could almost see small 'waves' rippling out from Dave and go running across the yard. It was rather fascinating to watch but Fireball had other ideas.

"Ok everyone listen up, while Dave is prospecting we are going to try and get you all fitted out with two or three different sorts of holsters for your wands." Fireball explained.

"All of us girls will go into the lounge as that looks like it will offer the most amount of space for us. The boys can split up between the different bedrooms to try out the different styles of holsters on offer."

"I will let Dad, Mick and Jono organise the boys across the different rooms. Try to ensure that you have options for covering formal, work and casual occasions. Ideally at a minimum BOTH wands will be in secure storage at all times."

"The same will go for us girls. We will need to ensure that you have holster combinations that cover the scenarios mentioned previously."

"The main points with a holster are to make sure it is comfortably positioned and affords easy access. All of these holsters are charmed to be accessible through your clothes. So unless you are wearing something like bunyip fur based clothing you should have no issues accessing them."

"Please ensure that you practise inserting and extracting your wand with the holster(s) fitted to you."

"Any questions?" she asked us.

As there were none we all headed off to various rooms in the house to try on the various types of holsters. I had never used a wand holster before but after trying several of the ones on offer I could definitely see the advantages of them. The 'casual' holster that placed the wand at the small of my back was indeed my favourite.

Some of the options for the more 'formal ware' type occasions were simply remarkable in the creativity that was shown in both the design and function of them. The girls from Dave's team were also very creative in the various ways that they were able to hide their holsters and wands on themselves. Clearly a lot of time had been spent thinking about it. They also showed us various ways of hiding the miniature versions of the port key handcuffs as well.

No I will not be going into all the details about where we were able to hide our wands and cuffs here. Girls do need some secrets after all you know.

Surprisingly the girls were able to get ourselves sorted out with the holsters long before the boys. This was found to be rather amusing by us all, so we decided it was time to have a spot of afternoon tea and a good chat. I put the kettle on and while it was heating up I looked out into the yard to check on Dave.

He looked as though he hadn't moved at all. He was still in the middle of the yard and those strange ripples I had noticed before were even more pronounced now as they raced around inside the rock wall of the yard. My sister must have noticed me looking into the yard and she came over and joined me at the window.

"I do hope he isn't over extending himself on my account." I said to her with worry in my heart.

My sister just simply stared at me in astonishment before she replied, "I would have thought that you of all people would have understood the power of family bonds." She said with an amused twinkle in her eyes.

"If one of your children or family was facing a similar predicament wouldn't you be doing all that you could to ensure their safety?" She asked me.

"Of course I would. But Dave hardly knows me." I tried to explain.

"He knows you're family, and that is enough. Family is something that all of my children are fiercely protective of. Even of those members that they do not see all that often."

"I'm not completely sure where it comes from, if it was because their Grandfather was kicked out of his. Or because their Grandmothers family were so tightly knit. Or if it was my own experiences with my family", She said looking at me with a wistful expression, as though thinking of all those lost years.

"However it came about it is like a warm impenetrable blanket that you can wrap yourself in and be sure of its love and support."

"I have seen what lengths Dave will go to for strangers, I have seen the even more extraordinary lengths he will go to for family. Knowing that I almost have a trace of pity for anyone dumb enough to try and collect on the contract that has been offered." She said while holding both my hands and staring into my eyes.

I could see the truth of her words in her eyes and it did make me feel very warm inside. She then smiled at me and pulled me into a very strong embrace that I thoroughly enjoyed.

When we broke apart I noticed that we were the focus of the other ladies attention. They all had smiles of some sort on their faces at the scene before them.

Not knowing what else to do I asked, "Who would like a cup of tea?" there were no shortage of takers for that offer.

Once tea was made for everyone I refilled the kettle and put it back on so that it would be ready for the boys when they eventually finished with the holsters.

While we were happily chatting over our tea, Fleur raised the topic of Sandra re-directing the conversation earlier during the de-briefing of the 'Paris Incident'.

"Excusez-moi Madame Webb, can you please explain why you wished the conversation earlier to change direction?" She asked warmly, but also with heightened interest.

"Certainly I can. But only if you call me Sandra." She replied, "Madame Webb makes me feel rather old." She said with a smile at Fleur.

"Merci Sandra." Fleur answered also with a smile.

Putting her tea cup down Sandra thought for a moment before replying, "Do you recall the image that Ivan made of what he sees when he looks in the mirror?"

"Oui" Fleur answered.

"Did it startle you at all?" Sandra asked.

"Oui, it did. It ez a terrible fate for someone to suffer." Fleur replied.

"Did you notice how uncomfortable he was about what he saw in it? How embarrassed it made him?"

"Oui I did." Fleur answered.

"My husband has had over 50 years to get used to that sight. It still affects him greatly whenever he sees it. It is always in his mind when he is made to think about his physical appearance. Much like a slice from a dagger across the image of his self-worth whenever he thinks about it."

"It took me a long time to understand growing up why he never reacted well to comments about him being a very handsome looking man."

"When we began dating 'officially'" she said with a smile, "It became a real issue in our relationship. As I couldn't understand what the reasons were as to why he almost cringed when I commented on things like his wonderful eyes."

"It wasn't until his father showed me what he saw in the mirror that I finally understood. I felt so ashamed of what I had been doing to him in bringing the conversation around to this topic so many times, in my attempts to try and understand." You could see her anguish at the memories.

"After the conversation with his father I sought him out to apologise and to tell him that I finally understood. When I told him this I was not prepared for the fear and self-loathing that showed in his eyes."

"He thought that I had come to break off our relationship now that I knew." She said with very moist eyes.

"It took some rather direct action upon my part to convince him otherwise." Sandra said with a naughty little smile and a throaty chuckle to herself. The other ladies caught her meaning and smiled.

"At the time he was 21 and I was 20. It was only at that point in our relationship did I learn that what I should have been doing is telling him what I saw when I looked at him. Not what others would see."

"As I had finally learnt that while he had no concept of what he looked like himself, he did have a VERY strong concept of how he was viewed through MY eyes."

"In a way MY view of him was far and away the most important way, maybe even the only way, of how he viewed himself." She said thoughtfully.

"Does that make sense?" She asked Fleur.

"Oui it does. A great deal actually" She answered.

"There is one small 'silver lining' to the condition however." Sandra said with a slightly evil grin that caught the attention of all of the ladies. "It keeps away all those annoying gold diggers and floozies who would try and take MY man away from Me." She said with her grin now on full display.

"The loyalty and faithfulness of my boys has never been an issue. But there are those who like to try and steal what they can't hope to earn honestly."

"They always seem to try the same approach with every man that crosses their path. But their outrageous flattery and over the top flirting and compliments have the completely opposite effect on my boys. Each time I see them try to 'chat up' one of my boys I almost feel sorry for them knowing the reaction that they will receive for their efforts." She said with an evil little chuckle.

"It sounds like there are some stories in there." I prodded my sister.

"Oh there are many stories in there and if we started telling them all we would be going for days." Sandra said with a real twinkle in her eyes.

"Just telling the ones that we witnessed with girls trying to flirt with Jimmy and Dave would take up a week or more, let alone the ones we only heard about." Fireball said with a chuckle. "Emma used to tell some great ones about girls who tried to 'chat up' Dave in the hospital." She said with an evil gleam in her eyes. This brought a look of surprise from Gabrielle.

"'ow did Emma find out about zat?" She asked Fireball.

"She either saw it, or Dave told her about it. As it always annoys him when things like that happened, and he would tell Emma about it as she seemed to get a strange sort of delight out of them. Or more specifically Dave's reaction to them." Fireball explained.

"Yeah like when he gave that cow Renee a bedpan that Emma had recently filled and asked her 'sweetly' to go and empty it." Andrea said struggling not to laugh. Gabrielle looked like she was also struggling not to laugh as well at that image.

"There's even some excellent ones about Joseph and he isn't affected like Dad, Jimmy and Dave are." Andrea said with a laugh.

"Who is Joseph?" I asked.

"Joseph is the son of Ivan's eldest sister Barbara Webb. She married a man by the name of Anthony Webb, so she is jokingly referred to as the 'real Webb' in the family by the kids. Both she and her husband see the funny side of the situation and so do their kids."

"Joseph is the team leader of one of the dedicated Auror Assault Groups so he is required to be a little blunt in his job. Unfortunately that sometimes carries over into social situations." Sandra explained with a smirk.

"Like Jimmy he has beautiful long blond hair and eyes almost as blue as Dave's. He is almost the same height as Dave as well, so the girls flock to him."

"But he does have the same 'world view' as my boys though. So he shares a lot of their traits. One of which is being rather blunt to those who he doesn't know that try to 'butter him up'. His wife Scarlett sees the funny side of the situation thankfully. As it happens quite often, and she loves to tell the stories which are often very funny." Sandra said smiling.

"Often? They are bloody hilarious, especially if you ask Joe for his version of them." Andrea exclaimed.

"That's a little cruel dear. You shouldn't tease him like that. Even if it is very funny to see his reactions." Sandra remarked. The other ladies also had a bit of a laugh as well.

"Ok girls that's enough you can tease your poor male cousins later on. Your Grandmother's party will be the perfect place to do that." She said with an evil twinkle in her eye.

"Dave is so right about you girls ganging up on the boys." Hermione said with a questioning look at Sandra.

"Well we do need to keep them all in line don't we?" She said with her innocent look on full display. There was a round of solid laughter at this comment.

"Ok girls as fun as this conversation is we need to get it back on to the original topic." She said with a look at her daughters.

"Dave is only 15. Soon to be 16, he is still trying to come to terms with this 'condition' himself." Sandra said and the hurt in her eyes was very clear to see.

"To the best of my knowledge he has never shown anyone, what he sees when he looks in the mirror. He avoids mirrors more than any vampire that I know." She remarked casually.

"I'm sure that this is why he, Jimmy and their father all have such expressive faces." She said to a group of questioning ones. "They have never seen their own face so they don't know how much they are animating it with their different expressions."

"When Dave first showed the ability to change his form he was absolutely fascinated with the faces that he saw in the mirror. He would watch them very closely and often and quickly learnt to control all the muscles in them to make his expressions more 'normal' as he called it."

"His Grandmother suggested that maybe we could use this method to teach him for when he was in his natural form as well. I told her absolutely not. As I love the expressions that would often play across all of their faces." She said with her own face breaking out into a wonderful smile. Gabrielle was also smiling at this as well.

"When he is in his natural form, I have only seen him look in a mirror voluntarily once and he went as white as a sheet and collapsed to the ground."

"I went to him, to try and comfort him. When I made contact with him however, I caught a glimpse of his memory of the sight he saw. I'm ashamed to say it frightened me and I screamed." Sandra said with tears now in her eyes.

"The look of horror and self-loathing on his face was far and away worse than anything I had ever seen on my husbands. It wounded me in a way I have never forgotten."

"After this he just took off and disappeared. I was desperately afraid that he thought I had rejected him or something similar. None of us knew where he had gone." She lamented.

"It took us a week of dedicated searching by just about every family member and a lot of our friends before we found his trail. After that it was another few days before we had pinpointed where he actually was."

"When his campsite was finally identified he still wouldn't talk to any of us about this. His Grandfather, Father and Jimmy all had to basically force their way in and pin him down and talk to him about what he was seeing and why they believed it was happening."

"It took almost another week to convince him to come back home. Then several more days before he would even leave his room. Not even Emma was having a great deal of success in reaching him about this."

"I think it was finally his Grandmother and Great Grandmother who were the ones that eventually got through to him."

"Together they are a force to be reckoned with, even so it took all of their skill to be able to handle our little Dave. I'm sure that is a big part of the reason why he is so close to his Grandmother and Great Grandmother." She said with a small smile.

"How old was Dave when that happened?" I asked.

"It was just after he had done Nippers for the first time. So he would have been 6 years old." She answered.

"I zink zat would 'ave been difficult for anyone to deal wiz, at any age." Gabrielle said looking out the window at Dave with a very tender expression on her face.

"Yes Gabrielle. You are very correct in that" Sandra replied with a smile, "Jimmy also had trouble with it as well. Dave's reaction was much stronger though, we are still not sure as to the reason why."

"To this day he still has great difficulty with certain types of comments when they are directed at him. As they bring to mind what he saw that day."

"His Grandmother and Great Grandmother are the undisputed masters of slipping in comments about him into conversation so as to get him more used to them."

"However I don't think even they, would have been able to get away with the comment that Gabrielle used earlier." Sandra said with a sly little smile directed at her.

"I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but he didn't even flinch when you said he had a cute face." Sandra remarked still smiling at a now blushing Gabrielle.

"She might have missed it, but we didn't." Andrea said with Fireball and Cassy agreeing with her. They were also smiling at Gabrielle who was still blushing. "I thought my heart was going to skip a beat while I waiting to see what he would do."

"I think that perhaps it wasn't only Dave being eloquent when giving opinions of what he saw in your conversation yesterday." Sandra said with a knowing smile at Gabrielle, who was now in a blush that would have done a Weasley proud.

"Do not worry Gabrielle, I'm not going to ask you to repeat what you said to him. But I will thank you for it. It seems to have given him a degree of confidence that wasn't there before. For that I'm extremely grateful to you." Sandra said as she regarded Gabrielle very approvingly.

"I think you have been able to give him a good deal of confidence in himself recently."

"Especially if he gave you what I think he did just now." She enquired of Gabrielle.

Poor Gabrielle was already blushing rather hard and this new observation brought the full focus of the rest of the ladies there. She was staring very intently at her teacup in her hands.

Eventually she raised her gaze and looked at Sandra and asked, "How did you know?"

"A mother knows these things about her children." Sandra replied cryptically, "Besides, I helped my mother-in-law create the invitations." She said with a wink.

"Invitations?" Just about everyone seemed to ask at the same time.

"Yes invitations. I suppose Ivan will be giving them out at dinner. But Dave was most insistent about getting one earlier." She said with a smirk.

"He wished to invite a certain person to the event in question and was desperately worried that someone else might ask her before he could." She said with her smile on full display.

Gabrielle for her part was also smiling broadly at this news.

"I take it from your smile that he has indeed asked you to the event." Sandra enquired with an arched eyebrow and a smile.

"Oui." Gabrielle replied with a shy little smile.

"And?" Fleur almost demanded.

"I accepted." Gabrielle said almost loftily.

"We gathered that much." Fireball remarked, "What did the great oaf say?" she said trying to contain her smile.

At this Gabrielle began to giggle at the memory. This only served to irritate both her sister and Dave's. This could have been part of her plan, who knows.

"Gabrielle?" Her mother asked her.

"I will not say ez exact words, but ee was very sweet. 'e was most worried zat I wouldn't want to go on such a formal date wiz 'im." She said smiling.

"I was a little surprised, but very pleased wiz ze invitation. And I think 'e took zis to be hesitation on my part. As while 'e waited for my answer 'e was adorable as 'e was so nervous. Zose eyes of 'is can be so expressive at times."

"When I realised zat he thought my surprise was hesitation, I quickly told 'im zat I would be very pleased and 'onoured to accept 'is most wonderful invitation."

"Ze smile on 'is face was magnifique. It warmed my 'eart."

"When we are in Paris tomorrow he wants to get me somezing special for ze party. So zat we will complement each ozer" She said with a huge smile.

Fleur and Madame Delacour seemed very excited by this turn of events. The other girls also seemed to be quite interested as well.

"Was the invitation to his Grandmother's 90th Birthday party?" Ginny asked Gabrielle.

"Oui" She said still smiling.

"What sort of party is it going to be?" Ginny enquired with her eyes lighting up.

"A formal BBQ" Sandra replied with a grin.

"BBQ?" Ginny asked a little confused.

"It's short for barbecue." She clarified, "It's a muggle style of cooking of which my mother-in-law is very fond. Most likely due to all the camping trips she and her husband went on over the years."

"A friend of hers runs a catering company and they do the most wonderful barbecues and spit roasts. She has used them for many family parties over the years." The girls (and I) were eager for more details so we prodded her to supply them.

"With her place being further north than ours it is much warmer all year round, so her parties are often done outdoors. As her place is close to the beach like ours and surrounded by native bush, especially the frangipani trees, it just all adds to the magic of it." She was smiling as she said this. Clearly these parties were something special to her.

"As this year's party is going to be more formal than usual she has also organised, a marquee a dance floor as well as a band." Sandra gave Gabrielle a sly little smile and added, "Maybe we will get to see the results of your dance classes with Dave?" she said with a chuckle at Gabrielle's reaction.

"The dress code indicated on the invitations isn't 'overly formal' as in ball gowns or anything. But it is more along the line of what you would wear to a wedding or something similar."

"Just make sure you have some shoes that are easy to get on and off. As walking along the beach under the moonlight in bare feet is kind of magical also." She said with a faraway smile.

"I take it you have done that with Ivan a time or two?" I asked her with a knowing smile myself.

"You could say that." She said with a naughty little smile, "I mean the sand dunes are just so comfortable and offer all sorts of opportunities." She said with only a small trace of a blush.

"Don't go giving the kids too many ideas now." I told her, but I couldn't hide my own smile at the thought. The other ladies also had smiles of their own at their own thoughts.

"She is also planning a big fireworks display as she absolutely adores fireworks. Watching them go off over the water is always so wonderful." Sandra replied happily.

"So girls do please try to act surprised when Ivan gives out your invitations later on." She requested us. We all indicated that we would indeed do our best to act surprised.

"I know that he is hoping to surprise everyone here with them. His Mother and Grandmother are also very keen to meet you all as well." Sandra said smiling at me and with a quick glance to Gabrielle as well.

"It promises to be a special event and I'm very confident that you will all enjoy it." She said happily. We were all in agreement with her.

"Now Fleur, I'm sorry that I got side tracked there again. But I hope that I also answered your question as well?" Sandra asked.

"It is a kind of a very fine distinction being drawn but it does make a great deal of difference in practise. I know that even now, if I make a comment without thinking to my husband I can still see a flicker of those thoughts go across his eyes."

"But framing those sort of comments as though they are from someone he accepts doesn't cause those sorts of thoughts to surface at all." She explained.

"Oui, you did. It has made things quite a lot clearer." Fleur replied.

"How do you know if you are someone that he accepts?" Hermione asked.

"I think it is very safe to say that you all here have been accepted by both of my boys." Sandra replied, "Some more so than others." She said with a cheeky grin at Gabrielle who happily returned it.

"Yeah after de-briefing Dave" Fireball said to general laughter, "I think he is a lot more relaxed around everyone here."

"Very true. In some ways that was a very beneficial session for him." Sandra said smiling at some of the reactions around the table.

"Beneficial for who?" Came Ron's voice from the door as the boys started to arrive back into the kitchen.

"We were just discussing the earlier 'de-briefing' of Dave and how it seems to have helped him relax a bit more around everyone here." Sandra replied. We all took this as the que not to mention the earlier discussion just yet.

"He seemed at ease to me." Harry replied, "But why is he behaving so oddly towards me at times?" He asked Sandra.

Sandra turned to face Harry and simply stared at him for a few moments before answering. "I believe his behaviour towards you Harry is driven by a desire to 'invite you in' as they say. I'm willing to bet that he wants to know more about you." She remarked.

"One thing to keep in mind about Australians Harry is that they don't put much store in formality. In fact if you find yourself being addressed formally it is usually an indication of trouble. Unless you're meeting someone for the first time." She explained with a smile.

"Ask Ginny here about how Dave addressed her during their first meeting, before the reset." She offered.

Harry turned to Ginny with the question clear in his expression.

"Aunty Sandra is right." Ginny replied and I could see Sandra smile at the comment. I suspect though that her smile was more from the title used rather than from Ginny agreeing with her.

"When we first met I was rather annoyed at him and a little rude as well."

"Only a little?" Ron asked, "You basically said he should have murdered those supporters of Riddle rather than capture them." He exclaimed.

Ginny gave him a fairly dirty look and then turned back to Harry with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face.

"Like I said I was a little rude. In turn he was very correct and polite if a little blunt in his comments to me. He also always addressed me as 'Miss Weasley'."

"While he called mum and dad Mr and Mrs Weasley there was a warmth in the way he said it. When he addressed me there was nothing but correctness. Thinking back on it, it made me nervous." She explained.

"I know it had me worried." I said with a little smile, "After you two had your 'chat' and reset the introduction and he called you Ginny for the first time I was so relieved."

"I think we all were." Arthur offered. There were some murmurs of agreement at that statement as well.

Harry glanced around the room at those who had spoken. He then returned his gaze to Sandra.

"Do you see what I'm saying Harry? These little comments he is directing to you are offers of **_informality_**." Sandra explained, "Another way to interpret them is like this. He offering to lower his guard with you, in order to have a real conversation. He is looking for a reply from you, to see if you are prepared to do the same."

"I can see he is keen to talk to you about a great many things. But he also doesn't want to force you into the conversation. He is giving you a 'graceful way out' as they say." She said with a smile at Harry.

"You represent something of an enigma to him Harry. He lives everyday with the consequences of actions that happened long before he was born. While he knows the story of what happened, he like the rest of us are still looking for the why."

"Knowing how Dave thinks, he will be wanting to come to understand you better in order to try and understand your family better. As the story of the ' ** _what_** ' that he knows, is not aligning with the facts that he 'sees' before him when he looks at you."

"That sort of disconnect indicates that something significant had to have happened to cause it. Dave isn't the sort to walk away from that sort of puzzle." She explained.

"So he isn't making fun of me then?" Harry asked.

"He is." Sandra answered, "But not in a derogatory way. He is doing it just like he would to a family member."

"A family member?" Harry asked with a strange look in his eyes.

"Yes Harry. Remember, he can see the bonds that exist between you and Ginny here. He obviously considers it a matter of WHEN not IF, you will be part of his larger family tree through his cousin Ginny." Sandra explained. This comment of course caused a big blush on Ginny along with a large smile.

Harry for his part was also smiling as were all of my family. When the two of them looked at each other, even I could almost see the sparks flying between them.

"How do I accept his invitation?" Harry asked Sandra.

"Simply reply in kind when he next offers. Or if you are really game make a practical joke." Sandra said with a smile.

"I might be able to help you there Harry." George said with his eyes alight with mischief.

Harry simply grinned back at George, with his own eyes alight as well.

"This could get interesting." Fireball remarked to Sandra with her own grin on display. "Should we start to take bets on the outcome of that little encounter?" She asked hopefully.

"No I think we should allow them this one as a training exercise." Sandra said with a cheeky smile. George however seemed to take it as a challenge and he looked like he was indeed looking forward to it.

It was at this point I noticed Dave stand up out in the yard.

"Has he finished?" I asked Sandra.

"I do believe the first part is finished." Ivan said after looking out into the yard, "Now is the time for everyone to join in the 'fun' and get dirty." He said with a smile.

We all had questioning looks on our faces, but Ivan only smiled at our confusion and headed out into the yard.


	27. Talismans

"How did it go?" Ivan asked his son, "Did you manage to locate enough?"

Dave approached and he was soaked through with sweat, but he also had a weary but satisfied smile on his face, "You could say that." He replied.

"Where is it?" Ron asked full of excitement.

"Underground of course." Dave answered with grin at Ron's disappointment, "It needs to be 'found' by your family if it is to be suitable for use." Dave answered.

"So how do we discover it?" Ron asked with his excitement back on show.

"With these." Dave said as he conjured a set of shovels.

"Where do we need to dig?" Arthur asked as he collected one of the shovels.

"Right where I was sitting." Dave answered.

"How far down is it?" Ron said eagerly heading over to the location.

"That I can't say, but it isn't overly far down." Dave replied, "You can all help with the digging if you want. But the ones who MUST be using the shovels when it is found are Uncle Arthur and Aunty Molly." Dave explained.

"I would suggest letting them dig down and the rest who wish to help can widen the hole." Dave suggested.

We all readily agreed and grabbed a shovel each and began to dig in the location where Dave had been sitting. We had only dug down around 3 feet when Arthurs shovel hit something that sounded metallic.

The look of excitement on Arthurs face was infectious. Shortly we were all digging like mad. Eventually we had a hole just over 3 feet deep and around 5 feet wide. The bottom of which was filled with gold nuggets.

There was more gold there than I had ever seen before in my life. The exception being when we saw into Harry's vault at Gringotts.

None of us knew what to do we were completely stunned, we just looked at each other.

Dave turned back up with a wheel barrow and spoke, "Uncle Arthur you will need to be the one who pulls it from the ground. You can then hand it over to any of the others for them to place in the wheel barrow here." He said still smiling at our expressions.

"Where did you find all of this?" Arthur asked still in shock, "You didn't just conjure it, did you?"

"No, I didn't conjure it. It wouldn't be suitable for use in Talismans if I did. The laws of magic are very explicit on that point." He explained.

"As to where I found it. About a mile down there is a layer of rock with a solid seam of gold running through it. I broke up the rock and grabbed the larger gold nuggets that were inside the primary boundary of your property and brought it up a bit closer to the surface for you." He said with a proud but restrained smile.

"A mile?" Bill exclaimed.

"Yes, a mile." Dave replied.

"That's remarkable. Gringotts would pay a small fortune for someone with skills like yours." Bill said with a look of wonder at Dave.

"It doesn't matter what they offer me, I couldn't work for them anyway." Dave replied with a hint of bitterness, "International law limits my employment options to the choices of Unemployment, Ministry Bureaucrat or Auror. Being Unemployed or a Ministry Bureaucrat would be one step above a living Hell so I became an Auror instead." Dave answered with a sense of frustration.

"I would agree with those choices." Bill answered with a sympathetic grin.

Dave nodded in agreement.

"You better get started on that lot. I'm going to get a drink and another wheel barrow." He said as he headed over to the house.

"Another wheel barrow?" Arthur exclaimed, "Just how much did you find Dave?"

"I can't tell you that. You need to 'discover it' yourself and I have already bent the laws as much as I dare." He replied.

The first wheelbarrow was filled by the time that Dave returned with another one and a huge grin on his face.

"Still going?" He asked in that annoying overly casual voice that he has.

Ron gave Dave a filthy look, this wasn't just because he was covered in dirt either.

"Come on Ron, I thought that you would be excited by all of this?" Dave teased him.

"I never realised that gold was so bloody heavy." Ron bemoaned, but he did keep on working in the hole alongside his dad.

"It is and rather cumbersome to carry as well. Just be thankful you didn't need to break the rock and pull it up from a mile down." Dave replied with another cheeky grin at Ron.

"Was all this really all down there?" Ron asked.

"Yes, and there is more of it still down there. If you want to go and dig for it as well." Dave answered.

"More?" Ron said with his eyes a light.

"Yes, I only brought up the larger gold nuggets that are inside the primary boundary of the property. The vein of gold extends about half a mile on the far side of your house and about 1.5 miles off in that direction." He said pointing to the orchard.

"There is another layer of rock about 3 miles down that might hold even more, but that is over an underground river and any damage to that layer might cause the water to rise up and make a new lake here." He said thoughtfully.

"I think that lot can stay down there." Arthur said in a tired sounding voice.

"Agreed." Dave answered, "While you are doing that I will get that tent set up for Monsieur and Madame Delacour and Gabrielle. As I think everyone might want to get cleaned up after this and the more bathrooms and showers on offer the quicker it will go."

Looking around at us all I had to agree with Dave. While it was Arthur, Ron and Bill who were the ones working in the hole the rest of us (the exception being Dave's team and family) were busily carrying the nuggets of gold and rock over to the two of wheel barrows.

"I think you might be right Dave, the more showers the better." I told him.

Dave, Mick, Fireball and Cassy went off and set up some extra tents. At first, I wondered why so many, but eventually they explained that the big tent was a 4 bedroom family tent for the Delacour family as well as Bill and Fleur if they wished. This would enable the house to become less crowded and more comfortable to those staying there.

The other smaller tents were bathroom tents. This would enable everyone to almost shower all at the same time.

Eventually the gold was all removed from the hole. We got the boys out of the hole and stood back and admired our work. While Dave filled in the hole and restored the grass.

"How much gold do you think is there?" Ron asked.

"A little over 400kg." Dave replied. Everyone turned to him with a look of incredibly.

"Do you need all of that for the Talismans?" Ginny asked.

"Nope." Dave answered with a perfectly straight face.

The look on Ginny's face was priceless. I thought that she was going to try and kill him right then and there.

"Then what the hell are you going to do with it all?" She almost demanded.

"Other than make your Talismans, I'm not going to do anything with it." Dave answered still with that deceptively straight face of his, "It's your gold not mine."

This took several moments to sink in. All the while Dave was trying not to grin like a mad man.

Arthur was still looking between the wheelbarrows of gold and Dave, "You mean it is our gold? To keep."

"Yes, it is Uncle Arthur. It was found on your property and you dug it out of the ground. That means by all the laws I'm aware of, both human and magical it is indeed yours." Dave answered in his professional voice.

Suddenly, we were all grinning like mad men.

"What is that amount of gold in Galleons?" Ron asked.

"Just quickly off the top of my head it would be around 2.4 million Galleons. But you would need to check with the Goblins on that one. It might even be more valuable as the raw nuggets themselves." Dave answered.

I thought Ron was going to drop dead of a heart attack. Arthur looked like he already had, as he had gone white. The rest of the family were just stunned. Truly speechless.

Fleur was the first one to recover she walked over to Dave and kissed him soundly on each cheek. She then said very softly into his ear, "Merci beaucoup, Dave. It ez a wonderful zing you 'ave done for zem." She said as she hugged him.

Dave was clearly embarrassed by this as he started to blush, and didn't know what to say. Before he could find any words though the rest of the family was busy embracing him and the girls were kissing him on the cheeks. The exception being Gabrielle who soundly kissed him on the lips. Several times, just because she could.

When it was my turn I just had to ask him, "Are you sure Dave?"

"Sure, about what?" he asked with his innocent look once more on display.

"Are you sure you don't want any of that gold. You did bring it up and make it accessible to us." I said searching his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure. Very sure. Why on earth would I want any of it? I have more than enough for my needs in the bank at home." He answered seriously, "It is doing no one any good just buried there in the ground. This way it can at least be used for some good in the world."

"You are a very special and rare young man Dave." I told him with tears in my eyes. He just looked at me with that confused look he has and asked, "Why?"

Remembering the earlier discussion, I replied, "Because that's how I see you."

"I think we all see you as one." I said as he really started to blush. Then I pulled him into a hug which he returned.

Eventually I released him and Gabrielle was again waiting for him and she hugged him again also. Along with some more kisses.

When she was done with him (for the time being anyway), Dave called us all over to the two wheel barrows.

"I need each of you to select a nugget that feels like it is calling you in some way. This won't be like a wand calling to you. It will be a lot subtler, you may only feel that you like the look of it."

"When you have found, a nugget carry it in both of your hands and place it on the table here. Then you can go and get cleaned up. The start of this next part might be a bit messy but it will not be as messy as what you have just done."

"While you are cleaning up I will get a forge going so we can get the gold ready for use."

"Dave" Hermione asked, "Why can't you just work the metals like you did with the ones you made yesterday?"

"These are a different sort of Talisman from what I made yesterday. They are both more powerful and more difficult to make. The ones I made yesterday were very targeted and while they will give a good deal of protection they will not be able to match these ones."

"Because these ones are more powerful the laws around their creation are much more ridged as well. If I had tried to make these yesterday they would not have been ready in time and we would have likely lost Gabrielle. That was something I wasn't willing to risk." He replied with a shy smile to Gabrielle. She happily returned it.

"Understandable and I agree with your reasoning." Hermione replied with a smile to Gabrielle, "I'm just very curious about the differences between them."

"If you are interested I can dig the book out for you to read if you wish." Dave offered.

At the mention of a book Hermione's eyes lit up, "Yes please, that would be lovely." She answered.

"Ok, I will find it for you later after dinner." He agreed, "Let's get on with this shall we."

With this Dave conjured an odd-looking device, it looked a bit like a strange kitchen oven of some sort. He called it a forge with a crucible in it to enable the nuggets to be melted down. He admitted that while magic or sorcery would do the job faster and better, the first part of the process had to follow the 'old way' as he called it.

"You all have some time to go and get cleaned up if you wish. This will take a while to get up to temperature as it needs to heat up naturally."

"Once it is hot enough the nuggets can be poured out into a mould and then we can begin to work the metal. We will simplify this process as much as we can. But the first two 'folds' of the metal will need to be done by Uncle Arthur."

"After that others may join in if they desire. It will most likely take about 20 folds before the 'old laws' are satisfied and we can use more efficient methods. While you are performing the folding, I will be 'encouraging' the impurities out of the gold itself."

"It is once the gold has reached a purity of around 95% then we will be able to switch to the alternate methods I mentioned." He explained to an intrigued audience.

"Any questions?" He asked us.

"What will we be working the gold with?" Ron asked.

"I will make those tools while you are all off getting cleaned up. Thankfully there are no laws or rules around the hand tools that can be used." Dave answered.

"If there are no other questions I suggest that everyone should select a nugget and place it on the table. Then anyone who wishes take advantage of this break and get cleaned up can do so. It will be about 15 minutes before the forge is hot enough for our purposes."

"I will show the Delacour family to their tent. Fireball can you show the others to the extra bathroom tents we have set up?" Dave asked.

At this we all made our way to an available shower. Arthur and I took the one in the house while the others made use of one of the showers in the various tents. Cassy graciously offered Charlie the use of her shower but he seemed a little embarrassed to accept it. I think the grins from Bill and George might have put him off (for the moment anyway).

I saw Dave leading the Delacour family to the tent that had been provided for them walking hand in hand with Gabrielle. Reaching the tent there was a quick kiss between the two of them, before the Delacour family slipped inside. At this I turned and hurried inside to get cleaned up myself.

When I made it back into the yard I found Kingsley, George, Bill, Percy and Charlie sitting at the table with Dave, Ivan, Mick and Jono. They were all happily chatting away about something, the laughter indicated that they were enjoying themselves at least.

Once Dave saw myself and Arthur he motioned us over to the forge that was now accompanied by an anvil a selection of hammers and some odd-looking tools. One looked like a set of tongs while the other looked almost like a wedge on a stick.

When Dave & Ivan stood up I noticed that they both had on a leather aprons, Dave had also changed out of his T-shirt and shorts into a different t-shirt, jeans and work boots. They also had some spare aprons as well, for use by any helpers I assumed.

The boys all joined us at the forge and the anvil. Once there Dave explained what was going to happen. He was shortly going to pour the melted nuggets into the mould. When it had cooled sufficiently Arthur would be able to begin hammering the bar of gold. Dave would be holding it in the tongs and turning it to keep it even, as well as to control the drawing out of the bar. When it was of sufficient length Ivan would place the wedge-shaped tool on it so that Arthur could drive it into the bar to 'score' the metal and enable it to more easily be folded along that line.

Once folded the process would be started again. Throughout Dave would be 'encouraging' the impurities to leave the metal as slag. Once the required purity was achieved Ivan and Dave would take over and utilise the alternative methods they mentioned before.

He also reminded us that Arthur had to complete the first two folds by himself. Then after that anyone who wanted to could assist. Although he did strongly suggest that they wear the leather aprons for protection.

Bill, Charlie, Percy and George along with Ron, Harry, Kingsley and Monsieur Delacour (who had just emerged from the showers) all indicated that they would like to have a go. While I was interested in the process I had no desire to try and swing the hammers that were on offer.

I went to turn and head back to the porch to join the more sensible women, when I noticed Ivan sharing one of those blank looks with Sandra. It was reasonably brief but long enough to be noticed. Hurrying up my pace I made my over to my sister.

"What's going on?" I asked her full of curiosity. She smiled at me before replying.

"Ivan is going to try something to see if he can draw Dave out of his shell some more." Sandra said with a broad smile. This of course caught the attention of all the ladies present, especially Gabrielle and Dave's sisters.

"IF it works we are going to need everyone to participate. So, when the boys are finished with their hammering call them over here and we will be able to give them some instructions." She requested. I nodded in agreement.

"What's dad going to try mum?" Fireball asked with a half-smile as though she had her suspicions.

"I'm not going to spoil the surprise Jasper. IF it happens, it will be special and will greatly shorten the process involved." Sandra told her, "Once they start working out there, go and bring the rest of the team over here. We will be able to make use of them also if it works." She directed her daughter, who indicated that she would.

I really wanted to ask what was going to happen, but I also didn't want to spoil whatever surprise Sandra indicated might be possible.

Dave was now removing what he had earlier called the crucible from the forge while Ivan was steadying the mould. When the gold was poured into it I was surprised by the amount of it. It looked smaller than I thought it would.

"Is that going to be enough to make Talismans for everyone?" I asked Sandra.

"I do believe it will be plenty. As that amount of gold is only the seed for what they are going to be doing." She explained.

After only a few moments Arthur began hammering on the gold. With each blow of the hammer you could see scale coming off the bar of gold. Sandra explained to us all that the scale that was coming off was the impurities that Dave had 'encouraged' out of the main mass of gold.

In short order Arthur had performed the required two folds of the metal, he then stepped back and allowed Bill in. Bill was followed by Charlie then Percy, George, Ron, Kingsley, Monsieur Delacour and finally Harry. They each did two folds of the metal. All the while Dave was continually turning it over to keep it uniform. Ivan was apparently working on maintain the heat within the bar of gold also.

After they each had done two folds Arthur stepped up and did another two folds. After which Dave called a halt to the process and carefully studied the lump of glowing gold in front of him. He exchanged some words with Ivan and they must have agreed on something as they then each placed one hand on either side of the lump of gold. Both their hands and the gold glowed very brightly.

There were smiles and handshakes all around at this, after which Ivan directed all the other to join us on the porch of the burrow. It was starting to get a little crowded on the porch as Fireball had brought the rest of Dave's team to join us. When the boys arrived however Dave's team stepped off the porch and placed themselves on the grass with their back to the porch rails.

I was about to ask Sandra to get them to come up and join us when she told me, "They are there to provide a shield if it proves necessary."

"A shield?" I asked, "Shield from what?"

"That." Was all she said as she pointed to the yard.

Turning back to the yard I could see Ivan and Dave had each moved back from the anvil and were now facing each other. With the anvil and the gold in the middle of the two of them. They both had looks of extreme concentration on their faces and they were completely motionless.

However, you could feel something building in the air. There was a kind of energy about it that was almost palpable. It got to the point where I thought I could begin to see sparks on the two of them. Then not long after I thought that I could see the sparks they both stepped back into a strange looking stance. They looked like they were mirroring each other. Ivan had his back to us while Dave was facing us.

Dave had his right foot back and he knees were both bent, he looked like he was almost squatting. He had his hands placed one on top of the other at his waist. Eventually he slowly pulled his hands apart. One hand moving up and the other moving down. He appeared to be working very hard to separate his hands.

In between his hands there was a small but growing ball of light. The energy that was radiating out of it was simply amazing.

"What's that in between his hands?" Hermione asked Sandra.

"Pure magical energy. Unshaped by spell or incantation." She replied.

"I didn't think that was possible." Hermione said excitedly.

"As you can see it is. It's just not done very often because of the effort required to summon it and control it is quite considerable." She answered.

Once they each had ball of energy that looked to be at least the size of a good watermelon Dave started to change his hand position. Ivan must have been doing the same. When Dave launched his ball at Ivan, a ball of the same size was launched back at him.

The two balls met in the middle above the gold that was on the anvil. They collided into each other and made a larger ball that seemed to be bigger than the two of them were separately.

At this point, Dave and Ivan began to walk towards each other. It was very clear the amount of effort that was required for each step. As they got closer to the middle you could even see them start to slide backwards a few times.

I also noticed that there seemed to be some sort of shield in place around the ball in the middle. As occasionally what looked like a small bolt of lightning would erupt from the ball and strike it. This would cause the shield to be briefly illuminated.

Once they were both almost at the anvil they changed their movements to bring the ball of energy downward. When the ball of energy reached the gold, they continued to press it down. Eventually the ball of energy was fully inside the gold on the anvil. It was then that I realised that the amount of gold that was on the anvil had more than doubled.

Ivan and Dave were smiling at each other obviously happy with their efforts. At this point, Ivan looked over to Sandra with that blank expression again which she returned.

"Molly, Arthur I need you two to follow me for the next step." She requested once she had broken off her conversation with him.

Slightly nervously we both followed her over to the two of them. When we arrived, Sandra spoke again.

"We wish to join our family Talismans to yours. This will repair and reinforce the bonds of family between us all, through enabling greater understanding of each other. It will also combine the strength of our two families together to create something greater than they are separately." She intoned almost formally.

"Is this something that you two also desire?" She asked.

Arthur and I were both a little shocked but if the smile on his face was anything to go by he was very happy with the idea. "More than you can know." I replied with a smile. Arthur also indicated that he approved as well.

With this Ivan, Sandra and Dave all placed their hands over their hearts and bowed their heads to us in a very formal almost ceremonial manner. I have since learned that Dave's sisters and cousin along with this team mirrored the gesture as well.

Dave then stepped up to each of his parents and laid a single finger on the golden chains they each wore around their necks. As he removed his finger a very thin and brightly glowing golden strand emerged from each one.

He brought these two strands together and they immediately entwined themselves around each other. Dave cupped this combined strand in his hand and looked to his mother and nodded.

"I now need you each to retrieve a hair from the head of your beloved one." She requested.

I plucked a single hair from Arthurs head and he did the same to me.

"Place the hair into Dave's hands." Sandra instructed.

As we did so the strand that was in Dave's hand briefly glowed brighter and there once more appeared to be more of it than there was previously. Dave then gathered up the new larger strand and began to weave it on itself. Each time he did this it simply reformed into a solid single strand again. He then looked at his mother and smiled a most gorgeous smile at her. I couldn't help but return it.

"The two families have been accepted as one by the ancient laws of magic." Sandra said also smiling.

"With your approval, Dave will now add the newly formed core to your family's offered gold." She requested.

Arthur indicated that he could. When Dave added the newly made thread I could see his Talisman begin to glow very brightly. Looking to Sandra and Ivan I could see their Talismans also glowing bright as well.

Andrea, Fireball and Cassy also all had their Talismans glowing brightly as well. The members of Dave's team also had a glow about their Talismans. We learned later that all of the Talismans of my Sister's blood family (and their partners) also glowed brightly as well. This most likely greatly contributed to the wonderfully warm welcome we all received when we travelled to Australia to meet them all. But more on that later on.

"I think we need to get back to the porch and let these two continue on with their work." Sandra said with a smile at her husband.

We quickly made our way back to the porch. Once we got there Ginny came up and asked, "Mum what just happened out there and why did all of their necklaces glow like that."

"Our two families have repaired the bonds between them and made something new that is greater than the sum of it individual parts." I told her smiling broadly.

"Really?" She asked with a smile playing around her lips.

"Really." Sandra answered smiling at her. Ginny was now happily returning the smile.

"Let me be the first to apologise for Dave on behalf of the ENTIRE family." Fireball said grinning broadly at her while we all enjoyed the resulting laughter.

Fireball looked over to Gabrielle and winked at her, but she was also smiling as well.

Turning our attention back to the two in the yard I noticed that they were now both standing holding heavy looking hammers on either side of the anvil. They appeared to be waiting on us. Once we were all calmed down again and focused on the goings on in the yard they turned their attention to each other and appeared to be communicating.

At this point, Sandra spoke up in a voice which while soft could be clearly heard by all of us.

"Listen up everyone, Ivan is going to try something to see if he can draw Dave a bit more out of his shell. He will be trying to get Dave to participate in 'Singing to the Steel' as it is commonly called. If it works it will greatly speed up the time taken to make the Talismans."

"But if it does work we will need you all to join in with the singing as well. As this is something that involves either everyone doing it or no one." She explained.

"How can we join in if we don't know the words?" Hermione asked.

"There are no actual words for our part of it." Sandra replied rather cryptically, "You will just need to follow the lead of myself and Andrea. As we will be following what those two set out there"

"This however is all dependant on Dave picking up his father's offer to sing." She said with a thoughtful look at the two in the yard.

"Does Dave sing?" Gabrielle asked with her eyes almost glowing in anticipation.

"Yes, he does." Sandra replied with a gentle smile, "However he hasn't sung since Emma's funeral. So, I don't know how he will answer this offer." She said thoughtfully.

"Oh, I see." Gabrielle said sadly, but oddly still with a trace of hope.

Out in the yard there was a rhythmic series of taps on the anvil with a hammer. Ivan stood with a questioning look at his son. Dave for his part had noticeably stiffened with his bowed, and almost looked defensive.

Looking around I could see Dave's family looking at him with hope in their eyes. They were quietly imploring him to respond and accept it. Fireball almost sounded like she was saying one of those muggle prayers.

After a few moments, the rhythmic series of taps was repeated. This time Dave looked to his father. From where we stood it was difficult to read his expression. But it almost looked like he was frightened.

I distinctly remember Gabrielle saying in a soft voice, "S'il vous plait Dave."

Looking to Dave he had half turned to the porch as though he had heard something and was wondering what it was.

A few moments later Ivan again repeated the series of rhythmic taps. But this time Dave slowly raised his hammer and repeated the same pattern.

Sandra's face was one large smile and her daughters were also equally happy. They were now eagerly watching the two in the yard to see what would transpire.

The series of taps was again repeated, but answered almost immediately by Dave. The pace of the taps began to increase but also the power of them. This generated a distinct set of sounds coming from the anvil.

Eventually the series of taps included a solid blow to the gold that was situated on the anvil. Very quickly a rhythmic beat was coming from the yard with a very rapidly growing rate of blows to both the anvil and the gold.

Soon they let go of their hammers but they continued to work to the rhythm that had been set. They moved and grabbed another set of hammers. These appeared to be larger than the first ones. These they too started to tap on the anvil in a rhythmic manner.

Just like before they quickly set up rhythm and then left the hammers to continue the work. The two men then stepped back and just stared at one another. They stood that way for only a few moments before Sandra almost squealed with delight saying, "Ivan has begun to sing."

"Has he? I can't hear him." I told her.

"He isn't singing with his voice, he is doing it with his thoughts. Dave must have negotiated a compromise to singing out loud. He must feel he isn't ready for that just yet."

"Even if he only responds with his thoughts this will have been a big step for him." She said hopefully.

"Is it possible to listen?" I asked her. She nodded and held her hand out to me. Taking my hand, she placed them on her Talisman, then after a moment I could faintly hear a single strong deep voice singing. I couldn't clearly make out the words but the meaning was unmistakeable. The voice was singing of Home, Family, Strength, Companionship and Unconditional Love.

Gabrielle quickly crossed to Fireball and with her heart in her eyes simply said, "Please".

Fireball smiled at her and held out her hands to her also. When Gabrielle placed her hands-on Fireball's Talisman the singing that I could hear seemed to gain in volume.

Shortly after that I could make out a second voice. It was a younger voice, but also deep and rich. There was something about it though, an almost frightening power behind the words. But that power felt like it was under very strict limits.

We both looked over to Gabrielle and she had an expression of pure joy and wonder on her face. You couldn't see it and not be made happy by it.

"Is zat Dave who just joined in ze singing?" She asked Sandra.

Sandra, who by now had tears in her eyes and couldn't speak simply nodded by way of reply. Gabrielle's smile became brilliantly radiant. There is no other way that I could describe it. The rest of the girls were eagerly wanting to listen now so Andrea allowed Ginny and Madame Delacour to touch her Talisman so that they could listen. While Sandra allowed Hermione to join me and listen through her Talisman. Fleur went and joined Gabrielle and listened through Fireball's Talisman.

As each new person listened in the volume of the singing seemed to increase. The words were still indistinct but the meaning became ever clearer.

They all had broad smiles on their faces while they listened to the song that was being sung. Eventually even the boys wished to hear what was being sung. I did notice that they all took turns on either Sandra or Andrea's Talismans, but no one seemed to want to disturb Gabrielle who was still listening with rapped attention.

Looking over to Ivan and Dave they were now both working on the lump of gold. Moving it about under the hammers that were still hammering in perfect unison.

Occasionally they would draw out the lump of gold into a long thin bar and then twist it around and then fold it back on itself and repeat the process over again. All the while they were singing in time with the rhythm of the hammers.

As they worked the lump of gold it seemed to get brighter and brighter. After quite some time they looked like they had achieved their desired result as Dave removed the lump of now very bright gold from the anvil and floated it over slightly away from the anvil.

He then conjured twelve spindles and they each seemed to draw off a thin thread of gold from the main mass. When the gold was fully onto the spindles Dave arranged them into two rows of 6 one above the other. He also started them weaving themselves together into a single thicker strand.

He then walked this strand down to Ivan who held out his hand for it. Dave then walked back to a position that was slightly closer to the house. He looked like he was reading himself. After a moment, he stood tall to his full height and raised his arms up. When he raised his arms, we could hear his voice ring out in a cry of celebration.

As before the words were difficult to make out but the meaning was very clear. It was a song of joy and happiness, I could feel my heart become glad just by listening to it. He stamped his foot and began to clap his hands with a rhythm that was similar to what the hammers had been working to previously.

Sandra and Andrea quickly took up the rhythm that he set and we all followed them. This of course meant that we could no longer hear what he was singing. But the chant that Sandra and Andrea started was infectious and joyful and it kept us busy.

Once we were all stamping and clapping in time and we had sung through the chant twice Dave signalled to his father. Ivan then burst into Friendfyre and the section of gold that he was holding seemed to catch alight also. He then hurled a ball of Friendfyre with the golden rope trailing along behind it at Dave who effortlessly caught it and sent it back to Ivan.

Each time they passed the ball of Friendfyre between them it laid down a new thread of gold into the rope that they were weaving. It almost looked like that they were dancing as their movements were perfectly in sync and very graceful. It was truly a sight to behold.

I honestly couldn't tell you how long this went on for, it could have been only a few minutes or it could have been hours. The sun had moved in the sky however and it looked like it was almost dinner time when the two of them finished their work.

Dave now had on a single spindle what appeared to be an almost impossibly shiny gold rope. It looked almost exactly like the one that he and his family wore around their necks. Sandra beckoned to me and Arthur to follow her down to where the two boys were.

When we joined them both Ivan and Dave looked to be very tired but they also had very contented smiles on their faces. Sandra walked to the spindle of golden rope that they had made and pulled out a shot length of it. She then made an odd movement with her hands and it separated from the spindle. This she draped over her arm while she repeated it for a slightly shorter amount.

She then walked over to us and presented the two lengths of golden rope to us both.

"Here are the first of your family Talismans for you both. May they ever help protect and guide both you and your family. In good times and in adversity from now until the end of days." She said smiling as she handed them over to us.

"Take each end in one hand and join the two together behind your neck as though putting on an ordinary necklace. The two ends will seamlessly fuse together. If you ever wish to remove it simply hold your hands together on the chain and ask it to come off three times. The chain will then separate and you will be able to remove it." She instructed.

We did as she instructed and once the two ends met I could instantly feel the power of it flow through me. It was such a loving feeling that I couldn't help but smile and embrace my sister, husband and brother-in-law.

Arthur seemed to be experiencing a similar feeling as he had such an adorable smile on his face also.

"Molly please call your first born to join us." Sandra requested.

I turned and beckoned to Bill who came over to us. Sandra presented another length of rope to both Arthur and myself, she instructed us to hold one end each and place it around Bills neck. As the two ends met I could see a smile light up Bill's face as he felt the power of the Talisman flow through him as well.

We next called Charlie down to us and repeated the process. Percy, George, Ron and Ginny followed. Once they had all received their Talismans Sandra requested Fleur to join us.

Fleur came down with a look of anticipation written large on her face. This time the length of chain was presented to Bill and he was asked to attach it around Fleur's neck. As he did so she too broke out into a brilliant smile. Next Dave handed the spindle over to his father and stepped up to the two of them. He placed one finger on each of their Talismans and again drew forth a single thread from each one. These he quickly wove together into a single strand. Once he had a single strand he attempted to weave it again, but it reverted to a single strand again. This brought a large smile to his face and that of all of us present.

He looped the single strand around them both and then joined the ends together. Once the ends were joined the new strand was absorbed into their individual Talismans. The smiles on Bill and Fleur's faces became even more radiant and they embraced each other and then a rather surprised Dave as well.

Fleur's parents were the next ones to be called down. This time the golden rope was presented to both Bill and Fleur and they then placed it around the neck of each of her parents in turn. When Fleur's parents each had their own Talisman Dave again took a single strand from each one and then wove them together into a single strand. That was looped around them both and was then absorbed into their own Talismans.

Gabrielle was next to be called down. Her parents presented her with her own Talisman and when the ends were joined she also broke out into a brilliant smile.

Harry was the next one to be called down. Arthur and I were given a length of golden rope to present to him. When the ends were joined he also had a radiant smile upon his face.

Sandra then beckoned to both Harry and Ginny to join her and Dave. "As you two are not yet married" she said as they both broke out into significant blushes, "We can't yet join your Talismans together as we have done with Arthur and Molly, Bill and Fleur and Julian and Apolline. However, if you both are serious about your relationship and wish to make a promise of commitment to each other we can make your Talismans more directly aware of each other." She explained

"This isn't something to be undertaken lightly however. It requires the freely given commitment from you both that you are indeed serious about each other, and desire to form a long-term bond with one another. Through a loving and supportive relationship as equals." She asked in a rather formal tone of voice.

"Is this something that you both desire and agree to?" She asked.

Harry gazed into Ginny's eyes and replied, "It is." As he smiled at her. Ginny for her part blushed deeply but she also smiled and said, "It is."

"Then step forward and each of you take one of Dave's hands. With your other hand hold your Talisman and touch it to your beloveds Talisman." She instructed.

This they did and as they touched their Talismans together they both glowed brightly for a moment.

"Your Talismans are now linked and are aware of one another." Sandra said with a smile at them both, "They have also acknowledged and accepted your intentions towards one another as well."

"Congratulations." She said to them both as they had a small attack of the giggles. Dave placed the hands that he had been holding together and stepped back with a smile on his face also.

Harry and Ginny quickly embraced and then kissed deeply. To a few cheers from the crowd.

Hermione was the next one to be called down. She came forward looking both excited and nervous. She also smiled shyly at Ron as she approached.

Once more Arthur and I were given the Talisman to present to her. As with the others when it was joined behind her neck she smiled radiantly as she felt its power infuse her.

As with Ginny and Harry she and Ron were called to stand with Sandra and Dave. The same questions were asked and the same answers were given as before. They then joined hands with Dave and touched their Talismans together. Just as before they both briefly glowed brightly. Then Dave joined their hands and once more stepped back.

Ron and Hermione followed Ginny and Harry's example and embraced and kissed deeply once more to cheers.

Kingsley was the next one to be called forward. This time Arthur and Ivan were given the length of golden rope.

"You may not be a blood member of my sister's family Kingsley, but they do regard you as basically an adopted member of it. To this end if you are willing they would like to present to you a Talisman as well. This they offer out of friendship and love."

"Arthur will present the Talisman to you on behalf of his Family, my husband Ivan will present it to you on behalf of his. He is also offering it to you in the hope that the once good relations between our magical governments and citizens be restored once more."

"Do you accept this Talisman Kingsley Shacklebolt?" Sandra asked formally.

"I do, most humbly and graciously I accept it." Kingsley replied.

With this Arthur and Ivan placed the Talisman around Kingsley's neck. Once it was connected his also grinned widely. He then shook hands and embraced Arthur and Ivan.

Sandra now approached the length of chain that was left and broke it into two separate but equal lengths.

"Who are they for?" I asked her.

"They are for two members of your family that you are yet to meet." She replied with a little smile.

"One of them is for Percy's special young lady when he eventually brings her to visit." Sandra explained to me.

"You mean this Audrey that was mentioned in Dave's recommendation for Percy?" I asked.

"Yes." Sandra said with a smile.

"Who is the other one for?" I asked.

"That is for the one that holds George's heart in her hands." Sandra said cryptically.

"Who is that?" I just HAD to ask.

"All I can tell you is that it is a lady he knows quite well. I believe he went to school with her and was in both the same house and same team with her. Her name begins with the alphabet and means a heavenly messenger."

"However, they have not yet fully admitted their feelings for one another. Until they do she will not be ready for this."

"I ask you keep it for her until they are both ready." She requested.

"I will happily keep it safe for her." I replied. That my dear family was the first hint we ever had about George being 'interested' in Angelina.

"What about Charlie?" I asked.

At this comment Sandra answered, "He seems to be developing an interest is a blond-haired beauty who knows how to handle a flame and quite likes dragons." She said with a knowing smile.

I couldn't help but return it also.

"Besides, the said young lady already has her own Talisman." Sandra smirked knowingly.

Ron approached us and asked, "Are we done now?"

"Why are you hungry Ron?" I asked him teasingly.

"Well yes I am actually, but Dave looks like he is about to fall over from exhaustion and I really don't want to have to try and carry him back to his tent." He explained.

"You know he makes a good point." Sandra replied. At his she walked over to where Dave and Ivan were talking to Kingsley.

"Dave, why don't you go and have a rest while we all get dinner sorted. You have had a rather full afternoon so far, I'm sure it will do you the world of good." She advised him.

"Sounds like a plan mum, I'm stuffed. Will go and flake out on the couch in my tent for a bit." He said as he took off his leather apron and t-shirt. The apron he handed to Sandra while the t-shirt he used to wipe his forehead.

While he was doing, this Gabrielle came up and hugged him rather fiercely. While she was hugging, him I noticed that both of their Talismans glowed brightly briefly before she led him away to his tent.

"Did they just?" I asked my sister in disbelief.

"They did." She replied with her eyes showing the wonder that she felt.

"I wonder if Fleur or her parents noticed." I said as I was looking around for them. I soon spotted them, Julian was talking to Bill and Arthur but Apolline and Fleur were just staring after Gabrielle and Dave as they walked off.

When they noticed, us watching them they both hurried over.

"Did you see zat?" Fleur asked breathlessly.

"Did zey really just link their Talismans just like Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione did?" Apolline asked.

"Yes, I think that they just did." Sandra said, still with a look of wonder on her face as though she was trying to work something out.

"How is zat possible?" Apolline asked. She didn't sound worried only extremely curious.

"The affection that is growing between them, must be very strong and deep as well as honest. It must also be equally felt by both parties involved." Sandra remarked.

"Why do you say zat?" Apolline asked watching Sandra closely.

"Because Dave wasn't even saying the incantation with their Talismans touched." Sandra answered thoughtfully.

"Is there a bond between them?" I asked as Fleur's eyes lit up at the thought.

"I don't know I didn't look." Sandra replied, "Let's go and find out, shall we?" she said with a wicked little smile.

We all quickly headed off to Dave's tent, very interested in what we would find inside it.

When we arrived in Dave's tent we found Gabrielle happily sitting on the couch in the lounge section of the tent. She appeared to be curled up with a cup of tea and book and some sort of chocolate biscuit. Dave however was nowhere to be found.

Gabrielle looked up in surprise to see the group of us arrive in a rush.

"Hello." She said very happily, "If you are looking for Dave he is taking a shower just now." She said indicating the closed door to the bathroom.

With the barest of nods, Sandra made straight for the bathroom door and opened it. As the door opened there was a rather loud yell of surprise from the shower and a rather soapy looking Dave was glaring at his mother.

"Bloody Hell mum, between you and Grandma I think I'm going to need a lock on my own bathroom door." He said in irritation. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" He asked before he glanced out the door and noticed the crowd of women intently staring into the bathroom. Gabrielle particularly was gazing very intently into the room. Although the clouds of steam covered most of 'the view' so to speak.

Dave however didn't realise this and he quickly summoned a towel to cover himself with. "You are trying to give me a heart attack aren't you as well as frightening those poor ladies outside." He exclaimed.

At this comment, we all broke out into laughter as we couldn't help but laugh at both the expression on Dave's face and the note in his voice.

Our laughter seemed to have drawn a crowd as Fireball, Cassy, Andrea, Hermione, Ginny and Arthur had arrived to see what all the commotion was in Dave's tent.

"Well now, just what is going on here?" Fireball asked with a dirty little smirk on her face.

"Our mother is trying to give me a bloody heart attack and damage the eye sight of everyone unlucky enough to be in my lounge." Dave almost cried out.

"I see" Fireball replied while she climbed onto the couch with Gabrielle and grabbed one of the chocolate biscuits that was on the table.

"I thought it was the sequel to the Paris Incident." She said to the laughter of all present.

At this comment, Ginny and Hermione also climbed onto the couch and joined her. They too had evil grins on their faces and grabbed biscuits as well.

Dave retreated further into the bathroom, to the obvious displeasure of Gabrielle. We could then hear him ask, "Just what are you after mum? What's so important that it couldn't wait until I finished my shower?"

"I just wanted to check on you and see if you are alright." Sandra said rather lamely, but she did manage it in an even tone of voice.

"Check on me? What did you want to do a Heart stress test?" Dave asked. This set off another round of giggles from the crowd in the lounge.

"No, I don't think we need to do that today. You seem to be in good health just now. Your reflexes look like they could use some work though." She said as she laughed at her sons reply and left the bathroom closing the door behind her while carrying Dave's clothes.

She walked over to his bedroom and placed the clothes in a basket at the foot of the bed.

Once she left the bedroom the door suddenly closed behind her. Sandra was rather startled by this but then she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" I had to ask.

"There is only one door into the bathroom, something I'm sure Dave will be fixing shortly. But he seems to have found it more convenient to Apparate from it to his bedroom." She answered with an evil grin.

"Didn't you want to come out and see your visitors?" Sandra asked.

"You mean after you took my clothes and vanished my towels?" Came the voice of a rather ruffled Dave from the bedroom.

"Is that what I did?" Sandra said with a look of innocence on her face.

"You bloody well know that you did." Dave said as he emerged from his bedroom once more dressed in a t-shirt and shorts with only a slight blush.

"Now what was the real reason for your attempt at inducing coronary failure and eye trouble?" He asked with a questioning look on his face.

"I have already told you dear. If you choose not to believe me that is your problem." She answered as she walked from the tent.

We all quickly followed her.

Once we were safely away from the tent we questioned her as to what she saw.

"Well?" we all asked close to the same time.

"Yes" she answered and for some reason we were all rather excited.

"Yes what?" Ginny asked.

It was then that I realised that Ginny and Hermione had followed us from Dave's tent along with the others.

"There is a bond there between the two of them. It is very new and very light. I'd be surprised if they were aware of it themselves just now." She said excitedly. "It is very possible it is just their souls stating their intentions just now."

"Between Dave and Gabrielle?" Andrea asked.

"Yes." Sandra replied.

Fireball's face broke out into a beatific smile at this news.

"Now Jasper don't you dare go teasing him about this just yet. Let them work this out for themselves." Sandra admonished her daughter.

"Yes mum." She answered a little disappointedly.

"After they have worked it out for themselves?" Andrea asked hopefully.

"Open season." Sandra answered to a collection of grinning faces.


	28. Family Introductions

This new discovery gave us plenty to talk (gossip) about while we all pitched in and organised dinner together. The consensus of 'the girls' was that we all approved of this new development between Dave and Gabrielle. Sandra and Apolline in particular seemed excited about the possibilities that presented themselves with this relationship.

Their conversation in particular got me thinking about Sandra's earlier statement about 'family I had not yet met'. As Percy passed through the kitchen with Arthur and George I seized the opportunity.

"Percy." I called out to him.

"Yes, mum?" He asked with a questioning look on his face.

"Seeing as it is shaping up to be a large family dinner tonight I would like you to go and invite Audrey along as well." I instructed him. The poor boy went a little pale at the thought.

"Is there a problem with that Percy?" I asked him with a knowing smile.

"It's… Well… You see…" Percy was trying to find the words when Fireball spoke up.

"You mean you are STILL trying to prepare her for 'the shock' of meeting your family for the first time?" Fireball smirked at him, "I thought that we had had this discussion a while back." She added with an arched eyebrow at him.

"Well we did. But still, it can be a bit much when faced with them for the first time all at once." He finally managed to get out.

"A bit much?" Fireball exclaimed with a sly grin, "Perce, the girl has gone toe to toe with multiple Death Eaters at once. She has stood shoulder to shoulder with you against a squad of Dementors."

"She also hasn't run from a fight yet. What makes you think that this crazy mob might be a bit much for her?" Fireball asked him.

"Well when you put it like that." Percy said in defeat, "Ok, I will go and invite her over then."

"Good boy." Fireball added smugly, "I'll give you 45min tops before I bring a welcoming committee over to do the invite on your behalf." She said with an evil grin at him.

"Ok, I'm going. I'm going." Percy said as he hurried out the door.

Arthur looked over at Fireball with a smile of his own, "Dave hinted yesterday that you had been keeping Percy inline during your time here. It seems like he wasn't exaggerating it all." He remarked.

"Well, it was more of a team effort between, Audrey, Shelly and me." She explained, "He can be a little stubborn at times."

"Now there's an understatement." Ginny said with a smile of her own.

"Be nice Ginny." I told her.

"I was." She replied with a cheeky grin.

"Well you have our thanks for helping to keep him safe for us." Arthur said with a heartfelt smile.

"You're welcome Uncle Arthur." Fireball answered to Arthur's delight. "If we had known earlier that he was family we would have put more of a watch on him." She explained.

"Him too." She said indicating George.

"Me?" George remarked.

"Yes you." Fireball answered, "I don't know if Dave told you or not. But we were frequent visitors to your shop, before you closed it up."

"Hardly a day would go by where we didn't have either someone from our team through your shop, or someone who worked for us in there."

"When we had a big raid ready to go, Dave and Semi would be in and out of your shop numerous times in a day. They would both dress differently each time they went in though. As we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves." She said with a smile.

"I think you even did your block at Jimmy one time. As he came in to get some more of your day dream charms and that darkness powder, but you had sold out. I think he offered to wait while you made some more but that just set you off." She said grinning, "He came back the next morning and between him, Dave, Jono and Mick they cleaned out your entire stock before lunch."

George had the strangest look on his face at this comment. "I think I remember that incident." He said thoughtfully, "Did your brother Jimmy have long blond hair, blue eyes and about the same size as Dave?" He asked.

"That is a good description of him yes." Fireball answered.

"Then yes that would have been me that went off at him. We were making so much of those products I was starting to get sick and tired of doing it." He answered, "Although I do remember that Verity didn't mind him visiting the store so often." He said with a chuckle.

"Yes we gave him some good natured teasing about that also." Fireball chuckled, "That's probably why Dave got the overwatch job on your store in the mornings so often. As he was the ring leader for that particular campaign." She laughed.

"Overwatch?" George asked, "What do you mean by that."

"We usually had someone keeping an eye on your store at opening and closing times. Mainly to make sure that no one interfered with you or your staff." Fireball explained.

"Why would you do that?" George enquired of her.

"A good joke shop is a fantastic resource to have access to when in the field. We all felt yours was one of the best we have used over the years. Your products had done a great deal to keep us safe while we had been operating here. Naturally we felt that we should do what we could to return the favour, so to speak."

The surprise on the face of George was a delight, while the gratitude on Arthur's was just heart-warming.

"Why would you consider a simple joke shop to be a great resource?" George asked curiously.

"They are a great resource as they are were creative ideas can be seen in action." Fireball explained, "A good number of items in our 'bags of tricks' as Dave calls it originated in Joke shops."

"People who want to make joke objects and trick others tend to be very creative thinkers. They approach problems very differently to everyone else. It is that different view that is so valuable to us. As we think differently again we can often take a simple idea seen in a joke shop and apply it in a very different way." Explained Fireball.

"A very good case in point is those 'covert wands' that Dave gave everyone before. Did you know that the idea for them came from a joke shop?" She asked.

"Really?" George asked excitedly, "What sort of product was it?"

"From what Grandpa told me it was a type of wooden toy that was popular at the time. To make it easier to carry it could be 'hidden' on you. Grandpa brought it to the attention of the technical division back then and they worked on it for a few years and were eventually able to apply the idea behind it to wands."

"They have proven to be very popular with the Aurors in our region, as you may have guessed." She remarked.

"I can understand that." Arthur replied, "So they are not a unique creation of Dave's then?" He asked a little disappointed.

"No they are relatively common amongst Aurors." Fireball laughed at Arthur's expression, "But those type of wands are very tightly controlled as well. It is very difficult for just anyone to gain approval to possess one."

"That makes good sense." I told her. Fireball indicated her agreement. Then continued.

"Over the years our technical division has scoured virtually every joke shop in our part of the world for ideas. I do know that they were also very impressed with your decoy detonators and skiving snack boxes." Fireball said with a smile.

"When you come back with us we are definitely going to have to introduce you to our current head of the technical division. As he has wanted to meet you for a while now."

"Those 'headless hats' of yours were a big hit in his family back at Christmas and I do believe he is currently working on some ideas based on them." She explained.

George looked very pleased with himself at this news.

"I suppose I can tell you now, that Dave was pushing for formal approval to 'break cover' so we could 'reach out', to you both and try to recruit you to work with us. By the time, we gained approval to make such a move however, you had closed up shop and moved to only operating via your owl post service." She said a little sadly.

This enthralled George. Arthur was also very interested in this explanation. Ginny had a slightly guilty expression at this news. I was willing to bet that she was thinking back to yesterday's comments about Dave and his team not doing enough to protect people from the Death Eaters.

"Even so before you closed up shop, Dave and Mick had run quite a few patrols around your store and 'dealt with' a few trouble makers, which were giving you both and Verity a bit of a hard time." She explained.

"Which ones?" George wanted to know.

"I would need to check the reports to be sure. But that ugly bald bloke with the big black beard, he and his entire crew were removed back to France one night. As a result of Dave and Mick overhearing them saying they should burn your store down for making fun of the 'Dark Lord'."

"Also, the big overweight bloke who kept on hassling Verity, he ended up in France after asking for Jono's help to kidnap her. Bad move on his part." She chuckled.

"Always wondered what happened to him." George said thoughtfully, "Did you guys do anything to keep that tall thin bloke with the really long braided beard off our backs as well?" He asked, "As he really freaked me out each time I saw him." George explained.

"I'll tell him that for you, as he would be pleased to hear it." Fireball chuckled. George stood there with a confused look on his face.

"That tall bloke you just described is Dave. It is one of his more frequent 'legends' as they are called." She said with a laugh.

"You mean, that was Dave? Causing that mischief in and around my store?" George exclaimed.

"Yup." Fireball answered, and then laughed at the expression on George's face, "Before you get too worked up George." She said with a smile, "The grief he caused for you is NOTHING compared to the various groups of criminals that he literally frightened out of the city in that identity."

"Why would he do that?" George asked with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.

"He needed to establish 'his credentials' with the local criminals in order for his identity to be taken seriously by them." She explained.

"Those few incidents were enough to convince them that you were paying protection money to him. And that if they wanted to give you any grief then they would have to go through him to do it."

"As you might have guessed, not many were willing to take him up on that offer. Those that were dumb enough to try were never heard from again by the local criminals. This acted as a VERY powerful deterrent to any other challenges to the status quo."

"It does make a degree of sense I suppose." George said thoughtfully.

"If it makes you feel any better George, that old bloke from 'across the street' who helped you tidy up. He was also Dave" She said with a laugh.

"You mean old Mr Brown?" George asked, "How could he be Dave? As he has been around since Merlin was a boy."

"That's a little trick of Dave's, to make people think that someone is 'part of the landscape' as the saying goes." She remarked with a grin.

"He certainly is a tricky little bugger, isn't he?" George said with a smile.

"Well it is his speciality." Fireball explained.

"Hang on, old Mr Brown got rather badly hurt, when he stepped in to help Verity. Did Dave really get hurt then or was that an act?" George asked.

"No, sadly it wasn't an act. He still has the scar from that encounter." Fireball said with a touch of sadness.

"But that group that were behind it are now all in jail. So Dave considers it a fair trade."

"How can that be a fair trade?" George asked.

"Dave doesn't pay attention to injuries like other people, partly because he heals so rapidly. And partly because he often can't see them. As what he sees is so much worse than any injury." She explained.

"It is bloody annoying at times I can assure you, as we all wish he would take greater care of himself."

"I can see how that could drive you to distraction." George said with a smirk, "But I am grateful for his and your efforts on behalf of my staff." He said seriously.

"Maybe I won't prank him after all." George said thoughtfully.

"Bite your tongue George!" Fireball exclaimed, "You can't exclude him from a well-deserved prank just for doing his job." She said shocked, "It would set a very bad precedent." She remarked to a chorus of laughter.

"Ok, I won't then." George said happily.

"Good boy." Fireball said smirking at him, "I just hope that you have something appropriate planned for him." She asked hopefully.

"Oh, I do think it will be." George said with an evil grin.

"I will look forward to it then." Fireball remarked.

"Speaking of Dave, George could you go and tell him and Gabrielle that Dinner will be ready soon." I asked him.

"Ok mum." George replied and headed off into the yard.

After George left Sandra turned to Fireball and asked, "I hope you are not setting poor George up at all, by encouraging him in trying to prank Dave young lady."

"Why would you say that?" Fireball asked with a smile.

"Because I know that look all too well young lady." She answered.

"I must admit that it does look very familiar to me also. I'm surprised George didn't pick up on it." I told her.

With that revelation, Fireball and Ginny looked at each other and they both displayed nearly identical evil grins.

"Why is George looking so cheerful?" Sandra asked while she was looking into the yard.

At this comment, we all looked out into the yard to see for ourselves. George was indeed in a very happy mood, and he was rapidly crossing the yard to the house. He entered the kitchen out of breath and took a moment to compose himself while we were all waiting expectantly to hear why he was so joyful.

"Ginny, grab your camera and follow me. We have to get a picture of this." He said excitedly.

Ginny took off up the stairs to her room to collect her camera and then the two of them headed out the door. Full of curiosity the rest of us followed. We were a rather strange sight crossing the yard in procession following George and Ginny as though we were all on a school excursion.

George ended up leading us back to Dave's tent. The door was open and he was motioning us to stay quiet. Sandra had a strange little smile about her face as she watched us all try and sneak into Dave's tent.

Once we were inside we found the subject of George's mirth. Dave and Gabrielle were snuggled up together on the couch asleep. Dave had his hands around Gabrielle's waist while she had one of hers around his neck with the other one on his chest. Her head was comfortably nestled on his shoulder with her face burrowed into his neck. You couldn't see that sight and not smile at it.

Certainly Sandra, Fleur, Apolline and Dave's sisters and cousin all had large smiles on their faces at the scene in front of them.

Grinning like a mad woman Ginny moved into position to take a photo of the sight before us. As she raised her camera to her eye Dave spoke up saying, "You will need a flash to take a photo in here just now Ginny."

We all jumped a bit at this. When I looked over at Dave I could see him grinning back at us, "Did you really think you could sneak this whole crowd in here without me knowing George?" he asked with the laughter clear in his voice.

For his part, George did look a little crest fallen at not getting away with it. But the spark was still there in his eyes, I think he was enjoying the challenge.

"You two just looked so cute like that Dave. I only wanted to capture the moment for posterity." George said with such earnestness that even I almost believed him. I did say 'almost'.

I could see from the look in Dave's eyes as well, that he clearly was also doubting George's stated reason. But he also seemed to like the idea of a picture of the two of them together as well.

"Very well George." Dave said with a smile, "I will assist you and Ginny in your goal. Provided Ginny can take a shot for me on my camera as well." Dave bargained.

"Deal." George agreed looking across to Ginny for confirmation as she agreed to Dave's request.

With a wave of his hand there was another light source in the tent. This bathed the two of them in a lovely soft light almost as though it was dawn or sunset. Dave suggested a better shooting position for Ginny and then laid back and closed his eyes as he was before.

As he was laying there looking very comfortable he again spoke, "Fireball, I would forget about those bunny ears you are trying to place on my head if I was you." Twisting his head, he looked straight at her with a questioning expression. She wasn't even embarrassed at having been caught in the attempt. Although Ginny did look a little disappointed.

Giving up on the attempt (this time) Fireball walked back to join the others. Dave again closed his eyes and laid back down, allowing Ginny to take her photo. After she had taken her photo Dave indicated the cupboard where his camera was located. Ginny opened this and was startled to see a large selection of camera bodies and lenses in there. Dave indicated one particular camera and Ginny brought it over to him. He quickly set it up for her and showed her how to operate it. Acknowledging this Ginny again stepped back and Dave once more laid down and allowed Ginny to photograph the scene.

After this was done Dave thanked Ginny for taking the photo for him and asked her to just leave the camera on the table. Then he asked, "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Oh, yeah. Well mum asked me to come and tell you that dinner was just about ready." George answered.

"I see." Dave said with a smile, "You required 'support' to deliver that message?" He asked now grinning at George.

"Well no actually. But I did require some help to try and get a photo of you two together." George replied a little loftily.

"But this many?" Dave asked clearly enjoying teasing George.

"Well I guess if dinner is nearly ready we should wake up Gabrielle as well." Dave said and then proceeded to tickle Gabrielle's ear. This soon had her squirming and giggling.

"Time to wake up, as dinner is nearly ready apparently." Dave told her, "ummmmm…" was her reply as she stretched out and then wrapped her hands around Dave's neck again.

"5 more minutes, please." Gabrielle said still half asleep, "You're just too warm and comfortable to leave just now."

"There may not be any dinner left if we wait that long. Ron and Jono…" Dave tried to explain to Gabrielle before she pulled his head down and soundly kissed him. I think that even Dave forgot about Dinner at that point.

"Your right Jasper. That is the best way to get his attention." Sandra remarked before laughing. The rest of us joined in and you could see Gabrielle stiffen up as she realised that she was no longer alone with Dave.

She tentatively opened her eyes and looked around the tent. She seemed very surprised by the crowd of people who were present. When she spotted her mum and sister (who were smiling at her, but with definite questions in their expressions) she had the good grace to blush and snuggle tighter into Dave.

"You can't hide in there for the rest of the day, you will need to come out at some point." Dave said with a chuckle at her.

Reluctantly she untangled herself from Dave and stood up straightened her clothes and then helped Dave up from the couch as well. Once they were both on their feet she wrapped her arms around Dave's waist, fixed her sister and mother with a look that seemed to dare them to say anything (they were too busy trying not to laugh to say anything) and walked with Dave from the tent.

The rest of us followed trying our best not to burst out laughing. Part way to where the dinner tables were setup Dave's mirror phone gave an odd buzzing sound. He quickly checked it and had an evil light in his eyes when he looked up from it.

"What's up?" Sandra asked him quickly.

"Shelly is about to make a door back to her tent. Grab dad quickly and meet me out the front of her tent." Dave instructed.

Sandra's face came alive with mischief as she very quickly dashed off to find Ivan. Meanwhile the rest of us made straight for Shelly's tent where Dave quickly setup some sort of charm for us to all hide behind. Just as sounds could be heard from inside Shelly's tent Ivan and Sandra joined us and were moved to the front of the crowd.

Presently Shelly's head could be seen poking out from her tent checking to see if the coast was clear. Satisfied that it was she stepped out and waved to someone inside her tent. Out stepped a well-dressed young man who was only slightly taller than Shelly. He also had short black hair like Dave, unlike Dave however his hair was well groomed. He also had brown eyes and a mischievous smile was ready on his lips.

The two of them looked around and then shared an embrace and a kiss, "Looks like we made it undetected." Shelly purred to this young man, "Told you we could sneak in without Dave knowing."

"Don't get to over confident." The young man said to her with a trace of his French accent showing.

"You worry about him too much, Jean-Luc. Just remember he is my 'little' brother. I can handle him." She said as she again pulled him into an embrace and soundly kissed him. Shelly had her back to us while this Jean-Luc would have been facing us had he not been so intent on kissing Shelly's offered lips.

Dave and his parents were grinning like mad men at the scene in front of them. Motioning to us all to be quiet Ivan indicated to Dave that he should lift the charm that was hiding us. He then drew himself up to his full height and assumed an official looking stance while holding his arm out to his wife. Sandra was only too happy to play along as she to adopted an official looking pose.

We all stood up a little straighter and watched the scene unfold. Eventually the two of them finished their kiss and pulled back a bit from each other. Jean-Luc was the first to notice the crowd watching them. His eyes became as large as saucers and his face went white. He must have had an outbreak of goose bumps as Shelly suddenly asked him what was wrong.

When he did not answer, she turned around and saw all of us standing there watching them. The expression on her face caused Dave to burst into near hysterical laughter and Fireball, Andrea and Cassie followed suit. The rest of us were enjoying a good laugh as well, but not as much as Shelly's family.

Ivan and Sandra however were made of sterner stuff as they both held firm in their official looking stance.

"Is this how 'international relations' are conducted these days?" Ivan asked in his official voice.

Jean-Luc quickly stood up tall and straight and tried to straighten out his clothing. "Minister Webb, it ez a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance Sir." He remarked formally while holding his hand out to Ivan.

"Is it?" Ivan asked while just standing there staring at the poor man, "Is it really?" he said with a politician's smile, the type that could mean anything or nothing.

Eventually he held his hand out to Jean-Lu and shook it politely.

"I would like to introduce you to my wife Dr Sandra Webb" he said formally, "Sandra this apparently is Jean-Luc Devereaux our liaison with the French Auror Office."

"I'm pleased to finally meet you Jean-Luc", Sandra said formally but also with genuine warmth, "I can see now why my daughter has enjoyed 'working under you' so much." She said with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Jean-Luc went slightly pale at that comment, Shelly for her part fixed her brother, sisters, and cousin with a furious glare. For their part Dave, Fireball, Andrea, and Cassy were either oblivious or immune to the look that they were getting from her.

Sandra calmly stepped up and looped her arm with Jean-Luc and began to chat happily with him as she began to lead him away from the others, "You must simply tell me more about yourself Jean-Luc and your adventures with man-handling, ops I meant handling my daughter during her time here."

This statement left Jean-Luc looking positively terrified. Even Ivan had trouble keeping his face straight upon hearing it. None the less he joined his wife as they lead Jean-Luc away.

Shelly looked like she did not know what to do. Stay and deal with her brother, sisters, and cousin. Or accompany Jean-Luc and try to offer her support. After fixing her 'loving family' with a final death stare she took off after Jean-Luc and her parents.

"That was more fun than I imagined it would be." Dave said while lying on the ground where he had fallen, from all his laughing.

His sisters and cousin agreed with him while wiping the tears of mirth from their eyes.

"Aren't you worried about retaliation from her?" Ginny asked Dave, "If one of my brothers had pulled that on me there would be Hex's flying everywhere."

"Some things are worth getting into trouble for." Dave said while Gabrielle helped him up, "Besides, it isn't over yet." He said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Fireball asked him.

"You didn't see it?" Dave asked surprised.

"See what?"" Fireball, Andrea and Cassy all asked.

"What Shelly was wearing!" Dave answered cryptically.

Facing a sea of confused faces Dave only grinned back, "Well if you missed it we will just have to wait for them to announce it formally." Dave said with a satisfied grin.

Comprehension dawned on Dave's sisters and cousin and they were all very excited. Dave had to quickly call them to order, "You all know 'the rules' for news of this sort, we don't interfere. We have to leave the announcement up to them ok." Dave said seriously.

"News of what sort?" I asked Dave.

"The family sort." He replied with a smile. Still seeing confused faces he answered, "It looks like our family tree just got another addition."

Understanding finally arrived for the rest of us, and we now understood the reason for the earlier excitement.

"Just remember we can't do or say anything to give the game away. This is a once in a lifetime event, so we defer to them. Understood!" He said in an official tone.

We all readily agreed to this. As we made to move off Fleur asked, "'ow did you know zat Shelly was about to come back to her tent?" with a questioning smile.

"I'm in cahoots with Jean-Luc's sister." Dave said with a smile.

"Cahoots?" Fleur asked confused. Gabrielle was also directing a questioning look at Dave.

"It means that we are working together." Dave answered with a cheeky smile, "From what she told me Jean-Luc went out of his way to embarrass her when she first brought her future husband home to meet her parents."

"So she agreed to spy on him for me if I promised to ensure that Jean-Luc's first meeting with Shelly's parents was as awkward as possible." Dave explained with an evil grin.

"I see" Fleur replied with a sly smile, "Your parents were in on it too I assume?"

"Of course. Mum especially would have never forgiven me if I didn't let her in on it." He explained, "She naturally recruited dad into the scheme as well."

"They have so far successfully engineered very awkward first meetings for all of their daughter's partners." Dave said almost proudly. He also directed a challenging look at Fireball with this statement. While Fireball didn't look worried she did have an air of concern about her for a moment. The look of concern was shortly replaced with her own challenging look directed back at Dave accompanied with a smile.

"Are all your family schemes always so complicated?" Ginny asked Dave.

"Only when they need to be." Dave replied with another sly smile for Fireball, "We try to keep things as simple as possible but that isn't always an option. Especially when it involves family members who are trained to keep 'most things'" he said with a glare at Fireball, "secret."

"Still it seems like a great deal of effort just to embarrass your sister." Ginny replied.

Dave, his sisters and cousin all looked shocked at the thought. "Bite your tongue Ginny. That is a terrible thing to say." Dave exclaimed to a round of laughter. We could clearly see the similarities between his shocked response and Fireball's earlier one.

"Embarrassing ones own siblings is one of the main duties required of family members. If that duty is neglected the whole structure of the family could collapse." Dave said in an attempt at an official sounding voice (it didn't work). But it did generate some more laughter.

"Haven't you got something appropriate planned for Percy when he arrives with Audrey?" Dave asked Ginny.

With a look of manufactured innocence (she wasn't fooling anyone), she replied, "I have no idea what you are talking about Dave."

"Really?" He replied with a smirk, "Well in that case I suggest you get your 'no idea' and put it into action. As they have both just arrived at your apparition point."

This caused a general rush as we all quickly headed out from the tents to greet Percy and Audrey. And properly 'welcome' her into the family.


	29. Family Announcements

We all made our way over to the tables that had been setup for dinner. Dave and Gabrielle were content to wander over at their own pace, they seemed a little lost in their own world as they were walking along holding hands and very happily chatting about something.

The same couldn't be said for the rest of my family as they were eagerly heading over to the apparition point to greet Percy and Audrey. Percy looked like a sea of nerves, while Audrey appeared to be completely composed. She did however display a great deal of interest in the goings on that were happening around her. She also warmly waved to several members of Dave's team.

I located Arthur on my way over to the apparition point and told him that Percy had arrived with Audrey. Arthur was quickly on his feet and joined us to greet the two of them as they came through the gate.

Audrey appeared to be around Percy's height, she had lovely deep brown eyes and hair that was such a dark brown that it appeared to be almost black. Her skin looked to be well tanned and she had a friendly smile present on her face. She carried herself with a self-assurance and grace of someone who had seen more than her share of battles. Fireball's brief description of her more than explained that aspect. She also had a grace and a purpose about her movements as well.

It took only one look at Percy's face to tell that he was totally smitten with her.

"Mum, Dad, I would like to introduce you to Audrey." Percy began, then after a short pause he added, "my fiancé."

Arthur and I were both stunned and didn't know what to say. Percy took advantage of this and continued with his introductions, "Audrey, I would like to introduce you to my parents, Arthur and Molly Weasley."

We may have been stunned but Audrey certainly wasn't. She flashed a brilliant smile at us and stepped forward with her hand out. I couldn't greet my son's fiancé in such a formal manner so I quickly swept her up into one of my famous hugs. While I was hugging, her she turned to Percy and said with a throaty chuckle, "It looks like you owe me, Fireball and Dave, 2 red jelly beans each Perce."

At that comment, I quickly released her and asked her, "What? They all knew?" before I remembered my manners and said, "It is lovely to finally get to meet you Audrey. We have heard only a little about you and most of that was from my newly discovered nephew and his sister."

"So, I decided to 'encourage' Percy here to finally bring you over to meet all of us." I said with a smile, "With support of my niece Percy finally agreed to do so and I am so very happy that he did."

"Thank you Mrs Weasley." Audrey replied, "It is a real pleasure to finally meet all of you. Percy has told me so much about you all."

"I bet he has" George replied in his slightly too loud 'quiet voice'.

Thankfully this generated laughter from Audrey and Percy both which quickly covered up the moment of awkwardness.

After this Audrey was quickly introduced to Arthur, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, George, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry. She was warmly welcomed by them all and seemed very happy to finally get to meet them in person.

"Is what Percy said true?" Arthur asked excitedly, "Are congratulations in order?"

"Yes Mr Weasley, it is true." Audrey replied with a smile, "Percy proposed to me on New Years Eve, when we were in France with Dave and his team."

"Can we see the ring?" I asked, as I couldn't help myself. Audrey beamed a brilliant smile and turned to Percy.

"Now that we have told your parents can we cancel the disillusionment charm on them?" she asked him while flashing her brilliant smile again.

"Of course." Percy replied and pulled his wand out. With a quick flick of his wand we could suddenly see two gorgeous rings, one on Audrey's finger and one of Percy's.

"Oh my." I remarked, "They are gorgeous." I told them both. They only grinned even more.

The rings looked to be brilliant yellow and white gold woven together with a set of diamonds included in the weave. In the ring Audrey now proudly displayed there were 3 diamonds. A largish central one and two smaller ones on either side. While the ring Percy now displayed also had three diamonds in it they were all of the same size.

"Where ever did you get them Percy?" I just had to ask.

"They were a present for the two of us from Dave and his team." Percy answered, "We saw him make them right in front of us. It was the most amazing sight I had seen. Until the more recent demonstrations he did here."

"Yes my nephew certainly has a unique skill in making things." I replied, "As well as keeping secrets" I grumbled with a little irritation.

"Your nephew?" Audrey replied with an air of confusion.

"Yes, we found out only yesterday that Dave's mother is my older sister." I replied with a smile, the thought of having an older sister still bringing a smile to my face.

Audrey turned on Percy, "When where you going to tell me that?" She asked him with an air of irritation.

"Well… I hadn't thought about it, to be honest." He said a little sheepishly, "I was more worried about your reaction to meeting this lot."

"It's a good thing you're cute when your confused Perce. Otherwise I would be VERY annoyed with you right now." She shot back as she grabbed his hand and lead him over to the dinner table.

"I can see that she is going to be good for him." Arthur remarked with a straight face. I was rather proud of him just then being able to hold it for as long as he had.

"Yeah, I mean once she gets her eyes checked she could be REALLY good for him." Ginny replied with no attempt at maintaining a straight face. We all turned to Ginny to try and gage what her thoughts really were.

With an evil smirk, she explained, "I mean anyone who describes Percy as cute obviously needs to have their eyes checked. Right?"

This brought a round of laughter from all of us as we headed over to the tables.

I quickly had a score of willing and able volunteers to get dinner on the table. As apparently, there were a large number of VERY hungry people present. It was so heart-warming to have the whole family around for dinner along with a good proportion of my sisters' family as well.

The news of Percy's engagement while not new news to Dave's team was very happily discussed around the dinner table. Most of the discussion centred around Audrey, as Ginny, Fleur and Hermione were VERY keen for any and all details of Percy's proposal and their plans for the wedding itself.

As for me I found the conversation around the dinner table to be very enjoyable. I was able to have a good chat with both Sandra and Ivan, we covered how they had met and grew up together. The 'interesting' start to their 'official' relationship as well as how they dealt with the usual ups and downs that everyone has.

I told her all about my relationship with Arthur, how we met at school. How I had quickly fallen for him and been rather frustrated at him for being so 'slow on the uptake' as to my feelings towards him. We were each bringing the conversation around to how our husbands had proposed to us when there was a tapping of a knife against a glass to get everyone's attention.

Looking down the table we noticed that both Shelly and Jean-Luc were standing up with slightly apprehensive looks on their faces. I found it hard to contain my own smile as I knew what this announcement was going to be.

Very quickly the crowd around the table fell silent. I noticed that all the girls looked excited, as they obviously knew (like me) what this announcement would be. The boys mainly looked curious as to the interruption.

"Excuse me all, if we could have your attention for a few moments we would be most grateful." Jean-Luc began with a nervous smile. He reached for Shelly's hand and held it tightly and they shared a supportive smile between them, "We would like to announce that this afternoon I asked Shelly if she would do me the honour of marrying me so that we could spend the rest of our lives together."

"To my eternal delight and pleasure she said yes." Jean-Luc said with a brilliant smile that was matched only by the one on Shelly's face.

The whole table erupted in celebration and congratulations for the two of them. Sandra and Ivan were clearly delighted at the news. Fireball, Andrea and Cassy were also very obviously extremely happy as well. Dave was also extremely pleased also. But he seemed to be concentrating very hard on his mirror phone that he was holding up. I was very curious as to what he was doing when he carefully got up from his seat and walked around to where Shelly and Jean-Luc were standing watching him with an expression of curiosity on their faces.

"Someone would like to congratulate you both." He said as he handed the mirror phone over to them both.

Shelly warily took the mirror phone from him and looked at the screen. She immediately had a gorgeous smile on her face as she exclaimed, "Hello Grandma and Great Grandma." She quickly pulled Jean-Luc to her side so she could introduce him to her Grandmother and Great Grandmother as well.

We couldn't hear what they were saying to the newly engaged couple but they clearly loved what they were hearing. As they were both smiling very happily (Shelly was fighting back a rather significant blush also). After a few moments she handed the Mirror Phone back to Dave and he pocketed it and then embraced his sister and brother-in-law to be.

I expected Dave to head back to his seat after this, instead he looked over to his parents and exchanged one of those blank looks between them. After this Ivan and Sandra rose and approached Shelly and Jean-Luc in an almost formal manner.

Shelly noticed their approach and looked both excited and apprehensive about it. Dave quickly positioned himself between his parents and his sister but off to one side. Everyone went quiet as we all sensed something significant was about to take place.

"Jean-Luc, we would both like to take this opportunity to formally welcome you into our family." Ivan began. He was trying to keep a straight face but he couldn't keep the smile from displaying.

"For you to have some completely won the heart of our daughter, it speaks to your qualities as a good and fine man. For you to have put up working with her and her siblings for their time here in Europe speaks to your patients and tolerance." He said grinning ear to ear.

"Now is probably the time to tell you that we have indeed had many a report about you. Both from Shelly's family and your own."

This brought a small amount of worry to jean-Luc's face as well as a stern look from Shelly at her family members.

"Do not look so worried young man. Without exception, all the reports have been glowing recommendations of you. With the exception of one." Ivan chuckled as the now very worried look on Jean-Luc's face. Shelly was now glaring at Dave who was managing to look very calm despite her angry stare.

"Don't be so quick to judge Shelly. It wasn't Dave who gave this particular report. But none other than Jean-Luc's own sister." At this Jean-Luc went white, Shelly looked only slightly ashamed and everyone else had a good laugh.

"She tells us that when she brought home her future husband for the first time you did all that you could to make the poor man as uncomfortable as possible." Ivan was openly grinning now, "So she teamed up with Shelly's little brother to 'return the favour' to you." Ivan, Sandra and Dave were now all grinning opening at Jean-Luc.

"I will indeed be reporting back to her that Dave succeeded in his mission and that you dealt with the ordeal extremely well. I'm sure she will be very pleased." Ivan said laughing. Sandra was wiping a tear from her eyes.

"We would like you to know that despite the earlier awkwardness we whole heartily approve of Shelly's choice of you as her future husband." Jean-Luc and Shelly both appeared to be very relieved at this statement.

"I'm also very sure that you will also happily join in with the plans to make Jasper's 'special quidditch player' first visit as memorable as yours was." Ivan said to a suddenly grinning Jean-Luc and Shelly. Fireball for her part was sending her own murderous glare over to Dave and her parents. She was so focused on them she failed to notice that Shelly, Andrea and Cassy were turning their own predatory gazes onto her also.

It looked like she was going to be as outnumbered as the poor boys in Dave's family reportedly were. I have to admit that I found myself suddenly looking forward to our visit to Australia as I was sure that she would use that opportunity to introduce this mystery man of hers.

"To show you that we do indeed truly welcome you into our family we would like to present you with this." Ivan said with a very formal tone and a serious look on his face. He turned to Dave who extracted a very familiar golden rope style chain. This he held almost reverently in the flats of his hands. Jean-Luc looked at it with awe and surprise, while Shelly stared at it with almost the same reverence as Dave.

"This Talisman belonged to my eldest son James. It was stated in his will that if he fell in the line of duty it was his wish for his Talisman to be passed along to another family member." As Ivan said this he had unshed tears in his eyes. Sandra and indeed the rest of her family also were fighting back their own tears at this statement. I could now also understand the reverence that Dave and Shelly were showing just moments ago.

Jean-Luc for his part was now also showing an almost equal level of reverence to Dave and Shelly. From what we had been told he had known Dave's older brother quite well and as a result would fully understand the meaning behind this offer.

"Knowing what Jimmy wrote about you in his reports I'm very confident that he would whole heartily approve of his Talisman being offered to you." Ivan said to a now beaming Jean-Luc and Shelly.

"With that in mind we would like to offer this Talisman to you if it is your stated desire to form a lifelong bond with our daughter Shelly. In a loving and supportive relationship as equals."

"Is this indeed your desire Jean-Luc Devereaux?" Ivan formally asked him.

"Oui. It is indeed, with all my heart." Jean-Luc answered him. Ivan and Sandra both smiled at this reply.

"Is this also your desire Michelle, to form a lifelong bond with Jean-Luc. In a loving and supportive relationship as equals?" Ivan asked her.

"Yes, it is" She answered her father, turning to Jean-Luc she added, "With all my heart."

Ivan and Sandra also smiled at her answer.

"Then I would ask that each of you pluck a hair from your beloved and place it in Dave's hands with the Talisman that we offer to Jean-Luc." Ivan said formally.

With almost solemn movements they each plucked a hair from one another and placed them on the Talisman in Dave's hands. As they did so the Talisman he held glowed brightly. Dave's hands then caught a flame with friendfyre and he worked the golden chain as though he was mixing the hairs in with it.

When he was done he presented the still brightly glowing golden chain to his father. Ivan inclined his head in acknowledgement and smiled at Dave.

"As it is your stated wish to bring this young man into our family Michelle I present to you his Talisman, for you to place around his neck to both welcome him to our family and to offer him its protection." Ivan said formally.

Shelly came forward and collected the Talisman from her father with a shy smile. She then approached Jean-Luc and with a glorious smile on her face fastened it around his neck. Jean-Luc had a massive smile on his face at this, his smile only got bigger with Shelly's next action. This was to place her hands around his next and draw him into a deep and passionate kiss. The accompanying cat calls and wolf whistles had no impact on the very happy couple. Although they did have a few giggles when they did eventually break off their kiss.

I did notice that as Shelly joined the ends of the Talisman around Jean-Luc's neck her own Talisman glowed brightly. The Talismans on Ivan and Sandra also glowed brightly, along with those of Dave, Fireball, Andrea and Cassy. My own Talisman along with those of my family also glowed briefly. There was also a very pleasant warm and cosy feeling coming from it.

Ivan and Sandra now stepped forward and warmly embraced Jean-Luc. Andrea, Fireball and Cassy followed quickly after. Dave was the last one to welcome Jean-Luc and he had a strange little smile about his face as he approached him.

Seeing his look Jean-Luc told him, "Do not worry for your sister Dave. I intend to do all I can to make her as happy as I can for as long as I can." He said smiling.

Returning his smile Dave answered, "That's a good answer Jean-Luc, but it isn't her I'm worried about." Dave said with a smirk.

"Non?" Jean-Luc asked, "Who are you worried about then?"

"You." Dave replied with that annoying offhand manner that he has. Still smirking at Jean-Luc.

"Moi?" he replied.

"Oui." Dave said to some naughty laughter around the table.

"Why would you be worried for moi?" Jean-Luc asked.

"You do realise that you have just marked yourself out as fair game for 'The Horde' now don't you." He remarked with an evil grin.

"La Horde?" Jean-Luc asked with a confused expression on his face. It wasn't as cute as Dave's but it was rather cute in its own right I had to admit.

"You didn't tell him?" Dave asked a now grinning Shelly.

"I wanted to surprise him." She said with undisguised glee in her voice.

"Surprise me with what?" Jean-Luc asked now rather worried.

"I'm sure you're aware that Shelly has 5 sisters I hope." Dave asked him.

"Oui" he replied.

"Did she tell you that Cassie is only one of 45 female cousins?" Dave asked Jean-Luc.

You could see the colour drain a little from his face at this news.

"45?" He asked.

"Yup. 45 female cousins. 7 Aunties, 1 Grandmother and 1 Great Grandmother. But those 2 are probably worse than all the other combined." Dave said with glee, "Any second thoughts?" Dave asked him.

"Non. Non at all!" Jean-Luc replied confidently.

"Good man." Dave replied before engulfing him in a very genuine hug that looked as though it nearly squeezed the life out of poor Jean-Luc.

"Good to have you in the family mate." Dave said to him in a serious voice but with undisguised genuine warmth.

"Merci." Jean-Luc said and then out of sheer mischief he reached out and kissed Dave on each cheek. This got a standing ovation from Dave's team and the rest of us followed suit.

Ivan turned to Sandra and remarked, "I think he will fit in perfectly." Before they both burst into laughter at the scene in front of them.

Jean-Luc smiled when he heard that statement. He then turned to Dave and said, "A little birdy told me that you will need to have to get used to that." Before he flashed a cheeky grin and glanced over at Gabrielle who was smiling up at Dave with her own glorious smile.

"That maybe, but I will say Gabrielle kisses better than you do." Dave said with an evil smirk before he danced out of reach of both Jean-Luc and Shelly.

After this we all went up to congratulate the happy couple. It was a wonderful way to spend a dinner. It was just after I had congratulated Shelly and Jean-Luc that Sandra came up to me with a twinkle in her eye.

"Are you going to present Audrey with her own Talisman as well?" She asked me barely able to hide her glee.

"Now that is a great idea." I replied with my own grin. I headed off into the house and collected the Talisman that Sandra indicated was for Audrey.

When I came back out into the yard I quickly located Arthur and told him of the plan. He very readily agreed. Together we set out to grab Percy and Audrey. Once we located them we brought them up to where Sandra, Ivan and Dave were standing patiently waiting for us.

Arthur stood up and called the rather rowdy crowd of people to order.

"Now I might not have the polished silver tongue of my brother-in-law here" he said indicating a now grinning Ivan, "But I would also like to extend my own heart felt welcome to young Audrey here." He said as Audrey fought back a blush.

"We haven't known about her for much more than a day. But what we have learnt both through reading Dave's recommendation for both her and Percy." Arthur said to the surprise of both Percy and Audrey. They fixed Dave with twin very direct looks that seemed to contain a lot of questions. But Dave only happily smiled back at them.

"Fireball has also filled us in on some of their exploits as well." Arthur continued, Percy looked a little pale at this news while Audrey flashed a naughty little smile at him and a sly one at Fireball.

"But all we have learned tells us that she is a remarkable young lady who is nearly fearless in defence of friends and family. As well as in defence of those under her care. She has kind and gentle heart always ready to lend comfort and support to those who need it."

"All of this just leads us to ask one question." Arthur said as he turned to direct his smile at Audrey, "Why on earth did you chose Percy?" he said to an outbreak of roaring laughter from Dave's team and Percy's brothers.

Audrey was blushing to the roots of her hair at this introduction. Percy was a little startled by it but he was quickly grinning at the gentle ribbing from Arthur.

"Whatever the reason that made you chose our son Percy we are all thankful for it." Arthur replied with heartfelt warmth.

"To that end we would like to present you with your own Talisman to welcome you into our family. Arthur offered formally.

At this point Dave stepped forward and held his hands out flat as he had before. He nodded to Arthur who returned the gesture and then said, "Please pluck a hair from the head of your beloved and place it on Dave's hands."

They each did this and the Talisman in Dave's hand glowed in response. Dave then repeated his earlier motions with the friendfyre and working the golden chain. He then presented the chain to Arthur and stepped back smiling very happily.

His smile must have been infectious as Arthur was happily smiling as he presented the Talisman to Percy with the words. "Percy if it is your intention to form a lifelong bond with Audrey in a loving and supportive relationship as equals please present this to your beloved."

"Audrey, if it is your intention to form a lifelong bond with Percy in a loving and supportive relationship as equals please accept this Talisman from Percy on behalf of all of his family." Arthur said with a smile.

Percy stepped up to Audrey with a question written plainly on his face. She smiled back at him and indicated her agreement to his question. With her permission Percy placed the Talisman around Audrey neck and connected the ends together. As before all of our Talismans glowed brightly and we again felt that almost physical manifestation of love flow from our own Talismans.

As with Shelly and Jean-Luc they embraced each other and shared a very passionate kiss to cheers and cat calls once again from all of those gathered.

Once more we all gathered around to welcome the newest pair within our family into our family.

Eventually when things quietened down sufficiently Ivan stepped up and asked for everyone's attention.

"Now I'm sure we all agree that it has been a wonderful dinner and evening so far." At this there were a good number of cheers and applause. "However I have an announcement of my own that I would like to make to you all."

"Our two new arrivals may not yet be aware but we have invited all our family here to come and visit with us for 2 weeks (starting next Thursday) in Australia". At this there was some more cheers.

"Dave's team are excused as I'm sure that they would like some time away from him." Ivan said with a grin. This brought on some more cheers also.

"As you may or may not know during this time is my mother's 90th Birthday and she is putting on a special event at her place in Queensland."

"I would like to invite you all to join us for that special celebration if you are available." He said with a smile, "And before you ask Jono, no it isn't compulsory to attend." He added with a laugh for a now very embarrassed Jono. The rest of Dave's team were however relentlessly ribbing the poor boy over some inside joke.

"Madame and Monsieur Delacour you are also invited if you wish to attend." Ivan said happily smiling at them, "I know you may be planning two weeks of leisure without your children underfoot." He said smiling at Fleur and Gabrielle, who were smiling back at him, "But you are very welcome to attend if you wish and we will do our best to keep your children from hassling you." He said now looking at Dave and everyone joined in giving Dave and Gabrielle some advice on what they could do to occupy their time.

For their part both Dave and Gabrielle happily smiled and even seemed to take notes at a few of the suggestions. It was lovely to see them so happy and relaxed around each other this early in their relationship.

Ivan took this opportunity to walk around with Sandra and deliver the invitations to everyone there. I thought that the girls did a masterful job of looking surprised at them. I know that they didn't have to pretend to be pleased as we were all looking forward to the party.

Once Ivan and Sandra had delivered an invitation to myself and Arthur I got up to go and collect the deserts to bring out. I asked my boys if they could clear away the dishes on the table. There was some good natured grumbles about this until I told them it was to make room for the desert dishes.

I asked for some helpers to bring out the deserts and Ginny, Dave, Gabrielle and Hermione all offered to assist me.

We walked into the kitchen and I was just pointing in out to my helpers what dishes were to go out to what table when Dave's mirror phone started making an odd noise. It must have meant something to him as his face lit up light I hadn't seen before and he quickly pulled it out to see what the message was.

As he was reading the message his face was displaying an absolutely adorable goofy looking grin.

"Well, out with it." Ginny ordered.

Still grinning like a mad man Dave replied, "I can't tell you lot just yet. I have to tell mum first, that was part of the deal."

"What deal? What is the message?" Ginny asked with her curiosity on display in full flower.

"Let's just say it is 'family news' and I only have a small window of opportunity here to make use of it." He replied still with this massive grin on his face. "Can I count on your support to pull this off?" He asked us.

"To pull what off?" Gabrielle asked him. She was clearly enjoying seeing Dave this happy, but she was also bursting to know what the news was that made him so happy.

"I need to spring some news on my parents, before my window of opportunity closes." Was all that he would say.

"Is it the sort of news that will embarrass your sisters?" Ginny asked him with a sceptical look.

"You really have spent too much time around my sisters already haven't you?" Dave said with a lopsided grin.

Ginny just continued to give Dave her sceptical look. Dave looked to Hermione for support but she was clearly on Ginny's side of the fence. He looked to me and Gabrielle but neither of us were giving him an indication of our support or lack of it until we had more information about his scheme.

"Oh alright." He exclaimed in defeat (to our delight), "No this news isn't going to embarrass any of my sisters, or cousins for that matter."

"In fact the only person likely to get in trouble from it will be me." He said smiling.

"So why are you smiling like that then?" Ginny asked him still with her sceptical look in place.

"Somethings are worth getting in trouble for." Was the only answer Dave would give us.

"I have 3 minutes left." He said checking his watch, "will you help me and play along?" he asked flashing his big blue eyes at us.

"Oh alright then, if it means so much to you. I will help you get in trouble." Ginny said with an evil grin on her face. After she agreed we all quickly added our support to his idea.

"Excellent!" he said with his own grin returning.

"Which of these deserts are for the table where mum and dad are sitting?" He asked me.

I indicated to him the deserts in question and he quickly picked up two of them and made straight for the door. We all grabbed a plate or two each as well and followed him out.

Back in the yard the tables had been cleared and Dave was making a beeline for his parents with us hurrying along trying to catch him up. As he got to the table he squeezed in between his parents.

"Here you go Grandma." He said in that offhand voice he has, as he put one desert dish down in front of his mother. Sandra for her part had gone stock still and was staring at Dave with wide eyes.

Dave pretended not to notice and turned to his father and said, "Here you go Grandpa." As he placed another desert dish onto the table in front of him. Ivan was now displaying a look very much like the one Sandra wore.

The rest of the table had caught Dave's comments also and everyone had fallen silent and was staring at him. Dave must have been having fun as he was obviously aware of the attention that he was now getting from everyone. But he also wasn't acknowledging it in anyway.

He simply walked over to me and collected the two dishes that I was carrying and then headed back to the table and placed one on the far side of his father with the comment, "In case you want something a little softer for your elder teeth Grandpa." As he put the trifle down near his father.

At this point I was fighting a losing battle with a case of industrial sized giggles as Dave continued to taunt his parents. Heading over to the other side of his mother he remarked, "And we all know how much Grandma loves her pudding so I will just leave this here."

"Would you prefer a spoon or a fork for your pudding Grandma?" he asked him mum with a perfectly straight face. When she didn't immediately reply he assumed an artful expression of worry.

"I have heard that Grandparents are often hard of hearing but I didn't think it happened THAT fast." He remarked as he looked at his mother with a delightful smile playing about his lips.

"Aunty Molly, do you know if it is normal for newly minted Grandparents to lose their hearing quite this fast at all?" he asked me just as his parents launched themselves from their seats and grabbed him firmly around an arm each.

"What did you say?" Sandra asked.

"I was merely asking Aunty Molly if it was normal for new Grandparents to lose their hearing so quickly." Dave replied in an innocent sounding voice.

"But we are not Grandparents." Sandra said in an unconvinced tone just as her own Mirror phone began to ring.

Dave took that opportunity to escape from his mother's grasp. But his father still held him firm while he intently watched his wife answer her mirror phone.

"Hello" Sandra said into her mirror phone as an image of an absolutely gorgeous little boy filled the screen.

Sandra squalled with delight as her daughters came running over to the phone to see what had caused the reaction from her. Ivan let go of Dave and went to his wife and embraced her in his arms with a truly wonderful smile on his face.

The image of the little baby boy was joined by that of a woman with hair so blond it looked almost white and a man with sandy coloured blond hair.

"Hi mum." Said the very tired but also very proud woman who was holding the baby, "We thought we would call you to introduce you to little Jayden Clarke, who only recently just came into the world."

Both the new parents had very tired but very content and loving smiles on their faces. Sandra and Ivan had tears of joy running down their own faces. Fireball, Shelly, Andrea and Cassy were in the same state as well.

I looked over to Dave and he had relieved Gabrielle of the dishes that she had been carrying and he was now cautiously approaching the group around his mother with Gabrielle in tow. All the while he was smiling like a man possessed. As he got close enough to the phone you could see the woman who was holding the baby recognise him and smile at him.

"I see from the smile on little Day's face he was able to pull off his surprise for you successfully." She said laughing.

Sandra turned and regarded Dave with a predatory look of her own that would have had any sane man running for the hills. Dave only smiled back her and shrugged.

"You… You… You knew." She accused him, "How did you know?" she demanded.

"Would you believe that I'm an omnipresent entity that is like a God among the mortals of this world?" he asked. Rather bravely I thought.

"Not in the slightest." Sandra said with her own evil grin coming to the fore.

"Get him girls." She ordered.

Her daughters were very quick on their feet, I will give them that. But they were not as close to Dave as Gabrielle, Ginny and Hermione.

Dave had obviously expected his sisters and cousin to be sent after him. But he hadn't banked on the willing assistance of the three young ladies closest to him.

As he turned to make his escape he ran full into the chocolate cake that Ginny had been holding. Only to recoil from that into the jelly that Hermione had been carrying just moments before. While he was trying to recover from that encounter Gabrielle 'accidently' left her foot in Dave's way and he fell over backwards. Back into the chocolate cake that Ginny had 'carefully' repositioned.

He landed on the ground covered in cake and jelly but laughing his head off as his sisters and cousin caught him and began to mercilessly tickle him into insensibility. This looked like too much fun for Gabrielle, Ginny and Hermione to miss out on. So they eagerly joined in and assisted Dave's sisters and cousin.

No one felt the need to go to Dave's assistance as he had clearly brought this on himself. Even though I heard Ivan remark to Sandra, "Looks like 'The Horde' has gained three new enthusiastic members." As he laughed at his only son's predicament.

"Yes it does. And don't you forget it either." She said with her own wicked little smile.

I could see the new parents on the phone were clearly enjoying seeing Dave being 'dealt with' by The Horde as he put it. Eventually Sandra showed a modicum of mercy towards her only son and ordered the girls to end their attack and let poor Dave up.

I couldn't tell if Dave was blushing or not as he had far too much cake on his face to tell. But Gabrielle clearly was blushing as she had been caught with both her hands under Dave's shirt when an end was called to the tickling. She took this in her stride however and gave Dave a wicked little smile of her own. He happily smiled back at her. I couldn't tell what sort of smile it was as he hadn't done anything about the large amount of cake that was on his face at that point.

He happily wiped most of the cake off his face and banished it then pulled his wand out and cast Scourgify on himself to clean up. He then walked up to his mum and put his arms around her and gave her a squeeze. He then looked at the couple on the mirror phone and smiled.

"Was it worth it?" The woman on the mirror phone asked him still smiling.

"Absolutely." He happily replied.

"Well I am glad you enjoyed it." She told him, "and thank you for the new dinner table and chairs. They are most appreciated." She said smiling at him.

"You're very welcome." Dave answered just as Gabrielle joined him to see the little one that was still on display.

The lady on the phone noticed Gabrielle and her eyes widened in surprise and delight, "And who might you be?" she asked delightedly.

"Gabrielle I would like to introduce you to Helen my eldest sister and her husband Colin Clarke" Dave replied with a brilliant smile upon his face. "Helen, Colin and little Jayden this is Gabrielle Delacour." Dave said with a smile again lighting up his face as he looked at Gabrielle.

I could see from the expression on Helen's face that she had caught the smitten look that Dave gave to Gabrielle as he introduced her.

"I'm very pleased to meet you Gabrielle." Helen said with her own brilliant smile on display, "Thank you also for helping to keep my little brother in line earlier also." She added with a chuckle.

"Et was a pleasure to 'elp 'is sisters." Gabrielle said with a grin, "Et is also a pleasure to meet you too 'elen." Gabrielle replied smiling back at her. "Congratulations to you both on ze arrival of your little bundle of joy as well."

"Thank you Gabrielle." Helen replied with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes Thank-you also Gabrielle." Colin replied with his own cheeky smile in place.

As Dave and Gabrielle moved away to allow others in I could see Helen turn excitedly to her mother with a look that spoke volumes. Sandra could only smile by way of reply, she quickly checked over her shoulder but Dave and Gabrielle were still too close for her to say anything. So she simply said, "I will tell you all about it later. Ok?"

"Dam right you will mum." Helen replied with a giggle from both her and Colin.

"I do have someone that I would like to introduce you to though Helen." Sandra said as she waved me over. As I walked over to her I could see when Helen noticed me in her own mirror phone as her eyes went as large as saucers. She quickly glanced to her mum for confirmation.

"Helen, I would like to introduce you to Molly Weasley, my little sister." Sandra said with a brilliant smile of her own as she wrapped her arm around my waist.

"Sister?" Helen said with a mixture of surprise and delight.

"Yes, sisters. Most definitely." Sandra told her. We were both smiling happily together, it was a wonderful feeling.

"Weasley?" Helen said, "That's the family that Grandpa always told stories about, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes, it is. Molly is married to Arthur Weasley. He is the son of Mr Septimus Weasley. The man who helped your Grandfather." Sandra said still smiling.

"Now that is interesting isn't it." Helen said clearly delighted, "I can see that you are going to have tell me all the stories when you get home." She exclaimed excitedly.

"We certainly will." Sandra replied, "As Molly and her family are going to be coming to visit for two weeks on Thursday." She said excitedly.

"That sounds very exciting." Helen replied, "I will be out of the Hospital by then, and hopefully settled enough at home to do a few small trips or have some visitors." She replied smiling.

"We will certainly look forward to seeing you and your little addition, whichever way suits you best." Sandra replied.

"Thanks mum." Helen replied.

"It was lovely to meet you dear." I told her, "Congratulations on your little miracle as well. I hope that he doesn't keep you up all night long." I said with a chuckle.

Helen made a face at that thought, "Thanks Aunty Molly." She said with a smile, "I will reserve a cuddle for you when we see you."

"That would be lovely." I replied with a smile at her.

"I should let your father have a word with you as well. As he seems a little excited for some reason." Sandra said with a laugh, "Then your sister can tell you her news."

"I can guess Shelly's news mum. We saw and felt our Talismans respond a little while ago." She said with a knowing smile.

"Well at least pretend to be surprised for her will you." Sandra with a smile as she handed her phone off to Ivan.

"It certainly has been a memorable first family dinner." I told her.

"Yes it has. I haven't had this much fun in a long time." She replied with a brilliant smile.


	30. After Dinner Conversations

Understandably it took a while for the excitement of Helen's news to die down. Sandra's phone was passed around to everyone and they all passed along their congratulations to her and Colin.

Helen was delighted when she found out that my Bill was the 'Bombshell' that she had heard about so many times over the years. To be honest I think Bill found her reaction rather hilarious, as she was rather excited to meet him. Eventually the phone was returned back to Sandra and she wished Helen a good night's rest with her little one. We then all returned to the table to enjoy desert.

One difference I noticed with the conversation for desert was that Kingsley, Arthur, Ivan, Dave and Jean-Luc had all seated themselves at one end of the table and were intently talking amongst themselves.

I could make a guess as to the topic of the conversation by the serious expressions on their faces and the fact that Ivan handed to Jean-Luc the dossier on the unknown French assassin. Jean-Luc read over the report thoroughly with a rather concerned expression on his face. He seemed to recognise something in the report though, and when he pointed it out to the others they were all rather excited.

Kingsley in particular had a look about him, which brought to my mind an image of a predator about to bring down its meal.

Unable to contain my curiosity any longer I walked down to their end of the table to ask if anyone was interested in a cup of tea. As I approached I heard the tail end of a conversation that seemed to indicate that Jean-Luc would be heading back to Paris to chase down the information that his department had on the individual mentioned in the file. He would also be back in England on Monday with Gawain Roberts and the head Auror from the French Ministry for a formal meeting between the British and French Auror offices.

Apparently formal engagement between the two Auror offices had been rather strained over the past few years. Something that Kingsley was keen to address.

As I made it to Arthur the meeting between them came to an end. With Kingsley and Dave getting up from the table. Kingsley to go and chat to Bill and Izzy, while Dave disappeared into his tent.

I asked them all who would be interested in a cuppa and I had a few takers. Sandra and Shelly had joined me by this time and they happily agreed to help get the tea organised. We checked around with the rest of the crowd and had a few more people interested in a cuppa. So, we headed off to the kitchen so that we could have a good chat in peace and quiet.

I will have to admit that the tea did take much longer than usual to make as we were all so busy having a chat and a laugh that we frequently got distracted from what we were supposed to be doing. However, we were having so much fun I do not think we really minded that we had to put the kettle on a second time as it had gone cold from inattention.

While we were pouring out the teas for those who had requested them. Gabrielle and Ginny came into the kitchen to ask us if we had seen either Dave or Harry. As the two girls, had been unable to locate them.

"Last I saw Dave he had gone to his tent from the dinner table." I told a disappointed Gabrielle.

"We checked 'is tent and ee wasn't zere." She replied a little down cast.

"Have you checked the lounge at all or Harry's room?" I asked them.

"No we haven't" Ginny replied as they both raced up stairs together. It was a little odd to see them together like that but I was pleased to see that they were getting along better than before as well.

While the girls were upstairs Fireball and Cassy came into the kitchen with mysterious looks about them, "What's on your mind girls?" Sandra asked them both.

"We have just been watching a rather interesting conversation." Fireball replied with a little smirk about her face.

"What conversation would that be?" I asked them.

"Come and see." Was the reply. With this they lead us outside and along the porch of the house. As we got to the end of the porch we could see Harry and Dave seated on the rock wall that ran around the yard. They were both very deep in conversation with each other. I looked over to Sandra and she had such a dazzling smile on her face at this sight.

From our vantage point we couldn't make out what they were saying to each other. But it was clear that they both were enjoying the conversation. While we were watching them Ginny and Gabrielle re-appeared and came over to see what had captured our interest. When they noticed the two boys talking they also had smiles on their faces.

Gabrielle immediately made to go over to where the two boys were. But Sandra quickly caught her arm and almost pleaded with her, "Please let them talk."

Gabrielle looked at Sandra and then back at the two boys. She then smiled and nodded at Sandra while she went and got herself and Ginny a chair each that she then placed on the porch so that they could watch the two boys in comfort.

The rest of us went back into the kitchen and took out the much-delayed tea, that various people had requested. After that was done we took a cup each over for Ginny and Gabrielle who were still watching the two boys.

Whatever they were discussing now seemed to involve a great deal of hand movements. It was almost like they were discussing Quidditch, but something about their expression told me it was a more serious discussion than one about sport.

Then Dave held his hand out flat and with a nod to Harry he produced a small flame above it. Just like he had this morning in his tent. He quickly put out the flame and then indicated to Harry. After a moment's thought Harry copied Dave's gesture and there was a spark of flame above his hand. It was only very brief but it brought great excitement to them both.

I looked over at Gabrielle and Ginny they both were completely absorbed in what the boys were doing. Their expressions were almost a mirror of each other. Looking next to me I saw that Sandra and Fireball were watching the two boys as well. Sandra had a slight smile about her face while Fireball was watching them with what could only be described as 'professional interest'.

Turning my attention back to the boys I noticed that Harry had produced another flame and that he seemed to be holding it steady and without discomfort. Harry had on his face a grin of sheer delight, I hadn't seen him smile like that (without Ginny in his arms) for a long time.

When Dave got Harry to pass the flame from hand to hand Fireball spoke up, "I think I know what they are doing." She said with a smile appearing on her face.

"What do you think they are doing Jasper?" Sandra asked.

"I recognise that exercise that Dave is getting Harry to do." She said with a little smirk about her face, "I think Dave is going to try and get Harry to consciously conjure Friendfyre."

"He's what?" I asked her.

"I believe he is walking Harry through the steps on how to conjure Friendfyre." Fireball replied, "As that looks like the same exercise that Dad and Grandpa used with us."

"It is a series of very simple exercises but when combined they cover all the basics of safely manipulating fire that you have conjured." She answered, "If I'm correct Dave will ask Harry next to almost toss the flame from one hand to another."

Sure enough, after a few minutes of passing the flame from one hand to another, Dave did indeed ask Harry to toss it from one hand to the other. Harry seemed to accomplish this feat very quickly and satisfactorily going from the smile on Dave's face.

"Next will be a Fireball." Fireball said with a smile.

She was correct, Dave did indeed get Harry to conjure a small fireball. But it was none the less a real fireball. Dave conjured a large block of Ice and had Harry throw the fireball at it. When I saw this, I looked at Fireball with my question.

"When you first learn to conjure a fireball you don't want to cancel the flame by closing your hand. You can get burnt that way. Instead you throw the fireball at a safe target until you get a better feel for it." She explained.

"Once you have a better feel for it you can safely cancel it by closing your hand without it collapsing back on you."

"That makes sense I guess." I said still a little confused.

After he had conjured about 10 small fireballs and thrown them against the block of Ice Dave got Harry to pass them from hand to hand as with the flame before. When Harry had successfully done this a few time times Harry got him to toss the Fireball from hand to hand. When this was achieved, Dave instructed Harry to close his hand and when he did so the flame went out.

The grin on Dave's and Harry's faces was infectious.

They then had another rather focused and intense discussion. Harry seemed to be deeply enthralled by it but he was also asking a great many questions. Instead of becoming irritated by the questions Dave seemed to almost delight in them. As each time Harry would ask one, Dave would smile and happily answer it.

Eventually Dave held up his hand in front of Harry and we watched as it caught with golden flame. He seemed to be describing something about the flames out to Harry as pointed out something about the flames to him.

Eventually Harry asked a question that gave Dave pause for a moment or two. He then nodded his head in agreement and Harry had a massive grin on his face.

Harry held up his hand as Dave had done before and concentrated on it intently.

While he was doing this Dave held his hands on either side of Harry's. I assumed that this was to enable him to put out any flames that Harry couldn't manage.

Dave seemed to be counting down something to Harry and then the expression on Harry's face changed ever so slightly. At that point a small amount of golden flame erupted from Harry's hand.

Harry seemed to be shocked by this and he lost his concentration and the flames went out. Dave gave him an encouraging smile and indicated that he should try again.

Harry quickly repositioned himself and again, this time while Dave seemed to have his hands ready they were nowhere near as close as before to Harry's hands.

This time when the golden flames appeared on Harry's hand he was still surprised (and pleased) but he was able to maintain the flames. Harry had such a boyish grin of delight on his face at this result. You could have been forgiven to think he was celebrating his first Christmas. I happened to look over at Ginny and she had a smile on her face that was full of pride and love both of and for Harry. I'm sure that if Harry has seen it he would have been blushing to the roots of his hair.

Gabrielle seemed to also have a strange little smile on her face. But her target was Dave, she seemed to be greatly enjoying the show going on before her.

Dave got Harry to try some different exercises, than the ones before. He got Harry to close all the fingers on one hand except for one. When Harry did this the Friendfyre covered only the one finger. He got him to transfer the Friendfyre from one hand to the other by what looked like a process of wiping his hands one against the other. He then got him to hold the Friendfyre in both hands at once. Then to close first one hand and then the other.

When Harry had closed both hands the Friendfyre went out. There was a glow about Harry's eyes after he had achieved this that warmed my heart to the core. Only Ginny and Quidditch could produce a look like that on his face. Dave seemed to have an equally excited look on his face as well. But there was still a 'drill sergeant' about Dave that got Harry to produce and extinguish the Friendfyre another five times before he seemed happy with the results.

At this point they both got up from the wall and warmly shook hands. They then turned to go back to the house and saw the crowd of us on the porch that had been watching them. Seeing this sight they both had a laugh and quickly made their way over to us.

Fireball joined us again (I hadn't noticed her leave) and handed a large glass of water to each of Ginny and Gabrielle.

"Go and give that to those two. As they will have need of it. That exercise really dries you out." She explained.

Both Ginny and Gabrielle graciously accepted the water and quickly headed over to 'their' boys. The boys for their part eagerly gulped down the water and appropriately thanked the one who brought it out to them.

"I take it you two had fun with your little conversation?" Sandra asked them with her face alight in a smile.

"Yes we did." Harry exclaimed, "It was brilliant." He said smiling. Dave also had a large smile on his face, and I'm very sure that it wasn't entirely from having Gabrielle in his arms either.

"Was it difficult to do that?" Ginny wanted to know.

"Surprisingly, it wasn't." Harry replied, "It just required me to look at things in a different way than before."

"How so?" Ginny asked.

"When he teaches it to you, you will find out." Dave answered with a smile at the look on Harry's and Ginny's faces.

"Don't look so worried Harry. I'm not going to ask you to teach it to her right now. You need to get a little bit more comfortable with it before you try that." Dave explained.

"But the best way to learn something, is to have to teach it to someone else." He said with a smile at them both.

Harry thought about this for a while and then smiled back, "That does make sense."

"The teacher also usually learns something from each student as well." Dave replied with a smile at Harry, "Thanks to Harry's many questions I had some new ideas on how to better explain Friendfyre. I do think it will make it a lot easier to explain to others from now on."

"For that Harry, you have my thanks." Dave said grinning. Harry readily returned it.

"So you didn't have to learn anything new to do that?" Ginny asked Harry with an almost eager light in her eyes.

"No he didn't Ginny. He just used skills and knowledge that he already had in a slightly different manner to what he had done before." Dave answered.

"You and especially Harry with find out that a lot of what we do is not that much different to you. It's just that we go about it in a different manner."

"I think it has to do with, that in our role we work in so many different countries and cultures. As well as with people of such different abilities and capabilities. We have an almost formalised process to assess what we come in contact with and determine what we can take away and best use."

"That was one of the things that I absolutely loved about our time in China." Dave said with an eager light in his eyes, "The way they do their magic over there is so totally different to anything we or you do."

"It is almost like it is from another planet. Some of the things that they can do are so wondrous that they almost seem like miracles." He said with a large grin on his face, "I found it endlessly fascinating and could have easily spent years there just asking question after question about all the amazing things that they can achieve."

"When you come across magic like that, it is almost like you are encountering Muggle style 'superheroes'." he said with a laugh.

Harry, Sandra, Shelly and Andrea had a good laugh at that statement as well. However Ginny, Gabrielle and I were just looking confused.

"I take it you haven't encountered Muggle Superheroes before then?" Dave asked us.

When we shook our heads to indicate that we hadn't he smiled and replied, "Have you heard of Muggle Movies by any chance?"

"I have." Ginny answered eagerly. Dave had a laugh at the expression on her face. "How about you to young ladies?" He asked me and Gabrielle.

"I know about muggle plays, but I haven't been to see one. But I must confess that I haven't heard of Muggle Movies before." I told him.

"Gabrielle?" he asked.

"Non, I don't think I know about them eizer." She replied.

"Well then. I think we need to give you all an introduction don't we." Dave said with a smile.

"What do you think Harry, should we introduce them to Muggle Superheros with the 'Superman' movie?" Dave asked, "It is an old movie I guess, but I have always enjoyed watching it. So it should be a good introduction for them."

"I must confess, while I know of it, I have never seen it so I can't say." Harry replied with a sheepish grin.

"Well I guess that settles it then." Dave remarked, "Movie night, my tent and we will see how many Superman movies we can fit in before we all fall asleep." He said with a large grin.

"Do you have any popcorn in your tent?" Fireball asked him hopefully.

"Not much. I think you and Jono ate most of it last time." He replied with a sly grin.

"Go and let the others know that we are having a Superman movie marathon night in my tent if they are interested and see what popcorn you can dig up. Shelly should have some in her tent if she isn't otherwise 'occupied'." He said with a laugh.

Fireball and Andrea quickly took off to go and tell the others. There seemed to be a bit of excitement about the possibility of muggle style entertainment. Arthur particularly was very excited. We all followed Dave into his tent where he opened a draw that had been hidden previously. He pulled out a black object that looked to be about the size of a tissue box but thinner.

He took this back object and placed it into a different device while he pointed something called a 'remote' at the TV device. The TV came on and produced a picture of a small boy flipping through the pages of a book of some sort. Dave 'paused the movie at this point while we all got ourselves sorted out. Naturally he made sure that he had a seat next to Gabrielle but he also ensured that everyone else all had comfortable seats. Fireball came in with enough buckets of muggle popcorn for everyone and then made herself comfortable on something called a 'bean bag'.

Arthur and I were no exception we were also comfortably planted in a chair with our own popcorn as well. When everyone who wished to watch the movie was comfortable Dave went and stood at the front near the TV. He then gave us a very quick rundown on muggle movies, their purpose and roughly how they were made. He told us that no 'magic' as we are used to it, is involved with the creation of movies. But that muggles do use lots of special tricks that they call 'special effects' to achieve the result that they are after. With this he went back to his seat with Gabrielle and pressed the play button.

The movie was a very entertaining and enjoyable one. Although the idea of people coming from outer space to earth was more than a little strange to me, I didn't mind it at all. The movie ran for about 2hrs and it was clear that by the end we had all enjoyed it immensely.

"Got any more Dave?" Harry and Ron asked at almost the same time.

Dave just grinned and said "Lots."

"Do you think you can stay awake for another one?" He asked us all.

We indicated that we believed that we could indeed stay awake. So, Dave got up and changed over the 'tape' as he called it and put in the second movie in the series called 'Superman II'.

This was also a very enjoyable movie, but by the end of it I was struggling to stay awake as I was rather tired. I did notice several of the others also having a similar battle on their hands.

As we got up from our seats we noticed that Gabrielle had fallen asleep on Dave. Dave for his part looked like he was close to falling asleep himself. But he roused himself enough to be able to pick Gabrielle up and carry her back to her tent with her parents. On the way out, we all thanked Dave for our first muggle movie night. He seemed genuinely pleased that we had all enjoyed it.

After this we all made our own way to our various beds. Bill and Fleur took up the offer of a room in the tent that had been provided as it offered them some more space. The rest of us headed over to the house while Dave's team made for their tents. While Kingsley and Chief Williams head back to London.

Sandra, Ivan and Andrea followed us back to the house as they were going to use the door there to go back home. They did mention that they would be 'officially' arriving at the Australian Embassy tomorrow around mid-morning. The original idea behind this was to give them a few days to get 'in sync' with the local time as they put it.

They did ask if it would be possible to visit tomorrow after they had taken care of their 'official duties' at the embassy. We told them that this was perfectly fine. With a final round of hugs they left through our scullery door. It still took a lot of getting used to that.

Tomorrow promised to be a busy day as work would begin on making The Burrow more secure.


	31. Pranks and Assignments

**16** **th** **May 1998 (Saturday)**

The next morning when I woke I just lay in bed for a few moments going over yesterday's events in my mind. Since meeting my sister's family each day has felt like a whirlwind. There was a lot to take in and process, but it was also a great deal of fun.

While I was laying there in bed I could hear voices outside, so I got up to have a look and I could see Dave's Team emerging from their tents and getting ready to head off for their morning training. Jean-Luc looked like he was going to join them as well.

Footsteps racing down the stairs caused me to head to the door of my room to see what was up. I caught a glimpse of what I thought to be Harry and Ron racing down the stairs. I quickly went back to the window to confirm my suspicions.

They proved to be correct as Harry and Ron had indeed gone out to join up with Dave and his team. This surprised me a little but I did know that Harry wished to be an Auror, so it seemed logical for him to be there. But Ron was still on the fence of what he wanted to do. They quickly lined up with the others between Dave and Mick, then Shelly called them all to order and they started off across the yard and down the lane.

Chuckling to myself I grabbed my dressing gown and headed for the kitchen to start to get things organised for breakfast. The kettle has just boiled and I was enjoying my cuppa when I saw Bill and Fleur emerge from the tent that had been setup for the Delacour family. They saw me in the kitchen and quickly came over. I made sure that I had a cuppa ready for them when they arrived.

"How did you sleep?" I asked them after we had exchanged hugs.

"Very well actually." Bill said with a smile, "Fireball was right, those tents are very nice. Certainly, the beds in them are very comfortable." He said with a shy smile to Fleur who returned it.

"How about you Fleur? Did you sleep well?" I asked.

"Oui, very well." She said with a naughty smile at Bill.

"I'm very glad to hear that." I told them, "Sandra was telling me that the tent you were in last night is their old family one that they used for family holidays."

"Apparently, it was created so that you can easily add or remove extra rooms to it depending on your need at the time."

"Did Gabrielle get Dave's old room?" Fleur asked me with a sly smile.

"Yes I think she mentioned that that room did used to be Dave's. Why do you ask?" I replied.

"It was full of Book shelves." She said with a knowing smile, then she had a laugh.

"What's funny about book shelves?" I asked her.

"Et, ezn't ze shelves zat were funny." Fleur replied, "I was just remembering Dave's reaction to carrying a sleeping Gabrielle into a bedroom." She giggled.

"'e was very shy and embarrassed for some reason." She said with an amused look about her.

"Yeah he almost fled once he put her on the bed and your mum went to remove her shoes." Bill laughed.

"True, but he did kiss her goodnight on her cheek like a proper gentleman." Fleur said approvingly.

"He certainly seems like a lovely young man." I said confidently, "And they do seem to be lovely together."

"Oui. That they are." Fleur said with a twinkle in her eye.

I got some toast underway along with some bacon and the smells of breakfast cooking quickly drew the other members of my family down to the kitchen. Where they began to attack their breakfast.

"I'm surprised Ron isn't here already. What's keeping him from food?" Ginny asked in between bites of her breakfast.

"I'd say about a dozen Aurors or so and 5 miles of country road." I said with a laugh.

Everyone was looking at me with the same question on their face. So, I had to explain.

"Harry and Ron joined Dave and his team for their morning exercise session." I told them trying not to laugh.

"Really?" Ginny exclaimed, "Ron is voluntarily doing exercise?" she asked almost in disbelief.

"Yes, I don't know whose idea it was, but they seemed very enthusiastic about it when they joined them outside earlier." I said trying not to smirk too much.

"I can't wait to see what he looks like when he gets back." Ginny said with undisguised glee. The rest of the family was also very keen to see what state the boys were going to be in when they got back. Several small wagers were placed as well.

We happily chatted around the breakfast table until we could again hear the sounds of a group of people coming along the lane. Ginny lead the way onto the porch to see what state Ron and Harry were in. But as the group arrived Ron, Harry, Dave and Mick were missing.

"Did you lose them somewhere?" Ginny asked Shelly with an evil glint in her eye.

"No we didn't lose them, we know where they are." Shelly replied also with a twinkle in her eye, "Our new additions had some trouble with our normal pace, so Dave and Mick dropped back and stayed with them."

"There is no point in discouraging them so early." Shelly said with a smile, "We have been doing daily runs for years, so we will give them some time to catch up."

With that Shelly and the rest of the first arrivals headed for their tents to get cleaned up. It was about 15 min later when the 'stragglers' as they were being called arrived back. Harry and Ron looked very flustered, while Dave and Mick looked almost relaxed as though out for a walk.

"How did they go?" Ginny asked Dave with a smile.

"Not too bad actually." Dave replied, "It was their first go at this so we didn't want them to push too hard. Better to build up slowly rather than do an injury trying to keep up." He replied seriously.

They helped both Harry and Ron over to us on the porch.

"Go and get cleaned up boys then have some water." Dave said with a gentle expression, "Well done. That was a very good effort for your first attempt. Just be ready for some stiff legs for a bit." Dave said with a smile.

With that he and Mick headed off on another run.

"Where are they going?" I asked Shelly who was now crossing the yard.

"Well as they had an easier time by running slower than the rest of us, they will need to do an extra 2 miles or they will never hear the end of it from the rest of the team." She explained with a grin.

"It shouldn't take them too long though." She said as she watched the two of them disappear down the lane, "We got some fresh supplies from the village again. Would like to join us outside?" She asked with a smile.

We all got up and continued our breakfast outside while we waited for Dave and Mick to get back. While we were waiting Julian and Apolline emerged from their tent along with Gabrielle.

"Good morning to you both. How did you sleep?" I asked them.

"Extraordinaire" Julian replied with a wide smile, "Ze bed was very comfortable. More so zan I expected for a tent." He said with a laugh.

"I should hope that they are." Shelly said with a grin, "The Auror department has spent a lot of time and effort ensuring that the beds are indeed comfortable. As they learnt back in Grandpa's time that if their Aurors sleep well they work well also."

"That makes a great deal of sense." Arthur said with a smile, "I should tell that to Kingsley as I know some of our Aurors grumble about things like that also."

It was now that Dave and Mick came back from their extended run. They both seemed quite relaxed though they were soaked through with sweat.

"About time you joined us." Fireball needled them both, "We were wondering if it was worth out trouble to leave you any breakfast at all." She laughed.

"If you eat my breakfast Fireball I will have you look after our guests tomorrow." Dave said with his own grin at her.

This seemed to do the trick as she sat back down and let the two of them get to their tents for a wash. I did notice Gabrielle follow Dave rather intently until he disappeared from view.

Harry and Ron were now gingerly making their way across the yard to us after having cleaned themselves up from their morning run.

"Did you have fun this morning?" Ginny asked Harry with an evil glint in her eyes.

"Define fun." Harry asked as he gingerly lowered himself into a seat.

"Well for me, it was fun being snuggled up in a warm bed until I could smell breakfast cooking." She answered him, "But your thoughts seem to be different to mine." She added with another smirk.

"Yes, well better to start with some pain now, instead of when Auror training begins officially." Harry replied.

"Sensible idea Harry." Shelly answered him, "Especially if Dave or Mick have any input into the revised training program here." She grinned.

"Yes Dave hinted yesterday the sort of things he would recommend to Kingsley, Arthur and Gawain to be added to the training program for new recruits if he was asked." Harry answered while grabbing some of the remaining bacon sandwiches.

"I thought it was a good bet that his suggestions would be implemented, so I decided that I had better start to get used to part of it now instead of later." He explained.

"Well I can tell you that you are indeed spot on, as Kingsley has asked to see the training schedule used by our Auror academy to see what would be useful here. And I know Dave likes to utilise the physical training parts of it." Shelly replied.

"Especially when he is likely going to be training people in either manipulating sorcerous energy or sorcery itself." She answered.

"Why is that?" Ron asked.

"Unlike magic, Sorcery taxes the body as much as the mind." She explained, "So while after a hard day of using magic only you will feel drained, a hard day of using sorcery you will feel absolutely wrecked. As you will not only be mentally exhausted but physically as well."

"The upside is that using sorcery keeps you in good shape." She said with a grin that she shared with Ginny, Hermione and Gabrielle.

The girls all returned her smile and there was an occasional blush from them.

"So having a good base level of fitness is of great benefit if you are going to make regular use of sorcery." She said with a serious face.

"Don't try to frighten them away already Shelly." Dave remarked as he came over to the table.

"They were both very brave to join in with one of your training sessions. You should be encouraging them not trying to scare them off." He added with a wink at the boys, "Besides for their first time out they did alright."

They seemed grateful at Dave's evaluation of their efforts and smiled a thank you to him while attacking their breakfast.

Gabrielle also had a brilliant smile for Dave as he arrived and she happily directed him to the seat that she had kept for him next to her. She was rewarded with a special kiss from him as he sat down.

"As I mentioned to you on the run earlier, you don't want to push yourself too hard too early with things like the physical training."

"We are not yet conducting evaluations or testing capabilities. So the best approach is to take it slow. Push yourself certainly, but don't overdo it. If you wreck your ankle now or blow out your knee by trying to run too fast too early it will only give you more issues later on."

"If you have a chance I would strongly advise you to get to a good sports store, magical or muggle it doesn't matter and get yourself some good comfortable running shoes. As I can guarantee that morning runs are going to be on the training schedule one way or another." Dave said in his professional voice.

"Any other pearls of wisdom, Dave?" Fireball said with wide eyes and an overly innocent look about her face. Dave seemed to suspect her of something as he was giving her a very suspicious look.

"Yes actually. As I'm sure you have found out by now, don't wear boxers for your morning run." He said with a smile at Ron who had started to blush.

"They can be rather uncomfortable can't they Ron." He chuckled, "Harry lucked out in that his were a bit snugger than yours, but I'm also willing to bet that he is also still rather tender 'south of the border'?" He remarked with a smirk on his face.

At this Harry, had also started to blush under Ginny's rather amusing stare that she had fixed on him.

"Get yourself some good briefs that will give you some comfortable support. It will make your training time that much more comfortable." He advised.

"Speaking of being comfortable and 'safe'." George said as he got up with a large grin on his face, "We understand that you are planning on returning to the scene of your earlier 'shopping experience' later today."

"In order to try and prevent a reoccurrence of the aptly named 'Paris Incident' that occurred back in March, the boys and I" he remarked as he indicated, Harry, Ron, Charlie and Bill" thought it might be prudent to equip you with some appropriate… let's call it 'protective equipment'." He said as his grin became large enough to be in danger of splitting his head in two.

George walked over to where Dave was sitting and with a very elaborate flourish presented Dave with a package. For his part Dave had a deeply suspicious look on his face as he accepted the gift from George.

"Should I be opening this under water or inside a shielded compartment?" He asked George still with the suspicious look on his face.

"I can assure you Dave that the contents on that package will not explode or harm you in any way. Its contents is intended only to protect you and keep you safe. As well as to show you our eternal gratitude for all that you have done to entertain us so far in the short time you have been with us." George remarked with his best 'innocent' expression.

"Well go on, open it." He told Dave, who was still very suspicious of George's motives.

Dave began to unwrap the package. What he uncovered was a packet of rather nice and plain looking briefs. He had a rather amused smile on his face as he pulled one out to examine it. As he did so Gabrielle started to laugh almost hysterically.

Very surprised by this Dave turned the briefs around to see what caused her odd reaction. When he did so he looked rather confused, but Fleur, Julian, Apolline, Shelly and Jean-Luc all began to laugh nearly as much as Gabrielle. Bill, Charlie, Harry and Ron were also laughing. But as they had been in on the planning I'm sure they did indeed know the meaning of the words. Even if they didn't understand French.

I couldn't see what the cause of their laughter was so I got up for a better look. What I saw was that across the bum of each pair of undies was written the following words; 'Rien à voir ici!'

Those of us who don't speak French were all very confused as to what it meant. Eventually Apolline regained enough control to tell us that it translated as; 'Nothing to see here!'

Well this caused the whole table (including Dave) to laugh uproariously. It took quite some time for us to get ourselves under control once more. Poor Gabrielle looked like she was on the verge of doing herself an injury she was laughing so hard. Every time she looked at Dave's rather amused expression she would lose her control once more.

Eventually we got ourselves under a degree of control once more. Drying her eyes Ginny asked, "Well are you going to show us how they look on?" with an evil glint in her eyes.

Dave blushed to the roots of his hair, while Gabrielle looked rather hopeful.

"Ah… No I don't think I will show them to you." Dave replied with a trace of embarrassment.

"Why not?" Ginny asked, pleased with the reaction she had gotten from him, "Fireball was telling us all about your 'speedos' that you wear down the beach. They don't sound much different to these."

"Apart from the writing that is." She said with an evil grin.

"This isn't the beach." Dave said still blushing.

"Why does that matter?" Ginny asked him still grinning.

"Let me put it this way, how comfortable would you be right now if you suddenly found yourself in only your bra and nickers?" he said with his own evil grin.

"You wouldn't." She exclaimed, with her own blush rising.

"Probably not. But isn't that the same as wearing a bikini at the beach?" Dave replied with his own 'innocent' look.

"Ok I see your point." Ginny replied a little disappointedly, then she grinned and said, "Maybe you can model them for Gabrielle and she can tell us what they looked like."

At this both Dave and Gabrielle blushed brightly and looked at each other with shy little grins on their faces. This seemed to be what Ginny was after, as at this point she pulled her camera out and snapped several photos before Dave and Gabrielle were aware of her doing so.

She had a very smug little smile on her face after capturing that exchange between the two of them. George too looked very pleased with himself.

Dave got up from his seat and walked over to George with his hand out and a smile on his face.

"Well done mate. Well done." He said as he shook hands with a grinning George.

The expression on Dave's face changed ever so slightly and George exclaimed in surprise. The sound of his surprise drew the attention of the entire group. Once everyone saw the cause of George's surprise there was a fresh outbreak of hysterical laughter.

The cause of everyone's laughter was that George was now wearing a very elaborate Burlesque outfit. Complete with the ruffled skirt that is cut high in the front, stockings, garter, corset and a small top hat with a bright pink feather in it. What material there was in the outfit was mostly pink but was also trimmed with black. The surprise on George's face was even funnier than what he was wearing.

Poor Ginny was laughing so hard she could barely hold her camera up. Eventually she managed to get off several sets of photos before George realised what was happening. He then made a break for the house. The high heels he was now wearing were definitely slowing him down though. They were most likely the main reason that Ginny got so many photos of him in that outfit.

She was able to take off after him and easily beat him to the house so as to get photos of him both running from the camera and towards it.

Dave then turned to shake hands with Harry still with a smile on his face. Harry quickly put his hands behind him and backed away, "No need to congratulate me Dave. It was a team effort after all." He said trying to down play his role.

"Oh yes. I had forgotten about the others." Dave said looking over to a now rather worried group of young men. "I will need to think of something appropriate for you all."

Dave then displayed his own predatory grin at the boys. This made them all very concerned, but when he turned to the girls and grinned like a Cheshire cat I think they realised what sort of trouble they were about to be in.

Looking back at the boys Dave raised his hand a snapped his fingers. Bill, Charlie, Harry and Ron suddenly found themselves wearing rather revealing leather outfits.

To say that they were surprised would be an understatement. The girls were also similarly surprised, but unlike the boys they seemed to be appreciating the view before them.

Ron immediately tried to make a break for the house. Only to find that the pants that he was wearing had split down the outside leg and fallen off. Hermione gave her approval of this development with a round of laughter followed by a boisterous question, "What other parts of that costume come off like that?"

"All of it." Dave answered.

"What!" Hermione exclaimed, albeit with a smile on her face. Ginny, Fleur and Cassy also seemed to be smiling wicked little smiles as well.

"Yes all of it comes off rather easily. As they are the type of costume that male strippers wear on stage." Dave said grinning like a mad man.

When the girls heard this, they took off after 'their' boys to see if this was indeed the case.

The boys all took off in different directions. A few of them inadvertently leaving some items of clothing behind.

Appearing very pleased with himself Dave returned to his seat, sat down and laughed till his sides hurt as he watched the girls chasing the boys around the yard.

Gabrielle was clearly enjoying seeing Dave so happy and she moved her chair closer over to him so she could enjoy cuddling him while she finished her breakfast.

In all honesty, I couldn't tell you how long it took for things to calm down again. I do recall that when Harry finally made it into the house Ginny seemed to be in possession of more of his clothing than he was. Ron must have been in a similar state as he was hiding behind Hermione (who was still laughing enthusiastically) as he made it to the house.

Bill tried for the tent instead of the house but Fleur was also much quicker than the other girls and clearly had him under her control. Charlie however disappeared towards Cassy's tent, with her in very hot pursuit.

All of the boys seemed to be struggling to keep smiles off their faces when they eventually arrived back at the breakfast table. The girls too seemed to be overly smug about something as well. Even George had a smile on his face when he re-emerged from the house.

All of the boys however did keep their distance from Dave and a wary eye on him as well, until he headed off with the Delacour girls to Paris.

Dave had a smile on his face that just wouldn't go away, especially when he looked at Gabrielle. He did however direct a questioning / challenging look at George. George for his part happily returned it, as he had to admit it was a rather unique and enjoyable response.

"Now that we have all had our entertainment." Arthur said still wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, "what is the plan for today Dave?" he asked eager to make a start on better securing our home.

"I think the first order of business will be to get 'The Doormat' in place." Dave answered, "Mick and Jono, I think you two will be the best ones to get that organised. Bill and Arthur can assist you while you get it in place. You can also show them both how it works." Dave advised.

Mick and Jono both seemed to be happy with that suggestion.

"Once the door mat is in place, Mick and Abby can start work on setting up the different shield layers that we discussed outside the existing wards." Dave suggested, "It would be a good idea to show Bill how you get them configured. I would also like at a minimum both Bill and Arthur to know how they work and how to reset them if needed." He said looking to both Mick and Abby for confirmation. They both nodded in approval.

"Jono and Rowdy, I would like you two to work your usual tricks on the main apparition point as well as setting up a new one with the stunner booby trap that we discussed yesterday. Make sure that the Talismans worn by all here will ensure safe passage through it though." Dave requested.

"Do you want some helpers for that task?" He asked them after seeing some eager faces in the crowd.

"I never turn down willing helpers." Jono replied with a grin.

"Charlie, George and Ron would you like to assist Jono and Rowdy with that task?" Dave asked them.

"Yeah ok. It sounds like fun." Ron replied with George and Charlie indicating their agreement as well.

"Excellent, just don't let those two" he said indicating Jono and Rowdy, "Lead you astray." Dave said with a chuckle.

"Would we do that?" Jono asked with a look of wide eyed innocence that fooled no one. Dave only smiled back at him by way of a reply.

"Once those two points are setup and operating I would like you to show everyone how they operate. Teach your helpers first and then get them to teach the others." Dave suggested with a sly look at Charlie, George and Ron.

"Cassy and Goose, you two are our potions and poisons experts…" Dave began to say only to have Fireball loudly remark, "Except when you're cooking that is." To some good natured laughter from Dave's team.

Dave had to fight back a blush that was trying to rise, while giving Fireball and rather strange look.

"Somezing else I should know about?" Gabrielle asked Dave with a smirk on her face.

Dave was about to reply when Shelly chimed in, "Let's just say dancing isn't the only civilised skill Dave has trouble with."

By this point Dave's family and team members were all displaying wide grins at him.

"Ok, I set the kitchen on fire one time." Dave replied, "And you lot are never going to let me forget it are you." He asked a little exasperated.

"Well Dave it wasn't just the kitchen fire, there were incidents of pots exploding, a cauldron that melted, an oven fire that got way out of hand. And let's not forget everyone's favourite the bread that ignited when it was toasted." Shelley informed the group with a Cheshire grin on her face.

"There's a reason why we try to never let you cook, and when we have no other choice we make sure that you do it outside." She said to laughter from Dave's team.

Gabrielle was having a hard time trying not to laugh at this new information about Dave. She was happily giving him an amused little smile that seemed to only make his blush worse.

"Are there other skills he has trouble with as well?" Ginny asked with her eyes alight with mischief.

"Oh my yes…" Fireball answered, "In fact we keep a record of them on this list here, see." She remarked as she held up a rather large looking scroll.

As Ginny made to grab it Dave quickly summoned it to himself, only to have Gabrielle quickly relieve him of it saying simply, "Merci." With a smug little smile.

The expression of worry bordering on outright fear on Dave's face and the one of satisfaction on Gabrielle's caused a good deal of laughter at the table. I think Dave was just beginning to understand that Fireball had obviously hoped he would take the list off her. Knowing full well, that Gabrielle wouldn't be able to pass up the opportunity to look over THAT sort of information.

Dave was a little unsure what to do next, he had just been very cleverly out manoeuvred by his sisters, and was not 100% sure of what was actually written on the scroll that Gabrielle now had firmly within her possession. I was very sure that she wouldn't be giving it up willingly any time soon either.

"You need to 'urry up if we are going to get to Paris when the stores will be opening." Gabrielle advised Dave with a cheeky smile.

"Yes, Dave. Don't dawdle with the team assignments, WE all have work to do today." Shelly said needling Dave. There was a sea of smiling faces greeting this statement around the table at this statement.

Dave eventually had to admit defeat on this topic, although I'm sure he was working on a plan of some sort to stop Gabrielle looking at that scroll.

"Ok." Dave said with a worried sigh, "Cassy and Goose, can you show Molly how to detect and neutralise the usual list of drugs and poisons commonly employed by assassins and bounty hunters." Dave requested.

"Make sure to show her how our little trick with spiking the water supply works, in case anyone tries to pull that one on her family as well." Dave suggested.

"Will do skipper." Goose replied.

"Oh… Also show her how to utilise her Talisman in this as well. As she has had it on long enough now to begin to be able to make use of it." Dave requested.

"Of course." Goose replied with a smile.

"Shelly and Fireball will start work on getting the various cameras we discussed installed and wired in. Those of you without an assignment can split yourselves up between them and Cassy and Goose." Dave suggested.

"Izzy, get yourself organised and ready for Kingsley when he arrives. But until he does help out where you think best." He requested. Izzy indicated her agreement.

"Any questions?" Dave asked.

Seeing George's hand in the air he pointed to him and indicated for him to ask his question.

"Are you going to wear your new undies on your shopping expedition?" George asked to the collective laughter of all present.

"Only after I have a curse breaker look over them." Dave replied with a grin. Seeing Bill offering his services Dave clarified, "One who wasn't involved with the creation of them that is." He laughed at Bill's only slightly disappointed expression.

"Anyone else?" Dave asked.

Getting no other questions he got up from the table, "Ok, let's get to it. Remember if you need me, just call." He said in his serious voice. Getting nods of agreement from his team he said, "Alright, I'm off to get changed then I'm out of here." As he walked over to his tent.

"Good luck." Fireball called after him with a chuckle, both from her and several of the other team members.


	32. Confrontations

In a very short amount of time Dave along with Madame Delacour, Fleur and Gabrielle had left through the door in his tent to go to Paris. The rest of us were very quickly engaged in our assigned tasks.

At school potions had been far from my favourite subject. But both Goose and Cassy were magnificent with the way that they demonstrated how various poisons could affect the appearance, smell and (in the worst case) taste of different foods.

They showed me along with Ginny, Hermione and Audrey many different ways to detect a whole range of poisons. They also gave us a supply of Bezoars, both to keep at home and some to carry on us at all times.

As we gradually mastered those techniques Goose and Cassy also showed us how to heed the 'warnings' given by our Talismans when they encountered poisons. These warnings were usually a feeling of cold coming directly from the Talisman itself or a sense of danger. They were however rather subtle in nature.

Both Goose and Cassy assured us that the longer you wore your Talisman the more attuned to it you will become. The same held true for the Talisman as well, for over time it would get to know us better and become better at passing along it's warnings to us.

It was now in the proceedings that Goose announced his intention to try and poison us to see if we could detect it. To do this he made several cups of tea and asked us to work out which ones were poisoned and which were safe to drink.

"But don't you need to poison one of them first?" Ginny asked him.

"I already have." Goose replied with a smile, "Several of them in fact."

"How?" she asked, "I didn't see you do anything to them." She said confused.

"I know." Was all that Goose would say with a mysterious smile on his face.

Seeing that more questions were forth coming he expanded on that statement, "It is something that we will be showing you all later on." He said with a little mysterious smile.

He indicated that he wished us to try to detect the poisoned cup of tea so we turned our focus to that task. Even though I didn't know what poison had been placed into the cups of tea in front of me I found it a very enjoyable task to try and work out which one it was.

After we had all very carefully examined the cups in front of us we each made our choices as to what we believed was the poisoned one. Oddly enough we all agreed on our selection with the exception of one cup. I was sure it was poisoned but the others didn't agree with me.

In the end we found out that all the cups of tea had been poisoned. But the amounts of poison in them varied. The cup we all thought wasn't poisoned had only a trace amount of poison in it. While the cup I thought was poisoned and the others didn't had enough to make you ill, but not enough to kill you.

When a non-poisoned cup of tea was placed on table alongside the others the difference could be noticed. But it was subtle very subtle. It was a great lesson we were all a little shocked at the result but we all agreed that it was an enjoyable lesson also.

I was beginning to think about starting to get lunch organised when our fireplace flared up with green flame and Andromeda Tonks stepped out with little Teddy Lupin.

Cassy and Goose were very quick to position themselves between Andromeda and myself. This caused a moment of unease for Andromeda until I called to both Cassy and Goose and told them that our visitor was one of my oldest and dearest friends. This caused them to relax until they found out the name of my visitor. Then they were both extremely watchful. They never showed any hostility or rudeness, but they were very vigilant and very much there.

I could see very quickly that an important conversation was going to need to take place in the immediate future to explain and try to resolve this situation. In the meantime, the only thing I could do was to greet my old friend as warmly as I could while I brought her up to speed on recent happenings.

"Andromeda, how wonderful to see you." I remarked with my biggest smile as I quickly crossed to enfold her in one of my hugs. She warmly returned my hug to me but it was very clear also that she had great many questions about my house guests.

"Molly, thank you for that very warm welcome." Andromeda smiled at me, "I'm sorry for the unannounced visit but I found myself having a lonely and rather rough morning at home today. I found myself missing very much recently departed family members." She said with some unshed tears in her eyes.

"There is no need for you of all people to apologise for an unannounced visit." I told her, "You know that you are always welcome here for any reason."

"Thank you, Molly." She replied with genuine warmth. "You seem to have a number of rather unusual and formidable looking house guests with you." She asked showing her trade mark curiosity.

"Yes, I do indeed." I replied with a smile, "We have had some very exciting times here recently and some even more exciting discoveries."

"It is a long story, which I will do my best to shorten for you. These two people here" I said indicating Cassy and Goose, "Are Aurors from the Australasian Auror Service."

This caused Andromeda's eyes to widen in surprise. But the spark of curiosity only got brighter.

"I would like to introduce you to Auror Ryan Colbert, commonly called Goose and Auror Cassandra Blanks, who is commonly called Cassy."

"Cassy and Goose, I would like to introduce you to Andromeda Tonks and Teddy Lupin." I said with a small amount of trepidation I must admit.

To their credit neither of them reacted to Andromeda's family name but I did notice it register in their eyes. They both politely (but correctly) greeted Andromeda.

"Could one of you please go and ask Arthur and Harry to join us? Along with Shelly and Fireball?" I asked them with my unspoken question in my eyes.

"Certainly. I'll go." Goose replied and quickly left the room with a glance at Cassy. With his departure, Cassy repositioned herself to become less noticeable (to Andromeda) while still being able to see all that was going on.

I called the other ladies from the kitchen over to greet my guest.

"You remember my little Ginny?" I asked Andromeda as I introduced her.

"Of course, I do. She just gets lovelier each time I see her." Andromeda smiled as she warmly embraced Ginny.

"This lovely young lady is Hermione Granger, she is a friend of Harry's and Ron's girlfriend." I explained as I introduced her.

"Yes, I remember her from the funeral for Dora and Remus." Andromeda said with a small smile, "You were doing a wonderful job of keeping Ron from falling to bits."

Hermione smiled her thanks at this.

"And this lovely young lady is Audrey, Percy's Fiancée." I said with a broad smile.

Andromeda's face lit up at this news and she very warmly embraced Audrey, "It is lovely to meet you my dear." She said with a lovely smile.

"When did this happen." She asked Audrey.

"Percy proposed to me on New Years Eve, while we were in France with Dave's team." She said with a radiant smile.

"That sounds lovely my dear." Andromeda said with a twinkle in her eye, "Who is this Dave?" She asked next.

"My Nephew." I replied, partly to see the reaction from Andromeda and partly to get her full attention so I could explain the full story. It worked.

"Your nephew?" Andromeda asked, "I thought that I knew all of your family."

"So, did I." I answered.

"You're carrying a story here Molly." She chided me, "Out with it."

This was when Arthur, Harry, Shelly and Fireball all arrived. Arthur and Harry were quickly and warmly greeted by Andromeda. After being greeted by her Harry went straight to Teddy and picked him up for a cuddle leaving Andromeda's hands free.

When Andromeda laid eyes on Fireball though I could instantly see that she had registered the similarities with my little Ginny. The look she directed to me would have made me laugh under normal circumstances.

"Andromeda, I would like to introduce to you Auror Michelle Webb (she prefers to be called Shelly) and Auror Jasper Webb also known as Fireball. They are my nieces." I said with a shy little smile.

Andromeda was now looking very surprised but also intrigued.

"Shelly and Fireball, I would like to introduce you to Andromeda Tonks. One of my oldest friends." I said putting a slight stress on the last word. Both Shelly and Fireball seemed to have caught my meaning. As they politely (but also correctly) greeted Andromeda.

"Shelly, do you think you could call your parents and ask them to come over. As I would like to introduce them as well, and I think that they would greatly benefit from a chat with Andromeda also." I requested her.

"Of cause Aunty." Shelly replied taking out her Mirror Phone as she stepped outside to make the call.

"Which one is it?" Andromeda asked me.

"I'll let you see if you can work it out." I said with a smirk.

"This is all rather exciting." Andromeda said cheerfully, "I think I need a cup of tea to calm my nerves." She remarked as she headed for the cups that we were using earlier.

"No!" I called out to her, "Not those, they are poisoned." I said a little more forcefully than I intended.

Andromeda stopped in her tracks and looked at me with a confused look and asked, "Why are they poisoned?"

"Because Cassy and Goose have been teaching us how to detect poisons that may be placed into our food and drinks. We were using those cups of tea to practice with." I explained.

"Why would you need to know how to detect poisons in your food and drink?" she asked me.

"Because there is a price on my head." I told her in a small voice.

"WHAT!" She almost exploded, "How did this happen." She almost demanded.

"Rodolphus Lestrange! He has put out a contract worth 5 Million Galleons on me. Because I killed his wife during the Battle at Hogwarts." I explained to her.

"I see." She replied with an icy determination creeping into her voice. "Is that the reason for all these Aurors being here?" She asked.

"Only partly." I answered.

Seeing the question in her eyes I launched into an explanation of what had happened over the last few days. How we had reached out to Kingsley for help in trying to locate Hermione's parents, then meeting Chief Williams and Dave.

Learning about their activities over here during the recent war and how Percy had been involved with them and how he had met Audrey. I also explained about how we had learnt about the ambush that was setup here along with how we dealt with it. I also told her about Gabrielle getting injured and how she was able to be healed.

This led me to explain about what happened to Dave after that and how his collapse had led to the arrival of his parents and the revelation that one of his parents was my sibling.

Andromeda took all of this in very calmly. But I could see her mind working furiously behind her eyes. It was a great deal to take in. Eventually she asked, "Who are the parents of this Dave and Shelly and Fireball?"

"We are."

Came a voice from behind us. Both of us turned around to see the new arrivals. Ivan and Sandra were standing calmly in kitchen looking with curiosity at my visitor.

Andromeda however looked anything but calm. She was staring wide eyed at Sandra as she drank in the features of her face.

"Oh…" was all Andromeda could manage while her thoughts were rampaging like a Hippogriff in heat.

After a few moments, Andromeda began to look between Sandra and Me, her face full of confusion.

"Perhaps we should go into the lounge and sit down?" I suggested, trying to get Andromeda into a chair before she fell over.

"That sounds like a good idea." Sandra answered as she and Arthur helped direct Andromeda into a suitable chair in the lounge.

Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Audrey made to follow but Arthur spoke up saying, "Harry, perhaps you and the girls can entertain Teddy outside for a time? Just while we discuss a few things in here privately?" he requested.

Looking a little disappointed at missing out on the conversation Harry replied, "Oh… Ok." Before Ginny looped her arm through his and they headed outside followed by Hermione and Audrey.

Meanwhile Shelly, Fireball, Cassy and Goose had stationed themselves around the lounge room trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. It was a slightly unnerving experience to say the least.

"I think you lot can head back to your assigned duties as well." Ivan advised them. When no one moved he added, "That wasn't a request." In a sterner tone of voice.

Shelly and Fireball moved off with a glance at Cassy and Goose that I'm sure wasn't intended to be seen.

"Cassy, Goose, you are free to go back to your other duties as well." Ivan told them.

"Our assigned duties were to teach Molly here all about poisons." Cassy replied with a direct look at Ivan.

"I see. Well then you can go and assist Shelly and Fireball with the rigging of the surveillance cameras." He countered. Again, neither of them made to move.

"That is an order Auror Blanks and Auror Colbert." Ivan remarked in his official voice.

Both Cassy and Goose snapped to attention and responded "Minister!" as they turned on their heels and marched out of the room. Their every move speaking louder than words that they disapproved of Ivan's decision.

"Minister?" Andromeda enquired.

"Andromeda, I would like to introduce you to my older sister, Dr Sandra Mary Webb and her husband the Australian Minister of Magic Ivan Septimus Webb." I said with a smile.

"Sandra, Ivan I would like to introduce to you one of my oldest friends Andromeda Tonks." I said with a small amount of trepidation.

Just like their Aurors, neither Sandra nor Ivan reacted visibly to the name of Tonks. I could only assume that Shelly had briefed them on who they were about to meet. They did however politely greet Andromeda. While it was a warmer greeting that their Aurors had delivered it certainly didn't have the warmth I had hoped for. I consoled myself with the thought that they were merely being cautious knowing the conversation that was to come.

I think their reserved greeting was noticed by Andromeda as well. As while her curiosity was still high I could also sense a certain amount of defensiveness in her posture as well.

"I'm beginning to think that there is more to this private chat than just introducing family members." Andromeda enquired.

"Yes. You are correct Andromeda there is." I answered with a little concern showing.

"Has this got anything to do with Dora not showing up to a meet that was organised by Alistair?" She asked a little sternly with a direct look at Sandra and Ivan.

"It certainly revolves around a meeting organised by Alistair Moody before his death." Ivan replied, "It specifically relates to the behaviour of Nymphadora Tonks during that meeting."

"As her conduct during the meeting lead to its location being betrayed to a group of Death Eaters." Ivan explained, while Andromeda was giving him a disbelieving stare.

"She would never." Andromeda protested, before Ivan held up his hand asking for quiet so he could finish.

"We have a recording of the meeting." Ivan informed her, "You can hear Nymphadora knock over a collection of metal pipes. Then assure our Auror that there is no one around who could have heard the noise. She distracted him so that the Death Eaters could Apparate in behind him and attack him by surprise." Ivan said in a calm but measured voice.

"Once the Death Eaters arrive you can hear Nymphadora Apparate away as they launch their attack on our Auror. Their attack resulted in the rather brutal death of one of our finest Aurors." Ivan explained in a voice thick with emotion.

"Was this Auror known to you?" Andromeda asked.

"He was my eldest son." Sandra replied while staring into Andromeda's eyes. Watching her intently.

"I'm very sorry to hear that." Andromeda replied, "But my Dora would never betray and abandon someone like that. There must be some mistake." She stated somewhat defiantly.

"Mad Eye ensured that Senior Auror Webb would be able to recognise both himself and his designated alternate contact. He was also not the sort to casually give away recognition codes either." Ivan fired back.

"So, I find it very difficult to believe that his information would lead my son to mistake his contact for the meeting." He stated.

The two of them locked eyes with each other and I could see that neither one of them was going to back down. I was wondering how to get them both through this impasse when Arthur spoke.

"Would it be possible to hear the recording of the meeting?" He asked rather tentatively, "Only the start of the meeting, up until the Death Eaters arrive." He added when he saw the expressions on Ivan and Sandra.

Ivan quickly recovered from his momentary shock and brought out his Mirror Phone. Placing it on the coffee table he tapped a few of the squares that were on the screen. After a few moments, we heard the recording start to play.

A voice introduced itself as Senior Auror James Webb and stated the date and time (5pm 31st July 1998). Along with the purpose of the recording, which was to serve as a backup to his own recollection for later reports. The voice of Senior Auror James Webb then described where the meeting was to take place (an empty warehouse in London).

The voice then said that the intended contact for the meeting was one Nymphadora Tonks, who was an Auror in the employ of the British Ministry of Magic.

Looking down at the Mirror Phone on the table I could see the date and time displayed on the recording. I noticed that it seemed to jump in places. When I asked Ivan about this he advised that the recording was sound activated so it would only actively record when there was sound of some sort.

At 5:20pm by the time shown on the display Senior Auror James Webb mentions that the contact is late. The meeting was supposed to have been at 5:15pm. He also says that he is sending an update in as to the no show of the contact at the agreed upon time.

When the time on the display showed 5:30pm footsteps could be heard getting closer. The footsteps eventually stopped and then another set of footsteps could be heard. This second set must have been Senior Auror Webb stepping out from where he had concealed himself.

 _"That's a rather stylish coat for a place like this."_ Spoke the voice of Senior Auror Webb, _"What is it?"_

 _"It's a Driza-Bone."_ A female voice replied that I could have sworn was Tonk's. I looked to Andromeda and I could see her face go pale as she obviously recognised the voice as well.

 _"Is it warm enough?"_ Senior Auror James Webb asked.

 _"Yes, it is wool lined you see."_ Was the reply from Nymphadora's voice?

Andromeda's face was still rather pale and she seemed to have been mouthing the words of that rather odd conversation. Both Ivan and Sandra were watching her very closely so I was very sure that they would have caught this behaviour as well.

It was at this point that Ivan leaned over and paused the recording, "How did you know what they were going to say?" He asked as he stared at Andromeda with an intensity that bordered on frightening.

Andromeda looked at him a little startled, "Pardon?" She asked.

"I asked you how you knew what they were going to be saying on the recording." He asked again, "Before you deny it, I was watching you and I can lip read very well."

This statement caused Andromeda to go very pale, although she managed to hold Ivan's stare, "Dora mentioned those phrases to me." Andromeda eventually replied.

"She was saying how she could never understand how Mad Eye came up with his recognition codes. As they were usually rather odd."

"She felt that these latest ones were some of his strangest yet." She replied.

"So because they were odd she felt that she could just tell anyone about them?" Ivan asked with a small amount of heat coming into his voice.

"I'm not just anyone." Andromeda retorted, "I'm her mother!"

"So?" Ivan asked a little stiffly, "Does that give you the right to classified information? Or information that could potentially compromise the safety or the life of an Auror?"

"Who did you tell about the codes?" He asked.

"I didn't tell anyone about them." Andromeda replied.

"So it was your daughter then on that recording who is responsible for the events that lead to the death of my son." Ivan said with the sort of finality reserved for a judicial judgement.

"Never!" Andromeda replied heatedly, "My Dora wouldn't do such a thing."

"Really?" Ivan replied disbelievingly, "You have just admitted she was careless to the point of negligence with recognition codes."

"What else was she careless with?" He asked almost insultingly.

"How dare you." Andromeda shot back with a flush rising on her cheeks.

"How dare I?" Ivan exclaimed, "How dare I, what? Follow the evidence? Some of which you have just provided." He replied with an almost frightening icy calm.

"From where I'm sitting the arrest warrant we have for her is perfectly justified." Ivan replied, "With your new information I would be dragging her in for questioning myself if she wasn't already dead." He said with conviction.

"Arrest warrant?" Andromeda also cried, "You want to arrest my Dora?"

"We wanted to question her." Ivan answered, "If arresting her was necessary then yes we would have done that also. Then thrown her in the deepest darkest hole we could have found if she was found guilty and convicted."

Andromeda looked into Ivan's eyes and could read the truth of that statement in them. She could also read his conviction to find those responsible for the death of his son. It was this I think that started to make her uncomfortable. That and the fact that all the currently available evidence pointed directly at her daughter.

I didn't know what to do or say. I had hoped that getting her to talk to my sister and brother-in-law would have resolved or explained this situation somehow. Worry began to grip my heart.

"Is the time on that recording accurate?" Arthur asked in an almost distracted manner.

"Excuse me?" Ivan asked as he had been so focused on Andromeda he had almost forgotten about the others in the room.

"The clock that is displaying on that recording." Arthur questioned as he pointed to the mirror phone, "How accurate is it?"

"Extremely." Ivan replied, "It synchronises with those 'atomic clocks' that the muggles have. So it always reports the local time as accurately as possible." He explained.

"I see…" Arthur replied still with a very distracted air about him.

He seemed to have caught Ivan's attention though. As Ivan was now focused on Arthur with his own questions showing on his face.

"Why do you ask Arthur?" He enquired.

I don't know if Arthur didn't hear him or was deliberately ignoring him. Whatever the reason for it he was intent on following the train of thought in his head.

"Did you take note of the date mentioned Molly?" He asked me.

"Yes I did. The voice in the recording said it was the 31st of July 1997." I said just as the significance of that date was brought to my mind, "That's Harry's birthday." I exclaimed.

"His 17th Birthday." I said with a broad smile on my face, "The PARTY!" I almost yelled.

"The party?" Ivan asked confused.

"Yes Harry's 17th Birthday Party." I told Ivan with a large smile on my face. I could see that it was confusing and slightly angering both him and Sandra but the full implications had just dawned on me.

"We had a Party for Harry on his 17th Birthday here at the Burrow." I told them both happily, "Remus and Tonks were invited guests. They were here at the Party." I explained.

"Here?" Ivan said with a degree of scepticism in his voice.

"Yes." Arthur answered, "There were some of the earliest guests to arrive." He said happily.

Then his face darkened somewhat, "But they had to leave when Minister Rufus Scrimgeour arrived." He said a little sadly.

"Why did they have to leave?" Ivan asked, "What time did they leave?"

"They had to leave as Remus Lupin was a werewolf." I explained, "And the ministry had recently drafted some very nasty anti werewolf legislation."

"Tonks and Remus didn't want to give the minister any reason to arrest him. So they left shortly before he arrived, just before dinner."

"What time was dinner?" Sandra asked.

"I can't remember, but it was written on the invitations we gave out." I said distractedly, "But I know who kept a copy of the invitation." I said very happily as I headed for the door.

"GINNY!" I yelled into the yard.

"Yes mum?" Came the reply a little quicker than it normally did. As Ginny stepped into the kitchen doorway.

"You were listening weren't you?" I chided her. The unnatural blankness of her face was enough to give her away. I kept my eyes locked on her until a blush began to rise in her cheeks.

"Who else was listening with you?" Sandra asked with the faintest ghost of a knowing smirk on her face.

Guiltily Fireball and Cassy also came into view as well.

"We will talk about this later ladies." Sandra said reprovingly.

"If you were listening, I'm sure you will know what we are looking for?" I asked Ginny.

"Yes mum." She replied without a trace of guilt, "And yes I did keep a copy of the invitation and I know where it is." She answered.

"Go and fetch it down for us will you." I asked her.

"Yes mum" she answered as she headed for the stairs.

"Jasper, can you go with her please." Sandra asked.

"Whatever for?" I asked.

"That invitation is potentially a vital piece of evidence that could either further implicate Nymphadora or potentially form the basis of a very solid alibi." Sandra explained, "Therefore it needs to be collected correctly for it to be of any legal use."

"I see." I answered surprised, "Then by all means please follow Ginny my dear." I instructed Fireball who quickly took off after Ginny.

The two girls took off up the stairs together. They were back in the lounge shortly after with the invitation. Jasper had a strange little smile about her face while Ginny had a slight blush on her cheeks.

Jasper quickly crossed the lounge and presented the invitation to Ivan and Sandra. They both glanced at the invitation and read the time listed on it for dinner.

It said Dinner 6pm, 31st July 1997 at the Burrow.

"It would seem that Nymphadora's alibi checks out." He said with a note of frustration in his voice, as he handed the invitation to Sandra.

"So it does." She answered a little disappointedly as well.

"Does this mean she is no longer 'wanted for questioning'?" Andromeda asked almost hopefully.

"If she was still alive we would most definitely still want to talk to her." Ivan replied, "Especially about disclosing recognition codes."

"But Nymphadora Tonks is no longer one of the prime suspects." Ivan answered.

"Why do you insist on calling her Nymphadora?" Ginny asked.

"That's her name isn't it?" Ivan asked with a note of confusion.

"It's her birth name yes. But she always hated it." Ginny explained with a slightly guilty look at Andromeda, "She much preferred Tonks, or at the very least Dora."

"Are you sure?" Ivan asked with the look of one back on the hunt. I got the impression that the answer was very important to him.

"Very sure." Ginny replied, "About the only person I ever remember calling her Nymphadora was Mad Eye." She explained.

Ivan and Sandra shared a look between them that seemed to be very significant.

"What is it?" I asked the two of them.

Instead of answering Ivan reached forward and touch his mirror phone again. The recording began to play again.

 _"Auror Tonks?"_ We heard the voice of Senior Auror Webb ask.

 _"Yes."_ The female voice replied, _"But YOU can call me Nymphadora."_ It said in a tone that was meant to be suggestive but just came across as wrong.

 _"Nymphadora."_ Senior Auror Webb replied politely.

 _"It's NYMPH-A-DORA."_ The female voice replied stressing the pronunciation of her hated name.

Ivan again paused the recording here, and looked up at the group of people gathered in the longe.

"There is no way that is Tonks." Ginny said in a very firm voice, "She would never ask someone to call her by her first name like that. Not even Remus."

"Are you sure of that?" Ivan asked.

"Yes. Very sure." Ginny replied.

"I would agree with Ginny on that also." Andromeda replied as well.

"Me too" Arthur said firmly.

"So would I." I answered.

"Damit." Ivan exclaimed a little too loudly as he caused everyone to jump, "We are back to square one on this."

"As one of our main suspects now has a very solid alibi and there are now linguistic discrepancies as well." He said showing his frustrations.

"Pardon me" Andromeda said almost tentatively, "Can you replay the part where she says her name again?"

"Certainly I can." Ivan replied as he quickly got the recording back to that part and played it again. This time he was watching Andromeda's face very closely.

"There is something about the way that she pronounced Nymphadora that is familiar to me." Andromeda remarked, "But it escapes me just now."

"Could you play it again please?" She asked.

Ivan quickly replayed it for her.

"It is on the tip of my tongue but I can't place it." She said eventually, "I'll need to have a think on it." She sad as the recording continued to play in the background forgotten.

Suddenly she sat upright and said, "Can you play that last part again?" with something close to recognition in her eyes.

His own eyes full of curiosity Ivan quickly replayed the last part of the recording.

 _"So you're the 'Skippy', then are you?"_ The female voice could be heard to say.

 _"I'm Australian yes. Senior Auror James Webb."_ The male voice replied.

Ivan again paused the recording here as Andromeda had gone pale and sat back in her seat.

"You recognised something didn't you?" He asked her.

"Yes. Yes I did." She answered.

"What was it?" He asked full of curiosity.

"That term she used." Andromeda said thoughtfully, "I have heard it before. With almost the same level of contempt in it as well." She said as she looked up at Ivan and Sandra with sad eyes.

"I heard it on the night Dora was talking about that particular recognition code that Mad Eye had taught her." She said in a small voice.

"Who else was there that night?" Ivan asked with his intense expression returning.

"Muriel Prewett." She answered.

At the mention of that name Sandra was on her feet and her eyes were full of anger. You could feel it radiating off her as she reached for her magical energies. It was a rather frightening experience.

As fast as she was though, Ivan was faster. He was also able to quickly restrain her and bring her back to him. He put his arms around her and looked directly in her eyes.

"That is not the way." He said giving her a direct look that seemed to be conveying more meaning that his words could.

"I'm going to go and kill that sodden old cow if it is the last thing I do." Sandra hissed full of fury, "She caused me to be thrown out of my family. She betrayed me along with my brothers to the Death Eaters."

"And now she is the one responsible for Jimmy's betrayal and ultimately his death."

"She may be responsible for all of that." Ivan said in a calm voice, "But there is one thing she isn't and hopefully never will be responsible for." He told her.

"What would that be?" Sandra snapped at him while still struggling to free herself.

"The woman I love, committing murder." Ivan replied in a very tender voice.

This seemed to take a lot of the heat and anger out of Sandra. She appeared to calm down, and stopped struggling against her husband.

"What have we always taught our children?" Ivan asked her.

"Embrace your emotions, but don't let them rule you." She responded looking at her shoes.

With a very tender expression on his face Ivan reached out and lifted Sandra's chin until she was looking in his eyes. He then smiled at her, "I seem to recall you teaching that lesson to all of our children. Especially the ones who became Aurors." He said with a smile.

She smiled back at him and then drew him to her and they both embraced one another for a few moments.

"I promise you my love. If Muriel is involved in Jimmy's death in ANY way. We will get her for it." Ivan said with his Iron clad conviction once more on display, "But it WILL be done correctly and fully within the law." He said very firmly.

"Do I make myself clear?" He said in a firm voice, but with a smile playing about his face.

"Yes dear." Sandra said once more embracing her husband, "Thank you." She said as she reached up and kissed him.

After a few moments they finished their kiss and Ivan relaxed his arms from around Sandra.

"I'm sorry about that." Sandra replied clearly embarrassed with herself.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." I told her, "I felt like doing that myself to her just now." I remarked with a shy smile, as I gave her an embrace of my own.

"I would also like to apologise to you as well Andromeda for suspecting your daughter of being involved in Jimmy's death." Sandra said sincerely to Andromeda.

"We both would." Ivan added.

"I must admit, it was a bit of a shock to me. But given the evidence you had access to I could understand your conclusions." She replied.

"But witnessing what I just saw, I'm also very sure that if you had managed to capture her you would have done right by her."

"For that I am grateful." She said with genuine warmth, "I'm even more grateful that you do indeed follow the evidence. Especially when it clears my Dora." She said with a smile.

"Indeed." Ivan said with a small smile about his face.

"I should also apologise for the rather cool greeting we gave you earlier as well." Ivan offered, "I was finding it difficult to keep my own emotions under control at the time." He explained.

"I can well imagine." Andromeda answered just as Sandra stepped forward and engulfed her in a hug that Andromeda seemed to enjoy. Ivan also quickly joined in as well.

"Who would be interested in a cup of tea and some lunch?" I asked.

"Me." Ivan replied with a smile, "Just as long as you are not planning on serving any of those poisoned cups of tea over there." He said giving me a cheeky smile.

"It depends on how well you are behaving dear." Sandra replied with a wink as she followed me into the kitchen as we got things organised for lunch. After getting rid of the poisoned cups of tea that is.

Lunch itself started out a little awkward as Dave's team had by now learnt who Andromeda was. It became more enjoyable though once we explained to Dave's team and Shelly the discovery we made about Tonks. We showed them all the birthday invitation for Harry and told them how Remus and Tonks left just before dinner. They were also told about how Tonks hated her first name and protested each time someone used it. When added together they all seemed to agree that it removed Tonks from the group of prime suspects.

They were however extremely disappointed in Tonks for being careless with the recognition codes that were to be used for the meeting.

Likewise they were very keen to try and confirm the recent suspicions around the potential involvement of my Great Aunt Muriel. You could almost see their minds working on the problem.

Kingsley joined us part way through lunch, he was keen to start work on getting all of his 'concerns' listed on the law scroll. Thus he didn't stay with us for long, for as soon as he had quickly eaten a sandwich or two he disappeared with Izzy into her tent to begin working on the scroll.

Andromeda, Sandra and I stayed at the table and enjoyed a good chat about our families while we watched the goings on around us. We were still talking when Dave and the Delacour girls returned with their own stories and a discovery from their trip to Paris.


	33. Fleur's Introduction

_Authors Note: Hi All, For the chapters done from Fleur's point of view, I have decided to keep the 'french accent' only on the parts where she or the other French characters are actually speaking. Otherwise the story became too difficult to read._

 _I Do hope that you are all still enjoying the story, thankyou for reading._

I would like to start out by saying it is a pleasure and a real honour to help in the creation of this Journal. While I greatly enjoyed taking part in the creation of the Journals for Harry & Ginny, as well as for Ron & Hermione this Journal is special to me in a way that the others just couldn't be.

When Molly and Sandra approached me to take part I was overjoyed to assist. When they explained to me which 'chapters' that they wished me to write about I couldn't help but smile.

Paris it would seem holds a special place in Dave's memory for many different reasons. One of them you will have already read about, if you are following this journal sequentially. One of the other reasons I will be telling you about shortly.

Recalling the telling of the original Paris incident still brings a smile to my face as well as that of my Bill. I know Gabrielle never misses a chance to hear it retold either. Although I'm sure she gets more enjoyment out of the re-enactments of the incident itself. If the family rumours are to be believed. I'm hoping that my telling of the Paris incident that I got to witness will bring about as many smiles as the original. While it was a very different type of incident it was very memorable in its own special way.

Reading over the (at the time) drafts of the earlier chapters to refresh my memory of the course of events was a very enjoyable experience. While some of the events were heart breaking at the time (and still bring a tear to my eyes even now) I can now see how they helped forge a relationship between families that we are now all thoroughly enjoying. As well as extremely grateful for in many different and unexpected ways.

It also reminded me just how quickly the initial relationship between Gabrielle and Dave grew and blossomed. Although, if she hadn't been the one to take the first overt steps, I'm positive that Dave would still be trying to figure out if she really did indeed like him or not. While we have all grown to love him deeply over the years he truly is 'thick as two planks' about women (as Fireball puts it) in many ways. But that is also part of his charm.

Many people have asked me for my opinion on the beginnings of the relationship between Dave and Gabrielle, and why I seemed to be so approving of it so quickly. All I can say is that sometimes when you see something that is 'just right' you can recognise it as being 'just right' very quickly. What takes much longer is the working out of WHY it is so completely 'just right'.

That was the case with Dave and Gabrielle, they were just so 'right' for one another. That isn't to say that they didn't have arguments and their share of ups and downs like other couples do. It's just that their responses to those incidents was just 'different'. Much like Dave himself.

It took a while to work out precisely why they were so right for each other. But once we had figured it out, we all whole heartedly agreed with it. As you read through this journal I'm sure you will understand the why as well.

Over the years I haven't seen anything from either one of them to indicate that my initial feelings about them weren't correct. It's true that Dave did have some incidents with certain members of my family when he met them. But even those incidents only served to prove long held suspicions on the family members involved, rather than cast suspicions on Dave. Although I must say his attempt to cook a special breakfast for Gabrielle on her birthday one year, did only serve to re-enforce the family rule about not letting Dave be alone in a kitchen if he is wanting to cook something.

Sorry Dave, but that rule exists for a very valid reason. It is so very true and necessary. After seeing the kitchen at Emma's parents place we all understood the reasoning for it. Along with the meaning of their nickname for you of 'Shadow'.

The path to a solid long term relationship is different for us all. Ginny and Harry had a slow and bumpy road to the start of their 'official' relationship. While Ron and Hermione had a slow burn on their relationship for several years. Even Bill and I had an 'odd' start to our relationship. But however a relationship starts, and regardless of how fast or slow it grows, for it to last it takes many different things. The foremost of which are, Trust, Respect, Genuine Love and Communication. All of the long lasting relationships that I have seen firsthand have had all of those elements in equal measure. Dave and Gabrielle being no exception.

When I began to understand (and duplicate) how Dave and his sisters could 'see' magical energy, it also only served to re-enforce my initial belief. I will admit it is very annoying not to be able to see your own 'bond' with someone. But being able to see the bonds of others around me was truly magical in a way I hadn't experienced before.

When I first looked at the bonds of my parents and of Bill's parents I understood more clearly Dave's stance on the power of love. When I viewed the bond between Dave and Gabrielle I could only smile and wipe away a few tears of joy. This might have been just after an extremely rough and harrowing episode in their relationship. But you would not have known it from viewing their bond. Similarly, Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione all have bonds between them that while they exist for very different reasons all serve as examples of what should be aimed for in a relationship. I'm told that the bond that I share with Bill is very similar as well.

While Dave's relationship with Gabrielle was the one that my family focused on the most (for obvious reasons), it was his relationship with Harry that the greater wizarding community has had the greater interest in. In many ways those two are very much alike, but for every similarity there are also significant differences as well. Personally, I'm very sure that this is the result of their very different up bringing's.

Harry was raised in a very isolating environment and as a result he learnt to keep his thoughts to himself and to only rely on himself. This was the case until he went to Hogwarts and met Ron and Hermione. While he eventually came to rely on them as well his first instinct is always to shoulder the burden alone.

Dave on the other hand was raised in a very large and loving family who all supported each other. True he faced (and still faces) significant hostility and opposition from those outside of his family. This hostility isn't just from individuals, in fact a few national governments still think he should be killed on sight, or used for experiments only. But even with all of that his first instinct is to reach out to and utilise those around him before he tries to fully shoulder a burden alone.

Harry will brood on a problem alone to the exclusion of others, while Dave almost seems to revel in discussing problems with others. He gets some sort of obscure enjoyment out of 'constructive arguments' as he calls them. When those two began to combine their approaches, and views some real magic occurred.

I believe Dave 'forced' Harry to be more accepting of others that he is working with and to embrace and utilise their different viewpoints and skills. While Harry got Dave to be more accepting of his own abilities and to 'trust himself' more than he did previously.

The sight of those two working together always brings a smile to my face. They both have had many 'assistants' or 'partners' over the years. But I think they still prefer to argue their thoughts with each other. The only possible exception being when Ron or one of Dave's sisters is available.

They have both pushed through ideas with Kingsley as well as the ministers of magic from other European countries, as well as a few with countries from Dave's side of the world. On the whole these ideas have proved to be beneficial to the wizarding world at large. Their most recent collaboration has resulted in a global organisation that shows real promise and has gotten off to a flying start. But those stories are for another day.

These next few chapters are around the start of some 'official' relationships that had far reaching consequences. Even if they did begin humbly.

I do hope that you enjoy my telling of them as much as I enjoyed watching them unfold.

Fleur Weasley.

P.S. I don't think I ever got around to thanking you Dave for that 'leather outfit' you created for my Bill. It was certainly a very enjoyable experience seeing him in it that first time. It is still an enjoyable experience as he still fits in it to this day.


	34. Rendezvous in Paris (Fleur's POV)

After a very entertaining morning in which we got to witness George's 'gift' to Dave, along with Dave's reply we made ready to make our way to Paris. For a shopping trip that I was honestly rather looking forward to. Gabrielle for her part was almost dancing around the lounge area of Dave's tent while we waited for him to get changed.

It wasn't a long wait for him, but it was very entertaining to watch Gabrielle. When Dave emerged in jeans, a casual white shirt and boots her eyes lit up in approval. She quickly crossed to him and gave him a full kiss and a hug. They were both smiling with genuine warmth when they broke their kiss.

"Are you all ready?" Dave asked us.

"Oui." Was the replied from three rather excited ladies who were eager to do some shopping.

"Ok then." Dave replied with a smile, "I'm going to open a door to an apartment that we have in leased in Paris. It is close to both the wizarding shops as well as the muggle fashion shops as well."

"As you step into the apartment you will immediately feel the wards on it start to affect you. It will be a pressure just behind your eyes, so please don't panic when you feel it." He instructed in a serious voice.

"So I will need you to step through one at a time. When you step into the apartment I will offer you my hand and say 'Welcome', you will need to answer simply 'Merci'. That will be enough to have you added to these wards so you will be safe in the apartment." He said checking to see that we all understood.

Once we all indicated that we did, he opened the door to a gorgeous looking apartment that looked rather familiar. Maman was the first one through and was welcomed into it. When I stepped into the apartment I could immediately feel the effect of the wards that he mentioned. Once Dave welcomed me in though the pressure he described was gone instantly.

For her part once Gabrielle stepped into the apartment and was welcomed she immediately placed her arms around Dave's neck and kissed him again.

"You only needed to shake 'is 'and." I told her with a smirk on my face. I was rewarded with a brilliant smile that I just had to return, her smile then changed into a rather cheeky smile followed by a smug reply of "I know".

While Dave had been greeting us Maman was walking around the apartment with a strange look on her face.

"Can you tell me 'ow you came to lease zis apartment?" She asked Dave.

"We got it through the company that we leased the land from where we have setup our various safe houses. They own this and several other apartments both in Paris and in several other cities around France." Dave explained.

"We use the apartments to offer a more secluded getaway for both our staff as well as 'guests' who either need some quiet time or just need to get away from the safe houses for one reason or another." Dave said with a strange little smile on his face, "This one is my favourite in Paris and I have spent quite a few weekends here when I have needed some place quiet and relaxing to enable me to plough through the never-ending amounts of paperwork that this operation seems to attract"

"I see." Maman replied with a strange little smile on her face.

"Is there something wrong?" Dave asked with a degree of concern.

"Non." Maman replied, "I just found it amusing how small a world it apparently is." She said now openly smiling at Dave.

"Small world?" He asked with a look of puzzlement on his face.

"This apartment belongs to my Julien's company." She said smiling, "We have stayed here many times over the years. When the girls were born we also had many family holidays here as well." She said with a grin.

"I see." Dave answered also smiling, "It is indeed a small world."

"Your husband's company has been a joy to work with." Dave answered with a serious tone, "They have been very accommodating and extremely supportive of our goals here in Europe. I will need to pass my thanks along to him when we get back." Dave said with a smile.

"Shall we begin?" Dave asked with an eager smile.

"Sûrement." Maman replied as we all headed for the door. Dave opened the door and held it open while we all went out and then closed it behind him. I did notice that he very quickly had Gabrielle's hand in his as we made the short trip out to the street. They were both displaying very contented smiles.

Once we were on the street Maman quickly had her bearings and was heading off towards a tailors that she had known for many years. The moment we entered the shop the owner was greeting Maman warmly.

"Ah… Madame Delacour, c'est merveilleux de vous revoir."

"Merci, Monsieur Vaillancourt" Maman replied as she hugged him warmly and exchanged kisses. Gabrielle and I were quickly introduced also and were warmly greeted as well.

"Si cela vous plaît, pouvons-nous parler en anglais?" Maman enquired.

"Oui." Monsieur Vaillancourt answered his eyes full of curiosity.

"Merci." Maman answered gratefully, "Killian I would like to introduce you to Auror David Webb of the Australasian Auror Service." Maman said as she stepped aside to allow Killian to see Dave clearly.

Killian's eyes widened as he took in the large form that was Dave. In the short time we had known him we had all gotten used to his size rather quickly. It was (and still is) enjoyable to watch other people's reactions to meeting him for the first time.

"Dave, I would like to introduce you to one of my oldest friends Killian Vaillancourt. He is one of the finest tailors in Paris if not the world." Maman said with a smile.

"It is a pleasure and an honour to meet you Monsieur Vaillancourt." Dave said with a smile as he stepped forward with his hand out to greet Killian.

"Merci Monsieur Webb, or should I say Auror Webb?" Killian replied.

"Just Dave is fine." Dave replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Merci Dave. The honour is mine." Killian replied taking Dave's hand and shaking it warmly, "Any friend of Apolline's is a friend of mine." He said with a smile.

"Thanks." Dave answered.

"Killian, we find ourselves in urgent need of your services." Maman explained, "Dave is in need of a suit for his Les Grand-mères 90th Birthday party that is coming up very soon."

"He tells us she wasn't overly pleased with his attire last year and wished for him to have something more suitable for this years celebrations. She specifically requested him to get a suit from Paris."

"So after his previous effort had a few 'issues' I offered to assist him to find something appropriate. Naturally you were our first stop." Maman said with a smile.

"Do you think you can help us?" She asked.

"Absolument!" Killian replied enthusiastically, "I love a challenge." He said with a grin.

"If you would please step this way Dave, I will be happy to take your measurements and then show you a selection of styles and materials and then once we have something selected I can begin to work my magic." He said happily.

Dave moved to step onto the tailors platform but Killian quickly stepped in and stated with a smile, "I zink zat I will need zat to stand on."

With a sheepish look Dave stepped back onto the floor and stood there a little self-consciously while Killian surveyed his 'challenge' and Gabrielle just enjoyed the view. When Dave noticed her rather frank gaze at him he blushed and gave her a rather shy smile that she happily returned.

Killian soon stepped in with his assistant and busied himself taking numerous measurements. After the measurements were done he dispatched his assistant and got him to bring back a selection of suits that were surprisingly in Dave's size or close to it.

"Zese are to give you an idea of ze feel of the different styles so we can find what fits you most comfortably." He explained to Dave, "Ze young ladies will 'elp advise you on what looks best on you." He said with a cheeky smile to Gabrielle.

Having 6 sisters growing up must have prepared Dave for the rigours of fashion shopping. As he endured the next two hours with more good grace than just about any other males that I have known. Gabrielle was thoroughly enjoying herself as she got to play 'dress ups' with Dave.

Eventually a three piece style of suit was selected, with a single breasted jacket to go with it. The choice of colour was the next stumbling block. Black being the colour that was eventually selected, it was felt that Dave's Midnight hair would go best with that. Once the colour was selected shirts were the next to be sorted, to give Dave some options a selection of white and black shirts were selected.

Gabrielle was instrumental in selecting the ties that she felt would suit Dave best. I did notice that blue seemed to feature predominately in her choices. Next were the belts and shoes. Dave ended up being very particular about his shoes, as his favourite footwear (when he actually wears some) is his Dragon hide boots. He explained this as they offered a great place to conceal spare wands, he didn't have to worry about shoe laces coming undone during chases or getting caught on things as well.

The special soles he had on them also gave almost the same type of cushioning and grip as trainers. Killian had in stock a few pair of boots very similar to what Dave described. These were presented to Dave and he selected a pair that he felt comfortable in and that Gabrielle approved of. Either Emma (or his sisters) had trained him well or he was a fast learner, for he seemed to truly appreciate Gabrielle's input into his selections.

The suit that was selected was quickly taken away and had some alterations done to it. When it was brought back out Dave had to once more head into the change rooms. When he came out in the nearly finished suit I could see the appreciative look on Gabrielle's face. Dave was paying attention to Killian and so completely missed it. Otherwise I'm sure he would have been blushing rather well.

Killian quickly pinned in a few final changes before he got Dave to turn on the spot to show off the result. We all approved of it. This time Dave did notice the looks he was getting from Gabrielle and did indeed blush, but he smiled more. As he headed back into the change room he was once more deep in discussion with Killian.

When he emerged from the change room Killian promised to have the suit ready for collection by mid-afternoon. We thanked him for his efforts and headed out into the street again. This time the mission was something 'special' for Gabrielle.

Like any girl Gabrielle has her preference in fashion styles, she also had her favourite shops as well. We quickly found ourselves in one of her favourite shops as Dave politely followed us around and pretended to understand what Gabrielle was describing to him about the different dresses. I did notice him look to me a few times with a very confused look on his face as he clearly had no idea what she was talking about.

When Gabrielle and Maman disappeared into one of the change rooms Dave came over and almost pleaded, "Are you able to translate that for me?" he asked hopefully.

"Didn't Emma ever explain dresses to you?" I asked him amused at his reactions.

"She wasn't a big one for dressing up." Dave explained, "When the occasion required it she certainly enjoyed it, but it wasn't a passion with her."

"When she needed any sort of formal type outfit she would head off with her sisters and mum, usually with some of my sisters in tow as well. I was never allowed on those shopping trips." He said with a smile, "I think it was because she liked to surprise me with what she found."

"I see." I answered with a grin, "Well we will need to start you off with the basics then won't we." I informed him while trying not to laugh.

I took Dave around the shop and explained the basics of the different styles, and types of dresses, along with some of the materials that were used. He was concentrating so hard I almost expected him to take notes on what I was telling him. Eventually Maman called me over to the change room to view what Gabrielle was wearing. Dave made to follow but was told quite firmly to stay put. This must have been rather familiar to him as he smiled at Maman's expression and stayed where he was.

When I got to the change room and saw what Gabrielle had selected I could only approve. It was a gorgeous dress in Royal Blue, sleeveless but with a single strap over one shoulder. The shape of the dress was an A-Line but it also had layers to it of varying lengths. It was also shaped VERY well to Gabrielle's figure.

"What do you zink" She asked me hopefully.

"I zink zat Dave will be stunned and will not be able to take his eyes off of you." I told her with a smile.

Gabrielle smiled brilliantly at the same time she was fighting back a blush.

"Are you going to show it to 'im?" I asked her.

"Non. I zink I want to surprise 'im wiz it." She replied with a sly smile.

"Well 'e is used to zat." I told her with a laugh.

"Pardon?" Maman asked me.

"Dave was explaining to me 'ow Emma never allowed him on her shopping trips for formal wear as she liked to surprise him with her finds." I explained. This brought a smile to Maman and Gabrielle.

"So I should get this one?" She asked hopefully.

"Definitely." I replied confidently.

Gabrielle beamed at me and Maman also expressed her approval of the dress as well. I left the two of them and headed back to Dave.

"She wants to surprise me with it. Doesn't she?" He said with a knowing smile.

"Oui." I answered and we shared a laugh about it. I continued educating Dave about the different dresses as we waited for Gabrielle and Maman to emerge.

When they did we headed over to the counter to pay for Gabrielle's selection.

"It has already been taken care of Mademoiselle." The rather envious young lady at the counter told Gabrielle.

"Pardon?" She enquired of her.

"The rather tall young man behind you has already paid for it." The lady at the counter informed her.

Gabrielle turned to Dave with a questioning look on her face, "I thought that someone who is brave enough to try and teach me to dance is deserving of some sort of reward." Dave replied with a sheepish grin on his face.

"As well as a pair of stylish shoes with steel caps in them." He added with a laugh.

"Merci beaucoup." Gabrielle exclaimed as she launched herself into Dave's arms and kissed him deeply. Maman and I could only smile approvingly at this. Fireball was right, Dave did occasionally get 'it' right when it came to women.

"So where do we need to head off to in order to find you a suitable pair of shoes then?" Dave asked with a smile while he still had his arms wrapped around Gabrielle.

"I know just where to go." I told them both as I led them and Maman from the store to one of my favourite places in Paris.

It was a short walk to the shop that I had in mind. It was a muggle store but close to the wizarding shopping area of Paris. When we got inside I enjoyed watching Gabrielle trying to select some shoes for her dress while trying to keep Dave from seeing what either her dress or shoes were. Dave seemed very happy to allow her this secret.

When she appeared to have selected the shoes she wanted I noticed Dave quickly appear over at the store counter. He was talking to a very amused store owner who approved of him trying to surprise Gabrielle by paying for her shoes without her noticing. The store owner quickly requited one of her sales assistants who then confirmed that Gabrielle had indeed made her selection and reported back on the price of the shoes. Dave then happily paid the bill and kept the receipt to give to Gabrielle. He did however completely miss the very warm and appreciative looks he was getting from both the store owner and her sales assistant.

Gabrielle was once again very pleased and appreciative of Dave's efforts and she thanked him thoroughly in the store. The owner and the sales assistant also seemed to find this amusing as well.

Once Gabrielle's outfit was complete the next item on the agenda was to organise was lunch. I asked for suggestions and many were forth coming from both Gabrielle and Maman. Dave however was silent.

"Why so silent Dave?" I asked him.

"I can't offer any suggestions on a good place to eat here, so I was just listening to all of yours." He replied.

"Why don't you 'ave any suggestions?" Gabrielle asked him.

"When I'm here I'm using working or just passing through, so I don't usually have a lot of time to explore." Dave answered.

"Ah… I see." Maman answered with a twinkle in her eye, "So you have never really seen Paris zen?" She asked.

"No. Not properly." Was Dave's slightly embarrassed reply.

"Well zen, we will need to fix zat won't we girls." Maman answered, "I know just ze place." She said with a smile. She then quickly whispered to me what she had in mind. I approved. Maman then apparated with Gabrielle and I did the same with Dave.

We arrived at the safe apparition point near the Louvre, I could immediately see that Gabrielle approved of the location. Dave seemed very interested in the location as well. Although he did seem to be getting more enjoyment from the smile that was on Gabrielle's face than his surroundings. I found myself approving of that also.

We quickly found seats in the cafe that Maman had in mind. She and Gabrielle went off to have a look at the displays to see what was on offer and I had a quick chat with one of the waiters to ask for some water and menus. When I turned around I noticed that Dave wasn't at our table. This concerned me for a moment, I quickly looked around to see if I could spot him.

I eventually noticed him talking to a family that were seated not far from where we were. Curious I walked over to hear what was being said. What I learnt upset me a little, as it turned out that the people that Dave was speaking to had just recently been robbed. They had lost all of their money as well as their daughter's prized antique doll.

The look on Dave's face clearly told me what he thought of the situation, but I could also see an intense focus in it as well.

"Can you describe them?" I heard him ask.

"No I can't. I'm sorry it was all over so quickly." The man replied clearly still shaken up.

"Can you show me your memory of the event?" Dave asked him.

"How?" The man asked him.

"Hold my hand, then think back on the incident. While thinking of the incident kind of push your thoughts over to me." Dave instructed.

"I'll… I'll try." The man said shakenly. He then held onto Dave's hand and concentrated for a few moments. Dave also closed his eyes and concentrated.

When Dave eventually opened his eyes my heart almost skipped a beat. His eyes had an intense fire in them along with an equally intense resolve. I could see the young man looking almost embarrassed.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of." Dave answered him, "We all have different talents. This just happened to be a situation that was outside of yours." He explained to him.

"The most important thing is that you got your family out of that situation without any serious injuries." He said while giving the man a very direct look.

"Now, I want you to wait here and DO NOT LEAVE until I get back. Ok?" He almost ordered.

"Ok." The man agreed with him.

"Good answer." Dave said with a smile, "I'm sitting at that table over there." He indicated the table where our things were.

"If you see the lovely young ladies that I was with earlier come back to that Table looking for me please tell them that I will be back very shortly." He requested.

When the young man agreed Dave quickly headed off out of the café and towards the gardens that were nearby. After Dave left the young man and woman held each other and were obviously struggling to hold back tears, while their daughter still seemed too stunned to comprehend what had obviously happened.

I walked back to our table and sat down and looked over to where the young family was sitting. The young man saw me looking over at them and came over.

"Excusez-moi." He said nervously, "But the rather tall gentleman who was sitting here earlier asked me to let you know that he has just stepped out for a moment and will soon be back."

"Merci." I answered politely, "Do you know why he has stepped out?" I asked.

At this the young man's embarrassment became painfully obvious.

"We were just robbed." He explained, "I brought my family in here to try and find somewhere safe for them to try and calm down. As both my wife and daughter were rather shaken by the experience."

"When we came in your friend noticed this and introduced himself as an Auror and asked what had happened."

"When I told him he got a little upset. He then asked us to stay here until he got back. He also wanted me to let the people that he was with know that he would be back shortly." He said on the verge of tears as he turned to go back to his seat.

I was a little shocked and unsure as to what to say to him. As I was trying to think of a response Maman and Gabrielle returned.

"Where is Dave?" Gabrielle asked me.

"He has stepped out for a moment." I replied still distracted in my thoughts.

"Why?" she wanted to know.

"Zat young family over there was just robbed." I answered, "I zink Dave has gone after ze people zat did it."

Both Gabrielle and Maman seemed a little worried by this. Before they could reply however Dave returned to the café. He was carrying a woman's purse, a man's wallet and carrying parts of a rather old looking doll.

The young man and his wife were very happy to have their belongings back, they were however very upset at the state of their daughter's doll.

Dave spoke to their daughter for a few moments, he seemed to be asking her about the doll. Then when he had the answers he was looking for he began to repair it. The look on the girls face as her doll was restored before her eyes was a truly delightful sight. I got the feeling that Dave not only fixed the doll back to what it was before the incident but fully restored it as well.

The girl's parents had looks of wonder and delight on their faces as well. But the little girl and Dave outshone them both. When he returned the doll to the little girl she flung her arms around him and was crying tears of joy. This seemed to greatly embarrass Dave but he returned the little girl's hug. He passed her back to her very grateful parents and was rewarded with hugs and kisses from them both as well. I had to laugh at his reaction as he clearly wasn't used to this sort of response from people he didn't know.

I turned to back to Maman and Gabrielle and could only smile at the expression of adoration that was on Gabrielle's face as she watched Dave. Maman had noticed it also and she was happily smiling, both at Dave and Gabrielle.

When Dave stood up to return to our table he saw the three of us smiling back at him. This seemed to stop him in his tracks for a few moments.

"You… You ah saw that. Did you?" He said nervously while blushing.

"Oui." I answered him. While Gabrielle got up out of her seat and gave Dave a very solid set of kisses and hugs. I could see several other people in the café smile approvingly at the two of them as well. I'm guessing that they had also seen what Dave had just done for that young family as well.

Gabrielle brought Dave back to our table and happily sat down next to him. All the while beaming at him whenever he chanced a glance at her (which was rather often). Each time she smiled at him like that Dave's cheeks and neck would blush slightly.

"What did you do to ze people zat robbed zat family?" I asked Dave.

"Nothing permanent." Dave replied evasively, with a slightly guilty look about him.

Borrowing a tactic I noticed his mother use yesterday I kept my eyes on him and assumed a disbelieving expression. To my surprise it did seem to work rather well on him. I decided to file that bit of information away for later use.

"They have been 'secured' until I can work out a suitable way to dispose of them." Dave eventually explained, "I will need to discuss a few things with Jean-Luc first though." He added with a smirk.

"Why Jean-Luc?" I asked him.

"I have no powers of arrest over here in France." Dave explained, "When we work in other countries we always work alongside the local law enforcement bodies."

"The exceptions being when we have a 'directive' from all our member countries as was the case when we were first sent to the UK."

"As the French Magical Parliament allowed us to stage our forward bases here, for our operation in the UK we agreed to not carry out any operations on their soil without their knowledge and support. So to do anything 'official' to those I dealt with earlier I will need to engage with Jean-Luc as our official liaison." Dave said a little frustrated.

"It sounds a little complicated." I said to him with an encouraging smile.

"True. It is." He agreed, "But the alternative would be a bit like anarchy." He remarked.

"What I would really like to see setup, would be something like the muggle Interpol service. A truly worldwide law enforcement body to chase scumbags where ever they run to." He said with a light coming into his eyes.

"Criminals and Dark Wizards don't respect International Borders, so until we can pursue them with the same level of flexibility we will always be a step behind." He remarked.

"Zat sounds like an ambitious goal." Maman replied thoughtfully.

"It is, and it won't be easy to achieve. But worthwhile endeavours are never are." He replied, "It took nearly 10 years just to get our own Australasian Auror Service started in our own region. That was back in 1911."

"Even then it was really only us and the Kiwi's for the first few years. Slowly the other nations of in our region saw the use of it along with the success being achieved and asked to join."

"It is an organisation that I'm very proud to serve in." He said with a smile.

"We are certainly very happy that you are a member of it Dave." I told him, "And that you are over here so we could get a chance to meet you." I said with a smile and a glance at Gabrielle.

Blushing a little Dave replied, "Thank you."

"That is more than enough talk about both me and work for now." Dave said with a shy smile, "Can you tell me some more about your adventures in Paris over the years?" He asked.

"Certainly." Maman replied, "We can tell you about ze time zat Gabrielle fell into the fountains at ze Jardins du Trocadéro." She said with a smile and a glint in her eyes.

Gabrielle had gone bright red and was trying to hide her face behind her hands. Displaying a wonderful smile Dave reached out and grabbed Gabrielle's closest hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Please do." He answered, "She has heard far more embarrassing stories about me than I have of her. So it only seems fair to me." He said with a wonderfully warm smile for Gabrielle.

"Agreed." Maman answered.

With that we spent lunch happily telling stories about Gabrielle as she was growing up. There were many stories about silly things she had done or had said. Stories about trials and triumphs that she had had as well.

Dave seemed to genuinely enjoy all of the stories. He would frequently allow Gabrielle to try and hide her blushing by snuggling into his shoulders. Followed by kisses of encouragement when she once again emerged. It was lovely to watch them together like this.

After one particularly amusing story about a holiday adventure Maman asked Dave if he would like to see a photo of the incident. As it showed Gabrielle not long after she had learnt to walk. Dave of course was very eager to see it, while Gabrielle was horrified. Once Dave saw the photo though, his face broke out into such a brilliant smile with such tenderness it almost caused Gabrielle to stop blushing. At least until he directed that smile at her, that is.

"Do I get to see your baby photos?" Gabrielle asked a little cheekily.

I could see a very brief shadow pass across Dave's face at this comment and was sure that the others had noticed it as well. Gabrielle reached for Dave's hand and gave it a squeeze of encouragement. After a moment or two Dave's smile returned and he replied.

"I'm very sure that you will indeed get to see them. In all probability, you will see more of them than you wish to." He said with a small chuckle, "As both Grandma Webb and Great Grandma Vogt have their favourite ones of us kids that they love to show around."

"They keep them properly secured so that us kids can't find them and stop others from seeing them." He explained, "Mine especially." He added.

Giving Dave a reassuring hug and a kiss Gabrielle asked, "Why is that?"

"I'm told it's because I was an apparently amusing looking little baby." He said with a crooked smile.

"Amusing in what way?" I just had to ask. Going from the look on Gabrielle's face I had just asked the very question that she so desperately wanted to.

"IF, my family is to be believed it's because for quite a while I apparently looked like I had a Mohawk haircut. Along with ears that stuck out like a Volkswagen Beetle with its doors open." He said with a faraway look as though recalling an old memory.

Gabrielle however was trying very hard to contain the smile that wanted to escape onto her face. I think Dave sensed this battle and was directing his own amused look at her as he watched her efforts.

"You're picturing it right now aren't you?" Dave asked clearly amused.

"Non." Gabrielle answered as she lost her battle to keep a straight face.

"Don't worry." Dave answered with a half smile, "Emma had a similar reaction when she first heard about them."

"When she saw them she almost did herself an injury from laughing at them so much." Dave said with a smile, "The funny part was, she was in most of them. So I got to see how goofy she looked at that age also."

We all had a good laugh at this statement.

"I promise, I won't laugh." Gabrielle said with an unnaturally straight face.

"Don't make promises that you know you can't keep." Dave said with his own laugh and a kiss for Gabrielle. "Not even mum can keep from laughing at them." He added while smiling at Gabrielle.

Shortly after this we finished our lunch and decided to go for a walk through the Jardin des Tuileries as they were just on the other side of the road.

It was while we were walking through these wonderful gardens that we encountered a reminder of Dave's earlier visit to Paris. This reminder came in the form of three Magical Police Women who were walking through the gardens in the opposite direction. As they got closer I noticed them paying more attention to Dave than anyone else in the gardens. Dave had also noticed their scrutiny of him. He seemed to recognise them and almost looked like he was bracing for the encounter.

Gabrielle also looked like she had picked up on the attention that these women were paying to Dave. She quickly positioned herself with her arm around Dave's waist and gave him a good squeeze (which he returned). The look she directed to the approaching Police woman also clearly indicated her involvement with Dave.

"Monsieur Webb." The senior Police Woman said as she tipped her hat to Dave, "Or should I say Auror Webb." She added with a smile.

"Brigadier-chef Leblanc." Dave said as he returned the greeting, "Either is fine with me. I'm off duty today." He said with his crooked smile on display. I did notice its effect on the other Police Women, as did Gabrielle. Dave however didn't. Not even slightly.

"You are a brave man, Monsieur. After your last visit here, I thought that you wouldn't be back for quite some time." She said with a knowing smirk on her face.

"Ah yes… Well I hadn't planned on returning to Paris so soon." Dave answered with a slight blush showing, "But I was graciously offered some chaperones who are much better versed in French culture than my 'dear sister' is." Dave answered to some giggles from the Police Woman and smiles from all of us.

"May I introduce to you, Apolline Delacour." Dave said warmly, "And her daughters Fleur Weasley and Gabrielle Delacour." Dave said indicating each of us in turn.

"Ladies, may I introduce to you Brigadier-chef Yvonne Leblanc of the French Metro Magical Police and her team members Gardien de la paix Stéphanie Pierrat and Christiane D'Aboville." He said as he indicated each of the ladies.

We greeted them warmly, except for Gabrielle who was a little cool in her greeting of them. No doubt because of the very frank looks of approval that the two younger Police Women were giving Dave.

"These ladies came to my 'assistance' back in March when I had my little mishap here." Dave said ruefully.

At this comment, all three of the Police Women had to laugh, "It was certainly a memorable incident." Brigadier-chef Leblanc remarked.

"For all the wrong reasons." Dave said a little shame faced. I couldn't contain a smile at the memory of hearing about the incident. Neither could Maman or Gabrielle.

"I see zat your friends know of what happened." Brigadier-chef Leblanc said more than a little amused.

"Yes, there was a conspiracy in the French Auror Office to ensure that several of my other sisters heard about the incident. They of course ensured that my mother found out about it." Dave remarked, "What I didn't expect was that my mother would conduct a public 'de-briefing' of the event."

At this comment, all three of us had to laugh. After a moment of shock the three Police Women joined in. Dave meanwhile was trying his best not to blush. But he was regarding us all with some resignation of his fate.

"I should tell you Auror Webb zat ze store in question would like to see you again." Brigadier-chef Leblanc said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Why would they want to see me again after an episode like that?" Dave asked.

"Zey still have ze robes zat zey tailored for you. Apparently you had paid for zem but never collected zem when you made your escape." She replied.

"I'm not sure I can go back there, especially if those same saleswomen are on duty." Dave said with his ears just starting to glow a little.

"Don't worry Dave." Gabrielle replied with an evil looking grin on her face, "I will protect you from zose saleswomen." She managed to get out before she began to laugh.

Dave seemed to appreciate her offer as he smiled at her and drew her in for a kiss. "Merci" he said when they separated. Gabrielle had a smug little smile after that and she directed it at the two Police Women who were still making eyes at Dave (he still hadn't noticed either). Brigadier-chef Leblanc also had a smile on her face at the scene in front of her.

"Auror Webb, I would also like to say zat in ze course of writing up ze report on your incident, I learnt precisely what it was that you and your team have been up to while you have been here." She said in her professional voice, "I would like to zank you personally and sincerely with all of my heart for the efforts of you and your team." She said very warmly and with a smile on her face.

Dave was looking at her very curiously, obviously wondering what this was leading up to.

"My Parents and my Mères Parents were some of the people that your team rescued from a 'holding facility' that was bring run by ze Death Eaters." She said with moist eyes.

"I had feared that they were lost to us when we lost contact with them during their holiday. But during writing the report on you I came into contact with Auror Jean-Luc Devereaux. He explained to me just what your team had been doing."

"I told him about my missing family and he organised a search of the records and found them for me. Your team had rescued them just before you left the country chasing down a group of missing children apparently." She said as she was now fighting back the unshed tears in her eyes.

"I thank you for your thanks, Brigadier-chef Leblanc." Dave answered her warmly, "Some of your thanks should also go to Jean-Luc as well. For he and a few of his friends were on 'vacation' in the UK when that particular raid was done. We also had some vacationing Aurors from Germany, Italy and Poland with us as well." Dave added with his half smile.

"I will ensure to pass your thanks onto them all as well." Dave said meeting her gaze, "While we do not expect thanks for doing our job, it is always very heart-warming to hear that our efforts have helped good people."

"I do hope that your Parents and Grand Parents are doing better now that they are away from that place. As not everyone we brought out on that raid was in good condition." Dave replied.

"Auror Devereaux has informed me zat my Grand Parents are doing well. But zat my parents were gravely injured when found, although he did say zat zey have been very well looked after by ze medical teams at your safe houses." She answered.

"When did you learn of this?" Dave asked looking genuinely concerned.

"Just over a week ago." She replied.

"I see… Have you been able to see them as yet?" Dave asked.

"Non." She replied, "There is still a great amount of secrecy around your safe houses here in France, and our Government is keeping them that way until some sort of announcement that is due to be made soon."

"That should happen early next week." Dave answered, "As the British Ministry will be getting the 'official' notification of our operation then. Once that happens the operation will be made public and we will begin officially trying to match up family members who we have rescued, to their families."

"When you gave Jean-Luc the details of your family was it on an official form?" Dave asked her.

"Oui." She replied.

"How did he get the information back to you?" he enquired.

"He gave me a 'summary report' of their condition, as well as a visitors port key form to submit when the operation is announced publicly." She answered.

"Excellent." Dave answered with a smile as he began digging in his pockets. He quickly brought out a Pad of paper and a pen much like Chief Williams had had at The Burrow on Thursday. He quickly scribbled a note and signed it, he then handed that note to Brigadier-chef Leblanc.

"When the operation is announced publicly, attach that note to your visitors form and take it to our Legal Attaché at the Australian Magical Embassy here. He is a very good mate of mine and he will ensure that you are with the first set of visitors to the safe house where your family is located. If they are well enough to travel he will do all that he can to assist you in getting them home to you." Dave said smiling.

Brigadier-chef Leblanc gratefully accepted the note and very warmly embraced Dave and gave him some very enthusiastic French kisses on his cheeks. "Merci Auror Webb. Merci." She said very warmly.

"There is no need to thank me, I'm just a humble Auror doing what I signed up for." Dave replied with glowing cheeks, "I'm just glad that were able to help."

I took this opportunity to look over at Gabrielle, while she seemed a little wary of the woman who had been hugging Dave, she was also clearly extremely happy and proud of what she had just witnessed and learned.

"If you have a few moments Brigadier-chef Leblanc, I'm wondering if you could do a favour for me?" Dave asked a little shyly.

"Of course." She replied warmly, "How can we help?"

"Earlier during lunch I met a young family that had been robbed." Dave explained, "It was a rather nasty robbery with the perpetrators making all sorts of lewd threats and suggestions against the mother and little girl."

I could see the eyes on the three Police Women flash with anger at this statement.

"I was able to catch up with those involved and retrieve the property that they had taken. But I do not have powers of arrest here in France. So I was forced to make other arrangements." Dave remarked with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"What sort of arrangements?" She asked.

"I incapacitated them and tied them up. Then I disillusioned them and left them where they were. I was going to notify Jean-Luc tonight so he could make arrangements for them to be properly dealt with." Dave explained.

"If you and your team have some time to spare I will gladly show you where they are and you can take them in and gain the credit for the arrests. As I'm very sure that this isn't their first offence." Dave offered.

"We would be happy to 'deal with them' for you." She answered Dave with a smile.

Dave returned her smile and retrieved a set of wands from his pocket along with a small device. These he handed over to Brigadier-chef Leblanc.

"These are their wands." Dave explained as he handed them over, "And this device will lead you right to them."

"Zere were five of zem?" She asked with an amused smile.

"Correct." Dave answered.

"You can handle five hostile wizards at once, but not a group of saleswomen?" She asked clearly amused. I have to add that I was struggling to hide m own smile, as was Gabrielle and Maman.

"Well I have more practical experience with dealing with multiple hostile wizards. As opposed to multiple 'helpful' women." Dave said rather shame faced.

This caused some raised eye brows amongst the Police Women, along with some disbelieving looks. But true to form Dave missed all of them.

"If you say so Auror Webb." Brigadier-chef Leblanc said with a sly smile and a glance at Gabrielle.

"Well, we must be on our way as we need to finish our patrol and deal with your 'gift' Auror Webb. So we will say Au Revoir for now." She said as she warmly shook hands with Dave.

"Au Revoir, and thanks." Dave replied.

Brigadier-chef Leblanc also said farewell to me and Maman, but when she came to Gabrielle she passed on some advice as well.

"Au Revoir to you to Mademoiselle Delacour." She said smiling, "Your le petit ami is a real catch. You're a lucky woman. Take care of him." She instructed her with a knowing smile.

"Merci." Gabrielle replied blushing, "I will do my best to do so." She answered.

"See that you do." She said with a final wink to Gabrielle, "Au Revoir." She said as she turned to walk away.

"Au Revoir." Gabrielle replied then turned back to Dave.

"le petit ami?" Dave asked, "I haven't heard that term before, what does it mean?"

Gabrielle blushed and both Maman and I fixed both Gabrielle and Dave with disbelieving looks.

"What?" Dave asked a little nervously when he noticed the looks directed at both him and Gabrielle.

"le petit ami, means Boyfriend." Maman told Dave while fixing him with a very direct look. Dave immediately blushed bright red upon learning this.

"Are we to deduce from your reaction Dave, zat you have not 'officially' asked Gabrielle out as yet?" Maman asked him being equally surprised and amused at his reaction.

"I have asked her out." Dave replied, "I asked her if she would like to accompany me to Grandma's 90th Birthday." He said a little confused. Even more so when our looks of disbelief registered. Gabrielle for her part was equally shy and amused at this response from Dave.

"You haven't discussed your 'official status' with each other?" Maman almost demanded of Dave and Gabrielle. They both had the good grace to blush at this statement, while at the same time giving each other shy looks.

"I'm guessing not Maman." I replied struggling not to smile at their predicament, "What I'm dying to know, is why not?"

"Wouldn't that have been to forward?" Dave asked sincerely.

"Sacré bleu." Maman exclaimed while I tried very hard not to laugh at the situation. Gabrielle was losing her own battle to hold back her own smile at this omission.

"Zat is one of the most ridiculous things I 'ave ever 'eard." Maman replied looking at Dave in disbelief.

"I was hoping very much that Gabrielle was 'interested in the job'." Dave said a little defensively, "But I also wanted to make sure she felt she had enough information about me to make an informed decision." Dave said glowing bright red. Gabrielle was similarly coloured.

"What else does Gabrielle need to do to let you know what her feelings are towards you?" Maman demanded in exasperation.

"Gabrielle, is zere anything else zat you zink you need to know about Dave to make zat decision?" Maman asked her.

"Non." Gabrielle answered with a shy smile at Dave while she blushed some more. Dave for his part had gone white.

"Excellent." Maman replied then turned to face Dave with a raised eyebrow, which on its own was almost an order to him.

With an excruciatingly enforced casualness Dave walked over to Gabrielle and asked, "Could I talk to you privately for a moment or two?"

"Oui." Gabrielle answered with a shy smile as she took Dave's hand and the two of them wandered over to one of the benches near the Café in the gardens.

"Are all Australien men as dense as Dave about women?" Maman asked me.

"I zink zat he and his family might be a special case." I replied finally letting my laugh escape.

"For the safe of the Australien women I hope so." Maman replied before she too had to give in to her own laughter.

I looked over to where Dave and Gabrielle were seated on the bench and deep in conversation. Gabrielle had a brilliant smile on her face, while Dave looked utterly terrified. Eventually Gabrielle threw herself into Dave's arms and kissed him deeply and passionately. I could see tears of joy on her cheeks as she was kissing Dave. When they separated, I could also see tears on Dave's cheeks. It was clear that this was a special moment for the two of them.

Dave reached up with his right hand and wiped away the tears on Gabrielle's cheeks. He seemed to be doing the same on his own cheeks with his left hand. He next appeared to place the tears from his left hand into his right. It was then that I realised he wasn't wiping away their tears, he had been collecting them.

Gabrielle noticed this also and she was watching with rapped attention at what was happening in the palm of Dave's hand. She nodded in agreement to something that Dave had asked of her, he smiled by way of reply and then his face set into a look of intense concentration for several moments. He then held something up to show Gabrielle.

Whatever it was, it brought a truly beautiful smile to Gabrielle's face that was a sight to see. She looked back over to Dave displaying that smile and then kissed him again. After this she dug out her Talisman chain and Dave attached something to it for her. The two of them then got up off the bench embraced and kissed again then walked hand in hand back over to where we were.

As they got closer I could see what it was that Dave had attached to her Talisman. It was an absolutely gorgeous pendant, not overly large but not small either. It was heart shaped and surrounded by diamonds. But the central stone was a brilliant sapphire that actually looked like it was two different shades of blue which were swirling around one another. It took me a moment to realise that those two different shades of blue matched the different shades of blue in each of their eyes.

Needless to say, Gabrielle was smiling with a VERY contented smile on her face. Dave also had a smile on his face that just wouldn't go away.

"Well?" Maman asked them both with an enquiring look.

"It's all sorted now." Dave answered before Gabrielle elbowed him in the ribs. She then smiled at him and kissed him by way of an apology.

"I should 'ope so." Maman replied with a smile of her own, "Just to make sure, 'e did ask you to be 'is petite amie didn't 'e?" She asked Gabrielle.

"Oui." Gabrielle answered still smiling.

"And?" I had to almost demand.

"I said oui." Gabrielle said with a smug little smile.

"I guessed zat from your new addition." I replied indicating her pendant, "What I was wanting to know is what 'e said." I asked her.

"Non." She answered blushing.

"Nous lui demanderons plus tard." Maman told me while fixing Gabrielle with a determined look. Dave for his part I'm sure had his suspicions but he wasn't about to give voice to them here.

I next asked Gabrielle to have a look at the pendant Dave had obviously just made for her. She was only too happy to show it to me and Maman. My first thoughts were that my initial reaction was correct, it was truly a gorgeous piece of jewellery. Almost a work of art in its own right.

"How did you learn to do this?" I asked Dave.

"It was an exercise that was given to me by one of my tutors, which my parents had needed to bring in to try and help me control my abilities when I was very young." He answered, "The purpose being to give a non-destructive outlet for my magical energies. My parents also told me that a useful 'side effect' of this exercise, was that when I was younger it took a great deal of effort to successfully complete. So, once I had made a gem stone I had drained my magical energies to the point that I didn't usually cause any more mischief for the rest of the day." He chuckled.

"I see. How old were you when you learnt zat?" I asked next.

"I was five years old." Was his reply.

"Five?" We all said almost at the same time.

"Correct." He answered almost ashamedly, "One side effect of my 'condition' is that things happen differently too me. One example is that powers and abilities that don't usually show till much later occurred in me very early on."

"I had no choice but to learn early and very quickly how to control my abilities so that I wouldn't hurt myself or those around me." He said with a faraway look on his face.

"At the age of five?" I asked still shocked.

"Actually at the age of four." He said uncomfortably, "As that was when I first started performing 'House Elf' style magic. As that type of magic is closely tied to emotions and mine at that time were a rather large mess." He explained.

"I'm sure zat presented some challenges for your parents." Maman replied with genuine concern in her eyes.

"It did. But thankfully they had some help." He explained, "Grandma and Grandpa had been through this already with Dad and were able to offer some advice. Their experience with Jimmy also helped, although he wasn't as badly affected as I was. He was still a handful from all reports."

"I'm told that I drove my Parents and Grandparents to distraction." Dave said with a crooked smile that had all of us smiling also.

"Somethings that I did they were very grateful for. Things like changing my own nappies." He added seeing our questioning looks. I had to laugh at this image.

"Other things they were not so grateful for." He explained, "Like when I summoned all the chocolate in the house and sat down with Sam, Jimmy, Shelly and Fireball and gorged ourselves on it." He said with a laugh. We all had to laugh at that as well.

"Of course my parents were never happy with me when I used to turn my dinner into dessert either." He said with a rueful smile.

"Sometimes I wonder how my parents put up with my antics. As I'm sure that there are many more stories that I haven't yet heard." Dave remarked.

"Well I for one are very glad that they did." Gabrielle said with a brilliant smile as she took Dave's hand in her own.

"Merci." Dave answered and this had us all laughing.

After this we got up and went back to see Killian to collect Dave's finished suit. He tried it on and modelled it for us and Gabrielle judged it very satisfactory indeed. Dave and Killian seemed to be very pleased with her response.

We left Killian with our thanks and headed over to the store that Dave had first visited back in March. When we entered, Dave was immediately recognised by some of the sales women on duty and they quickly came over to greet him. Gabrielle just as quickly put a dampener on their day by making it very clear that Dave was there with her. I think even Dave noticed this from her, as he gave her a very grateful look.

He was able to quickly collect the robes that he had apparently already paid for. Once again Gabrielle requested that Dave model them for her. These too she gave her stamp of approval to. Dave then gratefully packed them away and we began to make our way back to the apartment where we began our trip earlier that day.

On the way back to the apartment Dave asked for our advice on where to purchase some very good wine. This was a request that surprised me. As I knew he was too young to drink it himself and he had never shown any interest in the wine that was often served at the Weasley's with Dinner.

"It would help to know what the wine is for." I asked him very interested in his answer.

"Makes sense." He replied, "The wine is to be for Healers Jones and Grant." He stated.

"As I would like to give them something special to thank them for their efforts in healing me. Apparently I took some significant effort to put back together correctly." Dave explained a little embarrassed.

"A wonderful thought." Maman replied while regarding Dave with an approving smile, "I know just ze place."

Maman quickly escorted us all to a wonderful wizarding establishment. Where the owner helped Dave select two suitable bottles for each of the Healers. Maman also selected some wine as well as her and Papa's own personal thank-you to the two talented healers.

It was a short walk to get back to the apartment from there. From the apartment, it was a simple matter of opening a door back to Dave's tent. Once we were there Dave quickly put away his purchases in his tent. We then went to our tent where Gabrielle did the same.

Next we walked over to tables where there seemed to be a group of slightly apprehensive people had congregated.


	35. Professional Challenges

As we were walking over to the tables I could see the girls who were gathered there notice the new pendant that Gabrielle was wearing. Several of them (Dave's sisters foremost amongst them) clearly had questions on their faces about it. Gabrielle for her part was smiling radiantly while she walked next to Dave. Dave however was focused on his father and the apprehensive expression that he was wearing.

As we got to the table Dave was whisked away by Arthur, Ivan and Harry. We were later told that the reason was to explain to him the new discovery that had been made in relation to Tonks now not being one of the prime suspects in the murder of Dave's brother.

Once the boys were out of earshot Sandra spoke up (although I think she only just beat Molly to it).

"So, how was Paris?" She asked with a knowing smile on her face.

"Romantic." Was the reply from Maman. Both Gabrielle and I had to laugh at this statement.

"Really?" Sandra replied, "How so?" She asked making eyes at Gabrielle's pendant.

"We discovered that Dave and Gabrielle hadn't as yet gotten around to discussing their 'official status' with each other." Maman explained.

"What?" They all replied at the same time with disbelieving looks on their faces.

"So what were you two actually discussing during all your 'private conversations' then?" Ginny enquired.

"Many different zings." Was Gabrielle's evasive answer, while she fought a rising blush on her cheeks.

"Apparently, Dave was concerned about being too forward in case Gabrielle wasn't interested." Maman explained to a group of disbelieving women.

"Oh Merlin." Sandra exclaimed, "I know that my boys can be a little dense about women…"

"Only a little?" Fireball remarked with a glint in her eyes. Sandra and all the other girls had smiles on their faces at this.

"But that has to be a new level of denseness. Not even Jimmy was THAT thick." She said with a smirk at Gabrielle.

"Jimmy may not have been quite that thick mum, but he wouldn't have been far off it." Fireball recalled with a giggle.

"Denseness?" Shelly enquired, "Is that even a word?" She asked.

"If it isn't it should be." Cassy replied to several sets of laughter.

"I'm getting the feeling that Dave may require quite a few new words to try and describe him." Ginny said with a cheeky twinkle in her eyes.

All of the ladies present had to agree and laugh at that comment.

"I sincerely hope that the situation has now been rectified?" Sandra asked almost eagerly.

"Oui. It has." I answered, "Maman gave Dave some rather direct hints which thankfully he followed." I said as I unsuccessfully tried to hide my smile.

"Thank Merlin." Sandra replied, to more feminine laughter.

"Told you we should have lent Gabrielle Dave's surf board." Fireball remarked to her mother with an evil grin on her face.

It took a moment for Fireball's earlier remarks (about Emma needing to hit Dave over his head with his own surf board to get her point across to him) to come back to us. Then we all had a good laugh at the statement. After this all the girls wanted to see the pendant that Dave had made for Gabrielle. They all agreed that it was a beautiful piece of work.

Gabrielle then described the suit that Dave had ended up getting as well as the dress and shoes that she had selected but not yet shown to Dave. Sandra, along with Shelly, Fireball and Cassy had smiles on their faces at this as they told us Emma also used to love to surprise Dave with similar purchases.

We then went on to describe the meeting with the French Police Women, and Dave's sisters and cousin seemed to agree with Dave's response in that case. We also told them about Dave's return visit to the store he was at in March. Fireball was particularly amused by the reaction of the saleswomen but also fully supported Gabrielle's response as well.

It was just as this was being finished up that Ivan and Arthur returned.

"Jasper, we need you to get in touch with 'Q' and explain to him that we need him in his lab urgently to run something that Dave called a 'voice print analyses. Can you arrange that?" Ivan asked her.

"Certainly I can." She replied, "But Dave can get it organised quicker. Where is he?" She asked.

"Dave, Harry, George and Rowdy have gone off to see Lee Jordan about an unaired tape from the Potter Watch radio show" Arthur explained, "George seems to think that there is a recording of Tonk's voice on it."

"How will that help?" Ginny asked.

"Dave was saying that he would like some 'objective' evidence to back up what we have learned about Tonks movements and preferences. When I asked, what sort he mentioned that a voice recording would be a good place to start." Ivan explained, "At that comment George remembered that unaired recording from the Potter watch radio show and offered it as a potential recording of Tonks voice."

"Dave then explained to us that while Polyjuice Potion doesn't completely transforms the vocal cords of the person who drinks it. It only alters them enough so that they will sound like the person that they are changing into. At least to biological ears. As the persons vocal cords are not fully transformed their fundamental voice pattern won't change. When that is analysed appropriately the differences between them can be detected." Ivan explained.

"Apparently, this is something that Dave and 'Q' have been working on for some time. Ever since they got their hands on some articles from 'The Practical Potioneer' talking about Polyjuice potion and its effects, along with a muggle forensic magazine that talked about voice 'fingerprinting'."

"It hasn't yet been through 'peer review' or been accepted in the courts as yet. But it is showing great promise and they are hoping to have voice analysis available as an extra layer of security for certain secure facilities if it gets approved." He said with some pride showing in his voice.

"Ok Dad, let me get a hold of 'Q' and we can get things setup in Dave's tent." She said as she pulled out her Mirror Phone and began tapping away. She was quickly able to locate this 'Q' and was soon talking to him.

"He is getting dressed now and is heading straight to his lab. He mentioned that he will have everything setup and ready to go in 10 minutes." Fireball reported back.

"Thank you." Ivan responded, "Do you have the number for his lab? That way we can call him direct from Dave's Tent." Ivan asked.

"Yes I do." She replied as she headed off to Dave's tent. We all quickly followed after.

While Fireball was getting what she called a 'video call' out through to this 'Q', Dave, Harry, George and Rowdy arrived back with the recording. Dave was a little surprised to see the crowd that had gathered in the tent, but he quickly shrugged it off.

Very soon afterwards the 'TV' as Dave called it came to life and displayed a young man with light brown hair, eyes almost the same colour as Dave's. He also seemed to have a look of permanent inquisitiveness etched onto his face. He was dressed in a polo shirt that looked a little rumpled and he also appeared to be wearing suspenders.

"G'day Syd." He remarked with a friendly smile, "Your sister told me that you have something 'hot' for me to work on that is connected to Jimmy's death?"

"G'day Q. Yes, you are correct mate. We have gained some more information on Nymphadora Tonks and it is now looking extremely unlikely that she was involved in Jimmy's death." Dave said. His frustration was clear to all, but his desire to find the correct facts was even more on display.

"We now believe that it is likely someone was using Polyjuice potion to impersonate her at the meet." Dave explained, "To confirm or discount this idea I want to get an analysis done of a known sample of Nymphadora's voice against the recording from Jimmy's phone."

"Can you put Jimmy's phone in my tray so I can send this sample to you using it? That way it will contain the same 'recording signature' as the original." Dave requested.

"Already done mate. When I got your sisters message I figured that's what you were going to try and do." Q replied.

"You're a legend as always mate." Dave replied while he extracted his wallet and pulled out a mirror phone that was rather damaged and mostly covered with blood. It made my blood run cold to look at it.

While Dave was getting the Mirror Phone hooked up to the recording device that they had brought back from Lee's place I noticed this Q looking around the room.

"Who are your friends Syd?" He asked his eyes showing an intense interest. Ivan stepped forward to answer.

"G'day Q." Ivan began, "I would like to introduce the Weasley family to you." He said with a smile.

"Weasley?" He said in surprise, "THE Weasley family?"

"Correct." Ivan replied grinning from ear to ear. He then went on to introduce the crowd of us that were in Dave's tent.

"Weasley Family I would like to introduce you to Quentin Aloysius Thompson." Ivan said with an evil grin as the figure on the screen winced at his name.

"As you can see he isn't overly fond of the name his parents gave him." Ivan said still smiling, "Because he is so dearly loved by all who work with him and also because of his love of the muggle James Bond movies he has been rechristened as simply Q." Ivan said as the figure on the screen smiled broadly.

We all greeted Q warmly and he returned our greetings in the same manner. Then Ginny moved across to Sandra and asked her, "Thompson? Is he Emma's brother?"

"I most certainly am." Q replied proudly, albeit with a touch of sadness as he took notice of Ginny for the first time.

"Bloody Hell!" He remarked, "The poor girl is a dead ringer for Fireball. What's the world coming too? One of her was bad enough but now it looks like there is two of them." He said with a grin.

"I heard that Q." Fireball replied in a slightly testy voice. But the smile on her face gave her away.

"Hey Q." Dave called out, "Quit picking on my cousin mate. I'm sure if she had a say in the matter she would have chosen to look like anyone else but her." He replied before he was knocked to the floor by Fireball and Shelly.

"Cousin?" Q asked, "Mate you are holding back stories and you better come clean with them ASAP."

"Right after we get this recording analysed." Dave shot back bringing the conversation back on track, "We are ready here. Are you?"

"Always." Was the reply from Q.

"Ok then, I'm going to call the 'usual number' for your machine and play the recording from over Jimmy's mirror phone. While that is going on I'm going to mute mine and ask everyone here to keep quiet." Dave explained, "Once you have a good sample of it George here will point out to you which voice is Nymphadora's."

"No worries mate. Ready when you are." Q replied.

"Ok everyone, please be quiet." Dave requested as he indicated to George to play the recording.

George pressed play and we all listed to a conversation between Tonks, Remus, George, Fred and Lee. They were discussing the plan of the next show and what they were going to cover. Tonks gave a short presentation on what she thought would be a good segment and then Lee began to talk again. At that point George stopped the play back.

Dave took his mirror phone off mute, "How was that Q?" He asked.

"It looks like a good copy mate." He replied, "Give me a moment."

"Can you ask George to say a few words over Jimmy's mirror phone so I can establish a baseline for that recording?" He requested.

"The usual ones?" Dave asked.

"Yeah they will do." Was the reply.

Dave quickly grabbed a book off his shelf and gave it to George, "Can you read this paragraph to Q?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." George answered. Dave quickly muted his own mirror phone and signalled to Q. When he got a thumb up back he indicated to George to read the passage. Once George was done he again muted Jimmy's phone and unmuted his own one.

"Will that do?" He asked.

"Just about perfect." Q replied, "Let me run the quick sampler over these and get you an early feel for a match." He answered.

It took a few minutes for Q to deliver some results.

"Ok we are looking at an error range here of +/- just under 10%. Because of transmission over the phone and because we are doing a quick analysis." He replied, "George comes back as a 96% match to the voice on the recording." Q informed us.

"Ok that looks like it should work then." Dave replied, "What about Nymphadora's voice on the tape?" Dave asked.

"That came back as a match of 12%." Q answered, "So I'm guessing that it is extremely unlikely that the person on Jimmy's recording is the same as the one on that tape mate."

Dave's face was a mixture of disappointment but also resolve. It was interesting to watch.

"If only we had a recording of bloody Great Aunt Muriel." Sandra remarked to herself.

"Pardon?" Dave asked his mum.

"I said I wish that we had a recording of 'Great' Aunt Muriel to compare with." She told him, "But all I have are old angry memories." She said.

At this comment Harry's eyes lit up and he shot to his feet, "Does anyone here have any recent memories of Muriel at all? Preferably of her and Tonks talking together?"

"What are you thinking Harry?" Dave asked.

"If we can get a memory of them talking it can be played back in a Pensive for everyone to hear." He said grinning happily, "Then you should be able to record it with your brother's Mirror Phone." He explained.

"Q, does that sound like a workable option to you?" Dave asked hopefully.

"If you have access to a good enough memory I know of no technical reason why it can't be done." He answered, "Provided you have access to a pensive that is." He added.

"I have a pensive." Dave replied, "But I have to admit I'm not that familiar with its use as I haven't really sat down and learnt to use it properly as yet." He offered.

"I can help with that." Harry offered, "I have used them quite often with Professor Dumbledore and I believe that I could get a memory to replay in the manner that is needed." Harry said confidently.

Dave's face clearly conveyed his gratitude to Harry for his offer. Harry was warmly smiling back at Dave in acknowledgement.

"It looks like all we need now is a memory." Dave commented.

"I have a memory of Muriel and Dora talking together." Andromeda offered as she stood up.

As soon as she stood I could see Dave lock onto her face, I could see him trying to work out who this person was and what they were doing in his tent. Then Molly stepped forward.

"Dave, I would like to introduce you to one of my oldest friends, Andromeda Tonks. She is the mother of Nymphadora." Molly said slightly nervously, "Andromeda I would like to introduce you to my nephew Auror David Webb."

"I'm very pleased to meet you Mrs Tonks." Dave said with a half-smile as he rose to greet Andromeda with his hand out to her, "I'm even more pleased to learn that your daughter wasn't directly involved with my brother's death." He added.

"I'm pleased to meet you also." Andromeda replied to Dave as she warmly shook his hand, "Would you really have arrested my Dora if you had caught her?" She asked Dave searching his face.

"Yes." Was Dave's direct answer. This caused a rather odd smile from Andromeda and a few nervous chuckles from those gathered. It also confirmed Sandra's earlier comments about Dave giving honest answers before he really thought about them. I found myself fighting back a smile at his comment.

"If you had caught her what would have done with her?" Andromeda asked still searching Dave's face.

"I would have questioned her or had her questioned by our interrogation team to establish what exactly happened and WHY. Then if there was sufficient evidence to confirm her guilt (if any) I would have pushed as hard as I could for a full trial to have her convicted and locked up for her role in my brother's death." Dave replied in a coolly professional voice.

Andromeda continued to stare at Dave's face for a few moments before she answered, "I thank you for your honest and forth right answer Auror Webb." She replied.

"Now how can I help?" She asked with a smile. Dave replied with a brilliant smile of his own.

"You mentioned that you have a memory of Muriel and Tonks talking together?" Dave asked her.

"I do indeed." She replied.

"If I go and collect my pensive would you place your memory in it and allow it to be played for all to hear?" He asked a little nervously.

"I would, yes." She replied.

"Thank you." Dave answered, "Please take a seat at the table with Harry while I collect the Pensive." He said a little excitedly as he headed into his bedroom.

When he returned, he was carrying a wide metal bowl. It was intricately decorated with strange symbols and pictures. There were also numerous gems studded into the edge of it as well. As Dave placed it on the table it seemed to float just off the surface of the table.

"Where did you get this?" Harry asked Dave, his eyes were wide with wonder at what he was seeing.

"It belonged to my Grandfather." Dave answered, "He left it to Jimmy as he was the one gifted in memory charms and related magic. When Jimmy was killed, he left it to me. Although I don't know why as I'm not much chop when it comes to memory charms." Dave explained.

"Do you know where your Grandfather got it?" Harry asked.

"He got it when he was India. The same place where he got mum's and Aunty Cynthia's Pensives." Dave replied.

"I see… Do you know where in India it was that he got it?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Not off the top of my head no. But I can find out." Dave replied.

"Please, if you can it would be greatly appreciated." Harry requested.

"I will find out for you." Dave answered sincerely, "You will need to be the one to advise Andromeda on what to do Harry. As while I'm aware of the theory involved I have never done it in actual practise and now isn't the time for experimenting." He added with a rueful grin.

"Understood." Harry replied with a smile of his own. He then proceeded to instruct Andromeda in what she needed to do for Harry to extract the memory from her. After a moment to recall the memory in question Andromeda indicated to Harry that she was ready. Harry then put his wand to her temple and collected the memory and placed it in the Pensive.

Once the memory was in the Pensive Harry focused intently on it until three figures began to rise up out of the swirling mass that it contained. Harry was clearly pleased with himself that he was able to control the memory as he promised. Dave was quickly getting the Mirror Phones ready to record the conversation for Q. He looked over to Q on the screen to confirm that he was indeed ready and got a thumb up in reply just before the three figures began to speak.

While Harry had been getting the memory ready, Dave asked Andromeda to read the same passage that George had read earlier. This was to try and establish a baseline for the memory that was about to be played.

As we all listened to the conversation I could clearly see the disappointment in Dave's eyes at Tonks comments on the recognition codes for the upcoming meeting with his brother. But I also noticed him staring VERY intently at the figure of Muriel in the Pensive. He seemed to be concentrating on her to the exclusion of all else. Harry ended up having to grab Dave's shoulder and shake him to get his attention again.

"Pardon?" Dave asked once Harry had succeeded in getting his attention again.

"Nice to have you back with us Syd." Q said with a smile, "I was trying to tell you I have run the quick analysis of the voices in that memory."

"Excellent. What did you find?" Dave asked.

"The voice of Tonks in that memory is a 95% match to the voice from the earlier recording. But only a 14% match to the original recording." Q explained.

"I was expecting that." Dave answered, "How about Muriel's voice?" He asked.

"She was a 12% match to the voice on Jimmy's recording." Q answered sadly.

"I understand." Dave replied a little dejectedly as he sat down more than a little disappointed.

"But the voice of Andromeda scored a 35% match." Q offered, seeing several startled looks around the room he explained, "Please keep in mind that this part is very much 'bleeding edge' research currently. But I'm willing to bet that the voice on the original recording is a blood relative to Andromeda Tonks." He said confidently.

"Can you explain that remark Q?" Ivan asked.

"Yes Minister I believe I can." He answered, "Much like with a blood test or a DNA test that can be used to establish family connections, a voice can as well. But only for close family like siblings or children and only for those of the same gender."

"The exact mechanics are still being debated as to the how and whys. But with the recordings I now have of Tonks and her mother I can confirm the family link between them. When I run that same algorithm on the voice from Jimmy's recording I get a reasonably strong hit against Andromeda's voice. But not against Nymphadora."

"That's what leads me to guess that the probability is very high that a sister of Andromeda's should be considered worthy of a proper investigation." He said with conviction.

This statement caused a real commotion amongst those of us in the tent. Ivan looked over to Andromeda and saw that she was trying to speak. He quickly (and very effectively) called for quiet.

"I have a memory of my sister Narcissa that I would be willing to share." She offered, "But I do not have any recent memories of Bellatrix, as I haven't seen her since my family cast me out for marrying a muggle." She explained.

Dave's eye softened greatly at hearing this, as did the eyes of Sandra and Ivan. Indeed, all the members of Dave's family showed understanding of what it is like to be cast out of your family.

"Thank you again." Dave said warmly to Andromeda.

"It is I who is thankful." Andromeda replied, "As you have enabled me to prove my daughter's innocence." She said thankfully to Dave. Dave acknowledged her comment with a grateful smile and a hug for Andromeda that she was a little surprised by but was happy to accept it and return it as well.

"Bellatrix!" Andromeda suddenly called out to the surprise of a few people. Seeing several confused looks directed at her she explained.

"I just remembered where I heard someone making fun of the way Dora's name is pronounced. Very much like what was on the recording that we listed to before." She said with her eyes showing a sudden excitement.

"It was not long after Dora was born and I had bumped into Narcissa in Diagon Alley. I showed her baby Dora and she politely commented on her." She explained, "As she was walking away Bellatrix joined her and asked what she had been looking at with me. When she told her about baby Dora, Bellatrix sneered and carried on about the pronunciation of Nymphadora's name."

"She is the only one I can recall ever doing so in that way." Andromeda informed us.

"Thank you for that piece of information." Ivan told Andromeda warmly, "I can understand how a memory that old could take a while to recall." He added with a smile for her.

He then indicated to Harry and Dave that they should continue on with their work.

"Do we need to remove the memory that is already in there to examine this new one?" Dave asked Harry, "As I would like to come back to this memory if I can to more closely examine something that caught my attention earlier." He requested.

"Both memories can safely remain in there together." Harry answered Dave confidently.

"Excellent. Then please proceed." Dave requested.

Once more Harry collected the memory from Andromeda and placed it into the Pensive. The three figures that were present before sunk back into the Pensive to be replaced with two new ones. These being Andromeda and Narcissa. The conversation looks to have taken place during the funeral for Tonks and Remus. As Narcissa seemed to be offering an olive branch to Andromeda in an attempt to heal their broken relationship. Andromeda wasn't sure if she wanted or indeed could re-connect with her sister. But she didn't say no to her at that time.

When the memory finished playing, we all turned to Q to see what he had to say.

"The voice of Narcissa comes back with a 33% match." He reported.

"The hunt continues." Dave remarked to Harry with a shy smile which Harry returned.

"Does anyone here have a memory of Bellatrix that could be shared?" Dave asked hopefully.

I saw a few sets of eyes look to Hermione and knowing what her memory of Bellatrix was likely to be I was hoping against hope that someone else would have a memory that they could share.

Eventually my fears were proved correct as Hermione stepped forward to say that she did indeed have a memory of Bellatrix but it was one of her being tortured by her and that while she didn't want to share it she would if no one else had a better one.

"I have a memory of Bellatrix." Molly declared as she stepped up to the table where Harry and Andromeda were seated.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked her knowing full well which memory she was going to be sharing.

"Yes Harry I am." Molly replied, "Collect the memory Harry." She ordered him with her face set.

With this Harry collected the memory from Molly while Dave got the Mirror Phones switched around. When Q indicated, he was ready Harry played the memory in the Pensive. As I expected the memory was of Molly's duel with Bellatrix. As the memory was playing I found myself looking around at the faces in the tent.

All of Molly's family were watching with intense interest as the memory played out. While Dave, his family and his team were watching with what I can only describe as Professional Interest. Sandra was extremely happy to see that her little sister had defeated Bellatrix and was unhurt. The rest of Dave's family had more sombre looks on their faces. Dave in particular looked very troubled.

Before I could question Dave about his mood though Q spoke up on the video link.

"Syd. I think you have a winner here mate." He replied. Dave turned his gaze to the screen where Q was struggling to contain a smile.

"The voice of Bellatrix from that Memory returned a match probability of 89% with the aforementioned +/- 10% error. If you can arrange to have that memory sent to me I can get a more detailed analysis done in it." He explained.

"Excellent work Q." Dave said with a slightly forced smile, "Thanks for your efforts I will ask Aunty Molly if we can keep a copy of that memory and if she agrees I will get it sent to you straight away. Once again many thanks mate." Dave said with a slightly more convincing smile this time.

"Always happy to help mate. Will keep a look out for that memory in my tray." Q answered as he seemed to pick up on Dave's troubled mood, "I will talk to you soon mate. Try to take it 'easy' over there, won't you?" He said with a cheeky smile to Syd as he signed off.

Dave turned from the large screen and just stared at the Pensive watching the two figures repeat their battle over and over again. Harry had somehow turned off the sound but left the figures being displayed.

"What eez ze matter Dave?" I asked him when I noticed his still troubled expression, "I zought zat you would have been 'appy to confirm ze identity of ze person who led to your frères betrayal."

He looked up at me and I could see some sort of conflict raging in his eyes. He was clearly being troubled by something. The eyes of everyone in the tent looked to be on him as well.

"I'm not supposed to be happy about a suspect being killed, as we are supposed to catch them not kill them." He said in a troubled voice, "But I can't stop myself from feeling happy that she is dead. Based on all I have learnt about her; the world is truly better off without her in it." He said looking at his feet and clearly ashamed of himself.

No one knew what to say to this. I could see that many of Dave's team also had similar troubled looks on their faces as well. It spoke a great deal about their values and the way that they viewed their job, that they viewed the death of someone as evil as Bellatrix as some sort of failure. It was very clear that Dave's preference and that of his team would have been to capture her alive.

I could see from the look on Andromeda's face that she understood the conflict raging inside Dave tight now. She put a comforting arm around his shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"It takes a special type of strength to be troubled by the death of someone who is clearly so evil." She said with a gentle and heartfelt smile at him.

"Agreed." Molly replied coming to sit next to Dave and giving him a very solid hug which he returned.

"I'm sure that Jimmy would be happy knowing that he was avenged on Bellatrix by family." Dave replied giving Molly a shy little smile, "But I can't shake the feeling that he would be disappointed in me for being happy that she is dead." He added.

"It speaks to your good and kind heart Dave as well as to your dedication to your job." Molly told him, "That all of you have to your job." She added standing up and looking around at the rest of Dave's team.

"You all work so very hard to track and catch some of the worst of the worst. Yet you all can be troubled by your reaction to the death of someone who so clearly delighted in killing and inflicting pain on others." She said giving everyone from Dave's team a very loving smile.

"That is only possible in those who are truly kind and generous of heart." She explained, "I think that all of us here would agree to that." Molly said confidently.

"Agreed Mum." George replied with some emotion in his voice. He was quickly joined by a chorus of voices calling out, "Agreed" as the rest of the family (me included) stated their approval of Molly's view of the incident.

Dave looked around at the sea of faces around him, he then got up and enfolded Molly in one of his hugs. I could see that she was enjoying it, "Thank you Aunty Molly." He said as he fought back his own tears.

"I'm glad it was you who got her." Dave said smiling at Molly, "And that you didn't get hurt in the process." He added with a smile at her as well.

"Thank you dear." Molly replied returning his smile.

After this each member of Dave's team came over and enfolded Molly in their arms as well. I think she was in some form of heaven with all these hugs from everyone. Eventually Sandra and Ivan came to her and gave her a hug, their faces clearly saying what their words could not.

Eventually things calmed down again and Ivan looked over to Dave, "It might be one down two to go. But we still don't know how she got the recognition codes. Or a sample of hair from Tonks." She said with a quick glance at Ginny who smiled in acknowledgement of his use of Tonks preferred name.

"Actually, I have an idea on that." Dave replied. With that some of his fire had returned to his eyes.

"Really?" Ivan enquired, "I'd like to hear it."

"Harry can we switch back to the memory of Andromeda, Tonks and Muriel talking?" Dave requested.

"Certainly." Harry answered as he operated the Pensive to bring up the required memory.

"Can you move through the memory to the part when both Tonks and Andromeda have their back to Muriel when they are looking at your birthday invitation?" He asked.

"Ok, give me a moment." He said while he concentrated on the Pensive.

"When this part of the memory plays dad, watch Muriel's mouth and her arm." Dave instructed, "See if you can identify the charms she casts."

"Charm?" Andromeda said rather surprised, "I don't recall her casting any charms in that encounter." He said firmly.

"I think that's because she altered your memory of it Andromeda." Dave replied to the surprise of all in the room.

When Harry played that segment of the memory all the eyes in the tent were focused on Muriel. After it had played the first time there were a few requests to replay it. Most notably from Kingsley.

After the second play through Hermione spoke up, "She performed the Confundus Charm on Tonks." She said very confidently, "I recognise that wand movement."

"I think she also cast a memory charm on Andromeda probably a very minor Obliviate." She added.

"I do believe I would agree with you Hermione." Ivan said with a smile to her.

"And I as well." Kingsley also added. "Harry can you let the memory play for a few moments more after where you froze it last time." He requested.

This time when the memory played Muriel could be seen to make an odd grabbing gesture at Tonks who was standing with an odd confused expression on her face for a few moments.

"What is she doing there?" Kingsley asked.

"I know what she is doing." Dave said in an eerily calm voice.

"Well?" Kingsley asked slightly frustrated.

"She is plucking hairs from Tonks." Dave replied looking directly into Kingsley's eyes.

"How." Kingsley answered, "That isn't how summoning charms work in Magic."

"Correct." Dave answered, "But it IS how they work on Sorcery." He explained.

"Sorcery?" Kingsley exclaimed, "Are you sure."

"Extremely sure." Dave answered, "The only question being, is she not very good at sorcery or is she just very lazy with it. As that movement is what is used when you first learn how to grab something and bring it to yourself."

"With more training you gradually move away from that gesture and make things more subtle like this." He said as he held his hand out flat and had Kingsley's wand appear in it.

The expression on Kingsley face was priceless, as he stared at his wand in Dave's hand. "You didn't put it in your holster did you?" Dave asked him with an evil smirk on his face.

"Or were you just trying to cheer me up?" He asked Kingsley.

"No comment." Kingsley replied trying to hide his own smile as he returned his wand to its holster.

Meanwhile Andromeda looked like she was about ready to explode.

"You mean to tell me that while Muriel was a guest in my house she confounded my daughter, performed a memory charm on me and then STOLE hair from my daughter as well?" She almost shrieked.

"Ivan you won't have to worry about your wife murdering that wrinkled old cow. Because I'm bloody well going to do it." She said as she made for the door of the tent.

Molly was able to get in front of her and grab her by the shoulders, "No Andromeda. As Ivan said earlier we don't want her to be the cause of the ones we love committing murder." She said as she gave Andromeda a very direct look.

"Well said Aunty Molly." Dave remarked, "Besides, according to current English Wizarding Law, Muriel has already signed her own death warrant." Dave said is a cold dispassionate voice that gave everyone pause.

"She performed Sorcery." Kingsley explained to all in attendance.

"Exactly." Dave answered, "She has also given us enough evidence to be seriously considered to be a member of a conspiracy to carry out the murder of Senior Auror James Webb." He said with a determined glint in his eye.

"Which means that there is no longer any need for this." He said as he pulled the International Arrest Warrant for Tonks out of his wallet and ignited it turning it to ash.

"The only question left is who gets to arrest her?" Dave said as he displayed a thoroughly evil grin, "Us or the Poms?" He asked his father and Kingsley.

The two Ministers just stared at each other with a kind of amused look until they burst out laughing.

"I have an idea that could greatly simplify matters dad." Dave said with his crooked smile in place.

"What's that son?" Ivan asked.

"Kingsley and I could duel to see who gets her?" He said hopefully grinning at Kingsley.

Kingsley looked a little worried at the offer from Dave, but at the same time there was an eager glint in his eye also.

"Don't tell me that reading my file has put you off wanting to duel me?" Dave said as he continued to needle Kingsley.

Before Kingsley could reply Ivan spoke up, "Dave you know the rules." He said in a serious tone of voice, "Especially since your incident in Iran." He said looking his son directly in the eye.

"I was only making a friendly offer dad." Dave replied with an air of innocence that fooled no one.

Ivan gave him a disbelieving look and replied, "We will discuss it and let you know what we decide. If you behave yourself you might even get to carry out the arrest."

"Unless we get her." Kingsley added with a chuckle while everyone else had a laugh as well.

With this we all began to head out of the tent. Dave quickly spoke with Molly and Andromeda and asked if he could keep a copy of their memories to send to Q for more detailed analysis.

They both agreed that he could. So, Dave and Harry started work on getting the memories copied and stored in a manner that aligned with the evidence procedures for Dave's Team. Looking at the pile of forms that Dave was getting out, it was clearly going to take some time.

I could see the disappointment on Gabrielle's face as she had been clearly hoping to spend some 'private time' with Dave. Understanding Dave's need to capture the evidence correctly she joined the crowd that was heading out of the tent.

The girls were waiting outside to hear more of Gabrielle's adventures in Paris today. This returned her smile to her face and she agreed to accompany them to the table so that the conversation could begin.


	36. Family Patterns

When I next looked at my watch I realised it was close to dinner time. It was then that I realised that poor Gabrielle had been enduring the seemingly endless questions from Dave's sisters, mother and cousin, along with those from Molly, Ginny and Hermione for several hours. She still seemed to be very happily discussing (in detail) her adventure in Paris. Although I did notice that she still refused to say what exactly it was that Dave said to her when he 'officially' asked her out. Each time she was asked she would smile and blush and repeat that she didn't want to say. As she was concerned that it might cause Dave some embarrassment. This of course only served to further encourage Dave's family to find out what it was.

Eventually however even Dave's family had to admit defeat in getting that information from Gabrielle. Although Sandra did say that she should be turned over to Dave's Grandparents for further interrogation. This made Gabrielle smile for some reason.

When we ended our chat with Gabrielle, Molly and Sandra got up to head to the kitchen to see about dinner. While Gabrielle and Ginny both made a line for Dave's tent. As they had not noticed Dave or Harry emerge from it as yet. It was quickly apparent that they were not in Dave's tent as the girls emerged looking a little frustrated. I could see them conferring with each other about where the boys might be. Ginny seemed to have an idea and they headed to the porch where they watched the boys from last night. On a whim, I followed them.

Once we got to the end of the porch we could again see the two boys again deep in conversation, over by the stone wall where we spotted them last night.

"Thought so." Ginny said obviously pleased with herself, "At least we can watch them from here in comfort." She stated as she sank into the chair that she used yesterday. Gabrielle seemed to agree with her as she sat down in the chair next to Ginny and watched the conversation between Harry and Dave.

"I wonder 'ow long zey 'ave been talking." I said giving voice to my thoughts.

"I 'ave no idea." Gabrielle replied, "As I did not see zem leave Dave's tent."

"What is that I wonder?" Ginny asked as Dave removed a rather large item from his wallet and handed it over to Harry.

Whatever it was it was very clear from Harry's expression that he was intensely interested in it. Harry gratefully received the item from Dave and then turned it around. He then opened it, proving that it was a book of some sort. As he was flicking through the pages I caught a glimpse of a diagram that looked like a tree with some faces on it. I think Ginny might have noticed it as well.

"Could that be a book about Harry's family?" She asked as her eyes came alight with hope. As she was very aware of how much Harry wanted to know more about his family.

We watched as Harry flicked through more and more of the book. With each page that he looked at he became more excited. Eventually he put the book down (carefully) and then wrapped his arms around Dave. This startled Dave but he quickly recovered and returned Harry's hug.

I looked over to Ginny and noticed her wiping away some tears from her eyes. She was clearly moved at seeing Harry so happy. Gabrielle may not have been crying but she looked like she wasn't far off it.

As the boys broke apart they both looked a little embarrassed but happy at the same time. Harry sat back down and picked up the book again. This time Dave sat next to him and was pointing out various things to Harry in different sections of the book. The expression on Harry's face as they went through the pages of the book was priceless. Dave seemed happy with Harry's reaction as well.

Eventually they finished looking at whatever it was that Dave wished to show Harry. At this point they both got up and enthusiastically shook hands and headed back towards the house. Once again when they spotted the three of us watching them they both had a laugh about it.

"You seemed rather excited about something." Ginny remarked to Harry with a very large smile on her face.

At this comment Harry looked to Dave with a question in his eyes. Dave must have understood the question as he replied.

"It's your book Harry. You can show it to whoever you like." He said with a smile.

Harry excitedly placed the book in Ginny's lap and opened it. The first page made it clear as to the subject of the book. As it was titled:

 ** _An exploration of the Potter Family Tree by Douglas Webb_**

Ginny's face lit up until she was smiling almost as much as Harry. As she flicked through the book it was very clear that a great deal of research had gone into it. The illustrations and diagrams were gorgeously done. The writing also was so perfect it was almost impossible to believe that it was done by a person.

A few pages in was the first illustration of the Potter Family Tree. At the bottom of the tree it showed Fleamont Potter with his father Henry above him. Next to Fleamont Potter was a beautifully drawn note that indicated his later Marriage to Euphemia. There was a further sub note indicating the birth of their son James and his latter marriage to Lilly Evans. No further updates were written past their marriage however.

As Ginny flicked through the book more and more tree illustrations were displayed. The amount of information in it was astounding. As we got further into the book short biographies of the different couples on the earlier tree branches were found. The way the information was displayed was very interesting. It seemed to me that Dave's Grandfather was trying to paint as complete a picture of the Potter family as possible.

When Ginny had finished quickly looking through the book she looked over to Dave, "Thank you for giving him this." She said with genuine warmth.

"You are both welcome." Dave replied, "I thought that book would be a good place to start. As according to my Grandfather that book was the one that began to convince him that there was a possibility of the Potter's not being as evil as he had initially thought, after he was broken and sold."

"I do hope it gives Harry some of the answers that he has been looking for." Dave said with a look of genuine concern as he looked across to Harry.

It was now that Molly called us over to dinner.

Dave quickly helped Gabrielle up and they headed over to the dinner table. Harry and Ginny took his book into the house and placed it in the lounge to keep it safe during dinner.

At the dinner table Dave was introduced to little Teddy Lupin. When Teddy was first introduced to Dave he had bright red hair as Ginny was holding him. Once he saw Dave he changed his hair to a messy jet black. Dave saw this and laughed, he then quickly changed his hair colour to blond.

Teddy saw this and thought it was hysterical and once he finished laughing he also changed his hair colour to blond. After that the two of them were frequently changing their hair colour with a never ending supply of suggestions coming from those around the table. Ginny frequently found it difficult to keep a hold of Teddy when she burst into laughter as some of the hair colours that they came up with.

Shelly eventually suggested to Dave that he try long blond hair. So Dave happily obliged and he soon had shoulder length blond hair almost the same colour as Gabrielle's. When this was pointed out to him he laughed and gave Gabrielle a shy little smile. She didn't seem to mind however and readily returned his smile.

Teddy however was a little frustrated as he couldn't yet alter the length of his hair.

"Don't worry little man." Dave told him with a very gentle expression on his face, "It will come to you in time."

With that Ginny moved on to return Teddy to Andromeda who seemed to have begun to miss him. There was no doubt that she got a good rest from him today as she had no shortage of willing volunteers to help her out. But she was also very happy to see him back again.

Dinner then began in earnest, and we were all brought up to date on the work that was being done to better secure The Burrow. The work was going well and was even ahead of schedule. The doormat was setup and running along with the modified apparition point and the pass-coding of the existing one. The work that was taking the longest was the setting up of the multiple shield layers around the burrow and the installation of the cameras.

Even those tasks were expected to be completed by noon tomorrow. Mick was keen to start on the scouting of Shell Cottage tomorrow after lunch if it could be organised. Dave was agreeable as long as he took Jono and Bill with him. As he was still a little reluctant to have people off by themselves at the moment.

Thankfully all three of them thought that it was a good idea and plans were quickly made. Dave only requested to be informed before they left and if anything was found at Shell Cottage. He also said that if something was found his first preference was to have the entire team on the scene in case another ambush or bubble was located. All the team members agreed to this also.

With that settled it was time for dessert. This was also greeted with enthusiasm by all assembled. Ron and Jono especially.

After dessert was completed Molly had several sets of willing hands to help get the washing done. It was completed inside record time if Arthur was to be believed. Once the dishes were done the girls (and I) wanted to see Gabrielle's dress that she had selected. So we headed over to the tent so that she could show us. Harry headed into the house no doubt to look over the book that Dave had just given him. While the rest just seemed to scatter to the winds as they enjoyed some 'down time' as they put it.

Everyone agreed that Gabrielle's dress was wonderful and that she would be a sight to behold in it. She resisted the temptation to put it on and model it for everyone, but not by much. She then carefully packed it away, and we all went back outside and split up. Most of us headed into the house and as is often the case at the Burrow congregated in the kitchen for a chat over a cup of tea. Ginny joined Harry in the lounge where he was indeed reading the book on his family.

Gabrielle however hadn't followed everyone into the kitchen. She was standing in the yard with a rather strange expression on her face. I noticed her reach up and touch her Talisman for a few moments before she again headed for the house. She didn't come inside however she walked along the porch to the swing seat that was just out of sight from the kitchen.

"May I join you?" I heard her ask through the open door of the kitchen.

"That's one question you never need to ask." Dave replied happily, "As you are always welcome to join me anytime." He added and I could picture the smile on his face. We could then hear some sounds of the swing creaking a bit as Gabrielle joined him on it. I found myself smiling at that comment from Dave.

I then noticed that Molly and Sandra were looking curiously at me standing near the kitchen door. "It is far more comfortable to listen to those sorts of conversations when you open this window." Molly said as she casually opened the window over the sink with a knowing smile.

She then selected a chair at the end of the table closest to the sink and indicated that we should join her. I let the kitchen door close quietly and then I quickly joined Molly and Sandra. We all then began listening very carefully for the conversation. We caught the end of the kiss that they were sharing and we could hear Gabrielle snuggle into Dave and get comfortable.

"What were you thinking about?" She asked him, "As I could almost feel that you were deep in thought about something."

"Could you indeed?" Dave asked either impressed or amused I couldn't tell.

"Oui." She replied with a little giggle at him.

"Well I will have to admit that you are correct. I was indeed thinking about something very intently." He replied, "I was thinking about my Grandfather and the Potter family." He explained. At this all of us in the kitchen almost froze, if we could have stopped breathing I'm sure we would have.

"Anything specifically?" She asked him.

"I have had a suspicion for quite some time that the actions of Henry and Fleamont Potter in regards to my Grandfather were significantly out of character for them both." Dave began, "However since I have had a chance to meet you all and especially Harry that has all changed." He stated.

"In what way?" Gabrielle enquired.

"Now I'm almost positive that it was indeed significantly out of character for them both." Dave said firmly, "From everything I have learned about the Potter family and about those two especially. Their actions were way outside the range of behaviour that would be expected of them, I mean their 'family patterns' just don't extend into that sort of behaviour." He explained.

"A deviation of that magnitude from a long established family pattern indicates very strongly that there would have had to have been some sort of outside influence acting on them. And a significant one at that."

"What do you mean by outside influence?" Gabrielle asked.

I could hear Molly say, "Thank you Gabrielle." And then smile shyly, as she obviously wanted to ask that question herself.

"When you look at the behaviour of a family over an extended period of time, you will notice that certain traits stay constant." Dave explained, "Take a family like the Weasley's for instance..." Dave said and I could see Molly, Arthur, George and my Bill all become very focused on hearing this.

"For just about as far back as my Grandfather was able to trace they have been a very solid and loving family. They have always tried to do the 'right thing' regardless of what the rest of the wizarding world may think of them."

"If I had to name a family as an example of one that was fundamentally good and kind by nature. They would be my pick. Along with Grandma Webb's family the Vogt's that is." He added with a small chuckle. I looked over to my Bill and Arthur and could see in their eyes that Dave's statement had truly touched them.

"Other families like the Lestrange's, Nott's, Malfoy's and the Black's they are fundamentally obsessed with status and blood purity above all else. Other 'considerations' such as caring for others or 'doing the right thing' do not concern them unless they aid in their goals. So, they are quite happy to engage in acts of cruelty if they believe that it will help their cause."

"In between families like the Weasley's and others like the Nott's, Malfoy's and the Black's you have families like the Prewett's." Dave remarked and saw Molly and Sandra both focus even more.

"They are certainly not as fundamentally 'cruel' as the Lestrange's, Nott's, Malfoy's and Black's. But they do share their obsession with status and blood purity." Dave explained while lost in thought. Looking to Molly I could see her nodding in agreement while she reached over and held Sandra's hand. Sandra smiled back warmly.

"In the Prewett family, Mum, Aunty Molly, Uncle Fabian and Uncle Gideon would be counted as the 'odd' ones. Or the outcasts, as they didn't share the families interest in status or blood purity." Molly and Sandra both had moist eyes at this statement. But they were also nodding fervently in agreement.

"A family like the Weasley's basically 'thumbs their nose' at families like the Lestrange's, Nott's, Malfoy's and Black's. And they are happy to do so. Even though it frequently costs them dearly. That has been seen in their family history in many places. Yet they still do not shy away from doing it."

"The type of strength that requires almost boggles the mind." Dave said in amazement, "Am I making any sense at all?" He asked Gabrielle.

I looked at the others in the room and they were all nodding that he was indeed making a lot of sense.

"I think so." Gabrielle replied thoughtfully.

"There will always be 'exceptions to the rules' in families. This Sirius Black that Harry was telling me about is a good example. But overall the pattern WILL hold. When the overall pattern does 'drift' it is a gradual process with lots of associated evidence that can be pointed to as a cause of change." Dave instructed.

"You can almost think of it like a railway. With the tracks as the family pattern and the train as the family. The train will 'stay the course' of the tracks. If it doesn't and it derails there is a good deal of evidence around as to what happened."

"Does that help to explain the idea better?" Dave asked Gabrielle.

"Oui, it does." She said as she kissed him.

"In the case of the Potter's interaction with my Grandfather it is like the Potter's 'train' suddenly left the tracks, then re-appeared on a different set of tracks many hundreds of miles away. Stayed there for a period of time and then returned to its original tracks as though nothing happened."

"For an event like that to occur it would require a very significant outside force to act on the train to cause it." Dave said with a small amount of frustration in his voice.

"From everything that I have learned about the Potter family, I would say that they are a lot closer to the Weasley's than to say the Nott's or the Black's."

"The biggest difference between them for most of their existence is that the Potters generally kept more to themselves than the Weasley's. It wasn't until the most recent 5 or 6 generations that the Potters sort of 'emerged' from the shadows and into society as it were. But even then they were low key players."

"They were by all accounts honest, hardworking business people who while they ran very successful businesses seemed more interested in the wellbeing of the people who worked for them and the ones they dealt with than maximising their profits."

"For the Potter's to suddenly 'jump tracks' in such a fundamental way is basically unheard of, unless there is a significant outside force at work. Yet in all the records there isn't even a hint of anything occurring."

"I can find none of the tell tail traces of Blackmail being the cause, nor anything significant to warrant revenge as the motive. Financial hardship is also out as the Potter's were a very wealthy family even then."

"Social status is also out as there are a great many records of the Potter family stating their disinterest in 'high society'. Nor were they ever interested in trying to be included the Sacred Twenty-Eight families or regarded as a 'notable' one."

"They seemed very content to be what they were. Which was a great deal like the Weasley's." Dave stated, "And that is certainly a very worthy aiming point to have. Isn't it?" Dave asked Gabrielle.

"Oui. Very much so." She replied and we could again hear a few kisses being exchanged. Arthur and Molly were also in agreement as they cuddled together happily listening to this conversation. I found myself beckoning to my Bill and got him to sit on my seat so I could sit in his lap and be more comfortable while I listened as well. He didn't seem to mind.

After the kisses outside stopped the conversation continued on.

"Given the evidence available to me right now I'm finding myself leaning more and more to one conclusion." Dave said in his professional tone.

"What is zat?" Gabrielle asked.

"The Potter's didn't carry out their actions against my Grandfather by choice." Dave stated.

I could see everyone in the room smiling broadly and I'm sure that they would have been cheering as well if they could have. A reaction like that however would have caused those two outside to cease their conversation. We were all very interested in allowing the conversation to continue.

It was now that I realised that Harry and Ginny were in the kitchen as well. I don't know how long they had been there but from the look on their faces it was long enough. Harry looked like he could have lit up a professional Quidditch Stadium with his smile. Ginny wasn't far behind him either.

"I don't yet know if they were coerced into it, or if they were impersonated or if they were imperialised. But I'm finding myself more and more often thinking of them almost as victims in this mess." Dave said distractedly.

This caused even more joy for Harry and everyone else. Both Ginny and Harry had unshed tears in their eyes at this news.

"The question remains though. Why them? Why my Grandfather. What caused them to be the targets of whatever scheme caused these turn of events."

"Was the goal to try and make my Grandfather's family turn on the Potter's? Or to turn on themselves? Or were the Potter's the target of the scheme all along and my Grandfather was just what the muggles call 'collateral damage'."

"Was my Grandfather a half blood in a pure blood family and that is the cause? Or was his family itself the target. I just don't know." He exclaimed.

"Ez zere anyzing zat you can do to prove your ideas?" Gabrielle asked.

Once more the room when silent.

"I'm still trying to get that straight in my own mind to be honest. At the moment I think the most productive thing I can do in this regard is to continue to talk with Harry. Despite what I have learnt about the Potter's growing up I have found that he is actually a very decent bloke…"

I looked over at Harry and saw Ginny telling him she agreed with Dave. Hermione and Ron were also lending their support to this idea.

"I do find myself enjoying talking to him also. Other than that the next biggest hope is that he does manage to find some sort of records in his family vault."

"If we could somehow establish how my Grandfather knew the Potter's or came in contact with them that might give me more ideas. But at the moment I think I have just about run every lead that I have into the ground."

"What sort of evidence would be left if revenge was ze motive?" Gabrielle asked.

"For revenge to be the motive for something like this it would need to be have significant event as the cause. Financially ruining a family would be one example. Or if there was a major insult to one of the 'old families' as another example. But events of that sort would leave traces in the newspapers. Or in court documents." Dave explained.

"Court cases are another source of anger that could lead to that sort of rage. But I can't find any evidence of either my Grandfather or the Potters being involved in anything significant enough either."

"Henry Potter served as a member of the Wizengamot for several years. But the only thing that could have caused enough anger against him to have that as the cause was his public condemnation of the then Minister of Magic Archer Evermonde's decision to forbid the British Wizarding community from aiding the Muggles in World War One."

"His out spoken pro-muggle views also earnt him a lot of anger in the press. But that was mostly name calling and mudslinging. Both of which he cared little for. In fact it's widely believed that his pro-Muggle views are the prime reason that the Potter Family isn't counted in the Sacred Twenty-Eight." Dave said and the accompanying smile could almost be heard even before he added, "He apparently considered it a 'badge of honour' if that was indeed the reason." Dave laughed.

"Are you sure of zat?" Gabrielle asked him.

"Very." Dave replied, "The section that starts of Page 42 of the book that I gave Harry earlier covers it." Dave said confidently.

At this comment Harry quickly laid the book on the kitchen table and opened it to page 42. Sure enough there was a section that discussed the very events Dave had just described. He looked up amazed. Ginny and Hermione were also looking impressed. They looked over to Sandra for an explanation. She indicated that they should just keep on listening as she obviously thought that Dave himself would provide it.

"How can you remember zings like that?" Gabrielle asked almost in amazement.

"Remembering things isn't one of my many problems" Dave said soberly, "Sometimes I almost wish it was."

"I don't understand" Gabrielle remarked, "Isn't being able to remember zings a good zing?" She asked.

There was a pause where while Dave gathered his thoughts then after a deep breath he answered, "It would be if I could choose what the things were that I remembered."

There were some strange looks in the kitchen at this statement. We could hear some creaking outside as Gabrielle was shifting her position so that she could see Dave's face better.

"Zere are zings zat you wish you could forget?" Gabrielle asked him.

"Yes." Dave said in a voice becoming thick with emotion, "All the broken, battered and abused bodies that I have found over the years would be close to the top of the list of things that I wish I could forget."

"The cries of kids who had been 'hurt' at the hands of those who were supposed to protect them would be another one. Along with the faces of parents when I have had to tell them that we found their family member, but not alive and well." Dave said as he started to have to fight back tears.

"I'm sorry." Gabrielle said sincerely, "I didn't realise." She added as we could hear her engulf Dave in a hug. Dave must have appreciated it as his next words were slightly muffled as though he was speaking from Gabrielle's shoulder.

"I can recall all the insults and threats that have been made against me or my family, because of me. I can recall vividly each time I have failed to keep others from harm. I can recite the text of all of the many death threats I have ever received also." Dave added.

"Death threats?" Gabrielle said very shocked, "Who would send you such things?"

"You'd be surprised." Dave answered.

"Well zey clearly do not know ze real you zen do zey." She added smiling, "You should not even zink about zem at all. As I for one zink zat you are a very special person who ze wizarding world is very lucky to have." She said with conviction.

"Merci." Dave replied with a bit of a giggle before he burrowed himself into Gabrielle's shoulder again. After a few moments, it even sounded like there was the sounds of faint sobbing coming from the porch, along with sounds of Gabrielle whispering in words of comfort in Dave's ear.

"I would like to say thank you to you also Gabrielle." Sandra said quietly with a very tender expression on her face as she caused the kitchen window to close effectively cutting off the sounds from outside.

I think we all agreed with her decision to give those two some privacy just now.

"Excuse me Sandra, but just what did Dave mean by that about his memory?" Hermione asked, "Does he indeed have a photographic memory as the rumours about him say?" She enquired while trying to hide her heightened interest.

"It's a bit of a touchy subject with him." Sandra replied thoughtfully, "Whenever someone he doesn't know very well tries to bring up the topic he just sorts of looks at them making them uncomfortable until they change the topic." She said with a rueful smile.

"That's what he did to you when we first met him." Ron remarked, "After you guessed who his mum was and you made mention of his abilities and the rumours." He added, while Hermione had a small blush at the memory.

"Yes, that sounds like a typical reaction from him." Sandra agreed, "A word to the wise if you do wish to discuss the topic with him, he absolutely hates that term 'Photographic Memory'. It would be more accurately described as an 'Eidetic Memory'." She explained. Hermione nodded in understanding.

"Although Dave frequently calls it a living nightmare." She added.

"A nightmare?" Hermione asked, "Can it really be that bad?"

"How many of your memories of your 'adventures' over the last nine months would you wish to keep for the rest of your life?" Sandra asked Hermione.

"Not many." Hermione admitted.

"Now expand that over the course of several years and you will get a feel for Dave's view on things." She said with a small grimace, "For a time I thought that was one of the reasons that he would often read so much. Trying to make so many new memories that he would eventually be able to force the old hurtful ones out."

"Sadly, that hasn't proven to be the case." She explained, "These days I think he tries to focus on creating happy memories with his family and friends that he can try to use as a shield of sorts against the things that he doesn't want to remember."

This was a view of that sort of memory that I hadn't considered before. It would certainly prove to be a challenge to deal with even for someone in a less dangerous job.

We all discussed this for a while before we heard footsteps on the porch then saw Dave and Gabrielle walk passed the kitchen window. When they made it to the kitchen door Dave opened it and stuck his head in to ask if there was any interest in another Movie night in his tent tonight.

Ginny and Hermione thought that it was a great idea and that it should be the girls turn to pick the movie. Dave was quickly outvoted on this topic. Especially when Dave's sisters and cousin heard about the movie night. The other girls from Dave's team also voted in favour of girls pick.

As Gabrielle, Ginny and I were not that well versed in Muggle movies we had to reply on the suggestions of the others. After much discussion, the girls decided on the film Beauty and the Beast. Gabrielle and Ginny (I have to admit I was too) were very excited to see what Shelly described as an animated film. So, this one was chosen.

When the boys found out about the movie choice most of them decided to stay, although I think Jono was more interested in the popcorn that Fireball had organised.

The film ended up being very enjoyable and the singing was wonderful. I sneaked a peak over at Gabrielle a few times and found her singing along softly as well. All the while trying to get Dave to join in. While he never did, he was appreciative of her efforts to encourage him to sing. He also seemed to greatly enjoy hearing her sing, as he would focus his attention on her to the exclusion of the movie when she did so.

The surprise of the night was when Ginny got Harry to join her in singing along to a few of the songs. He did seem to have a rather nice singing voice. This surprised him almost as much as it surprised us, Ginny claimed not to be surprised at all but the look in her eyes said otherwise. Harry did get some applause from the crowd in Dave's tent for his efforts.

At the end of the film we all made off for bed. Dave reminded Harry and Ron about proper attire if they wished to join in the run tomorrow morning again. They both advised that they had secured some briefs for the run. This comment made Ginny smile in a rather naughty way at Harry. He pretended not to notice but his blush betrayed him.

When Ginny and surprisingly Gabrielle asked about joining in the run tomorrow morning both Dave and Shelly were supportive of the idea. Although Dave advised them that the same suggestion (about proper attire) applied to the girls as well.

Ginny caused Dave a few awkward moments when she asked him why they would need briefs to offer them any 'support'. All of the girls gave very direct looks at a clearly uncomfortable Dave as he tried to explain he didn't mean briefs but was referring to support for 'other items'. When pressed for details as to what he meant, he quickly directed Ginny and Gabrielle to speak to Shelly. Shelly at this point was trying to supress a rather evil smirk on her face, but she did take the two girls away to provide them with some suitable 'attire'.

When the girls came back in they happily offered to show Dave what Shelly had given them. This caused him to blush some more, much to the girls' amusement. So, he quickly changed the topic of the conversation to turning in for the night.

Dave then walked Gabrielle to our tent and said goodnight with several kisses. Looking over to the Burrow I saw Harry and Ginny engaged in a similar activity.

Sharing a chuckle with Bill we headed off to bed to get ready for another interesting day ahead.


	37. Morning Activities

**17** **th** **May 1998 (Sunday)**

When I woke that morning, I laid in bed for a time next to my still sleeping Bill. I was curious to see if indeed Gabrielle would get up early enough to join in the morning run. Early morning starts are not something that Gabrielle was noted for in our family.

This curiosity of mine had only been enhanced by the 5 Galleon bet Bill had made with me last night. He was of the opinion that she wouldn't get up and go for (as well as complete) the run while I was. He had also laid down a strict set of conditions for the bet, namely no noises in the morning and no sneaking out to see if she was up. So, this was why I found myself lying in bed straining my ears for the faintest sound.

Eventually I did hear a sound but it was coming from the direction of my parent's bedroom. It sounded like a door creaking open a small amount only to quickly close again. That noise served to cause Bill to start to stir. When he noticed me lying in bed concentrating all my efforts on listening, he just had to laugh at me.

"What ez so funny?" I asked him.

"You are." He replied with a smile and a kiss for me, "You're listening so hard for Gabrielle with such a look of concentration on your face it is adorable."

"Did it never occur to you to cast Homenum Revelio on her room to see if she is still in there?" He asked me with an arch little smile, "Or maybe to cast a 'doormat charm' in front of her bedroom door?" He said with a certain smugness.

I was surprised that I had indeed forgotten those options. As I quickly reached for my wand Bill again chuckled at me and when I turned back to face him he laughed as he said, "Don't worry about it, she left 15 mins ago, to go and wake up Dave." He said with a smirk on his face.

"How did you know zat?" I had to ask him.

"I cast a doormat charm in front of her bedroom door and one in front of Dave's tent as we left last night." He grinned at me.

"I see." I told him as I settled back into bed with him, "And why does losing the bet with me make you so happy?" I asked.

"Because I have a 20 Galleon bet with your father that Gabrielle will be up and have sneaked out of the tent before he knows it." He explained, "I have been listening to him sneak peaks from his bedroom door for the last 10 mins." He said as he smiled brilliantly.

"Shame on you for taking advantage of papa like zat." I tried to chide him, but the smile on my face gave me away.

"Should we get up and see if she does indeed head off with the others?" He asked me with an amused expression on his face, "As her getting up for the run is only part of the bet if I recall. She actually has to do it as well." He reminded me seeing my own smug look.

"Oui. Ok" I answered letting my excitement at winning our bet show.

We quickly got dressed and headed out of our room. As we opened the door to our room I had to stifle a laugh as Papa opened his door with a look of triumph on his face. Only to show disappointment that it wasn't Gabrielle he had caught, but us.

"She left 15 min ago Papa." I told him sweetly as we walked passed his bedroom door. I could hear Maman laughing from further back in the room, she obviously had bet against him catching Gabrielle in the morning as well. Once we got outside we could see the members of Dave's team emerging from their tents and starting to gather. I looked for Gabrielle but couldn't see her in the yard.

Looking over to the Burrow I could see Molly in the window of her bedroom smiling as she saw me. I waived to her and she waved back, then she pointed to Dave's tent. Thanking her for the news we both headed off to Dave's tent where we found Gabrielle sitting on the couch looking at Dave's shut bedroom door a little annoyed.

"Dave not awake yet?" I asked her.

"Oui, he is." She replied, "He is on his mirror phone talking to Semi, getting a report of some sort." She said a little irritated.

From the look on her face the call from this Semi had interrupted something she had been enjoying. Before I could form a reply however, Dave came out of his room and closed the door behind him.

"I'm very sorry about that Gabrielle." He apologised to her, "Semi doesn't usually call unless it is something important." He explained as he took her in his arms and kissed her as a further apology.

"Ez something wrong?" I asked him.

"No. Well at least nothing we know about just now." He explained, "Semi had managed to sneak into the residence of Mr Wigworthy undetected and heard him in conversation with a fellow Wizengamot member Marcus Montague."

"They were discussing some sort of operation that they have in France. Semi believes that they are going to visit it soon. He wanted me to notify Jean-Luc that he and his team were likely to be in France on 'official business' shortly." Dave said a little distractedly.

"Something about zis worries you?" I enquired.

"I'm not sure yet. There is something at the back of my mind that is telling me that this isn't a simple smuggling operation as they alluded to in the conversation Semi heard." He replied.

"And no that something at the back of my mind isn't my Grandpa." Dave said with a smile at Gabrielle's amused expression, "He is already convinced that Semi is going to find something significant in France when he tails them." He said with a look of determination on his face. After a moment or two he put that thought aside and turned his attention back to Bill and I.

"Are you two going to join us on or run as well?" Dave asked us with a sly smile on his face.

"Thanks for the offer Dave, but no." Bill answered returning his sly smile.

"Zey are here as zey don't believe zat I'm actually going to go running wiz you." Gabrielle said with a smile at us, "Why else would Bill 'ave put down a doormat charm outside my bedroom door." She said with her smile turning into an evil smirk.

I couldn't help myself I had to laugh at the expression on Bills face, it was adorable.

"Has Dave shown you how to detect a doormat charm has he?" Bill asked sounding impressed.

"Non." Gabrielle replied, "I heard you performing ze charm." She told him sweetly.

"Never give away all your secrets Gabrielle." Dave advised her, "You could have kept him guessing for days before you eventually told him." He said smiling at us all.

At this Bill fixed them both with a slightly annoyed but amused look and remarked, "Why do I get the feeling that the two of you are going to stir up a lot of mischief?"

"Because we are." Gabrielle replied with a cheeky smile for Bill as she stepped over and kissed him on his cheeks before heading out the door.

Dave walked over with a grin on his face also, "Don't worry Bill, I'm not going to kiss you." He said chuckling at the relieved expression on his face, "I wouldn't want to put Fleur out of a job." He remarked as he quickly made his way past us and out the door just before I could swat him.

We followed them outside where I saw Dave give his team the update from Semi. They all listened in silence and accepted the news and Dave's suspicions that Semi might find something significant. Dave advised them that if they had any spare moments at all in the next day or so to ensure that everyone's gear was ready for action at a moment's notice. This too was acknowledged, then Dave indicated for Shelly and Mick to take over.

It was now that I realised that Harry and Ron had indeed joined them again and that Ginny had also come down with them. Shelly paired Ginny and Gabrielle with Fireball and Cassy while Dave and Mick were again paired with Harry and Ron. After this they all headed off for their morning exercise. We watched them go and then we went over to the Burrow to join Molly in the kitchen for breakfast.

"I see you won your bet." Molly said to me as we entered the kitchen.

"Oui." I answered trying not to sound too smug about it.

"She isn't back yet." Bill countered with the air of a man facing defeat.

"She will be." I told him confidently.

"Are you sure?" He asked me.

"Oui." Was my confident answer.

"Why are you so sure?" He wanted to know.

"Shelly placed her right behind Dave. Those running shorts he is wearing are rather snug and that will keep her attention for the duration of the run." I replied with a chuckle. Molly joined in and shared the laugh as well.

We sat in the kitchen and enjoyed our breakfast while the other family members emerged from various rooms in the house. There was the usual enjoyable conversation around the kitchen table this morning, but the topic of why Ginny and Gabrielle had decided to go running was one that frequently came up.

Not all of us bought the idea that the girls wanted to keep their eyes on their boys. There had to be an alternative explanation. George surprised us all by proposing an idea that Ginny wanted to play professional Quidditch, and was using this as an opportunity to get a head start in fitness training.

None of the others bought this idea, but something about it struck me as true. Because no one bought his idea they were all happy to bet against his 20 Galleon bet that she was seriously working towards a professional Quidditch career.

We next tried to deduce Gabrielle's reasons for joining in the running. Here the theories were wild and imaginative. Ranging from she wanted to be an Auror, to she was also looking at a career in playing Quidditch professionally. My own thoughts were focused on a comment made by Shelly around how sorcery taxes the body as much as the mind. That lead me to believe her main goal was to improve her fitness enough so she could better handle the rigors of using Sorcery. Especially given who would likely volunteer to teach it to her. This thought brought a smile to my face which everyone noticed.

When they asked me for the reason behind my smile I happily told them. None of them believed me so it was easy to get them to take on a 20 Galleon bet as that is the reason behind Gabrielle's sudden interest in morning runs.

After this had been 'worked out' the next topic of conversation was around how long the two girls would keep up their morning runs. The best consensus formed was up until they both went back to school. But no one was prepared to make a bet on that. At least until we began to hear the first group of runners returning.

When we could begin to see them coming along the lane we moved to the porch to see the state of the four newcomers.

As expected they were not with the main group, so we went back inside while they went to get washed and dressed. Another 10mins passed before we could hear the next set of arrivals.

As we went outside again we saw Dave, Mick, Harry and Ron arrive. As with yesterday Dave and Mick looked relatively fresh. While Harry and Ron were a little worn out. Dave however complimented them and said that they were doing fine. He sent them inside to go and get cleaned up and to drink some water, while he and Mick took off to do their extra two miles.

I asked how the girls were going and he replied that they were doing well and would be here soon. He wasn't wrong as 2 minutes later the four girls arrived. Ginny and Gabrielle looked very flustered but also determined. Fireball and Cassy also reported that they both did a great job and advised them to get inside to shower and change and to drink plenty of water. They then headed off to do their extra miles as well.

I assisted Gabrielle over to our tent where she was able to get out of her sweaty running gear and under a hot shower. I decided to wait for her to exit the shower before I headed back out as I wanted to check on the state of her legs. When she emerged, they did look a little wobbly but she was also showing a streak of stubbiness that I hadn't noticed before.

"Was it fun?" I asked her with an arched eyebrow.

"Oui." She replied with a naughty little smile.

"I hope you didn't injure yourself by trying to keep up with ze scenery." I enquired with a chuckle. This caused some solid blushing on Gabrielle's part. But she also smiled back at me.

"Come on, get dressed and zen I will help you walk to ze breakfast table." I told her as I noticed her wincing a few times as she walked around the bedroom.

"Merci." She replied gratefully.

I walked with her back to the table in the yard so that she could join the others for Breakfast. When Dave saw her approach, he smiled brilliantly at her and this seemed to give her the strength to finish the journey unaided. When she made it into her seat Dave presented her with some bacon sandwiches, juice and several glasses of water. I do believe that Gabrielle appreciated the gesture, as she ravenously attacked the food and drinks that were provided.

I'm not sure what I expected Dave to do when he saw that display from her (she was very hungry). But he wasn't surprised in the slightest, he happily re-filled her drinks and got her another round of bacon sandwiches also. He offered only one piece of advice to her.

"It isn't a race you know." He chuckled while smiling at her, "Take it easy, let your body relax and enjoy your breakfast." He said with a serious look. Gabrielle acknowledged this advice and settled in to enjoy her breakfast.

After she had finished her second helping Dave got her some more water and asked her, "How are you feeling?"

"My feet are a little sore and I think I have a blister forming on one of them. My legs are also rather stiff." She informed him.

"Both are to be expected." He replied, "After breakfast I can take a look at your feet if you like." He offered and Gabrielle gratefully accepted.

"After we have taken care of your feet it will be best to just keep mobile and do some gentle walking for a while." Dave suggested, "We might even pop over to France earlier than planned. That way you can keep mobile easier, because if you sit down too long your legs might cramp up."

"Ok." Gabrielle agreed as she finished her breakfast and then walked with Dave to his tent.

I quickly finished my breakfast also and followed them. Once in the tent Dave sat her down and removed her shoes to check her feet. Her right foot was rather tender but the left had a decent sized blister on it.

Dave quickly dealt with her right foot and then moved onto her left. Here he healed her blister, but he also told her he wasn't going to fully restore her skin back to what it was before. She gave him a questioning glance at this.

"If you are serious about joining us on our runs each morning, you are going to need to let your feet 'toughen up' a certain amount." He explained, "Otherwise blisters will be a painful reality each day."

"Zat makes sense." Gabrielle agreed.

Dave then rubbed some essence of murtlap into each of her still rather tender feet. I could see from the expression on Gabrielle's face she was greatly enjoying this. After he had done this he helped her get her shoes and socks back on. Gabrielle had a slightly disappointed look on her face at this. When he registered her look, Dave smiled and told her.

"If you are still sore when we get back I will organise a leg massage for you." He offered. Gabrielle gratefully accepted this offer. Although she was clearly disappointed when Dave suggested Shelly or Cassy would be the best ones to ask about that. I tried to hide my smile at the expression she gave Dave behind his back.

Once Gabrielle was back on her feet we collected Maman and then experienced a 'jump' as Dave called it as we all went over to France. I have to admit that I greatly prefer 'jumping' as Dave calls it to apparition. It doesn't have the squeezing feeling that you get with apparition, although the landing is a little more difficult, but not overly so.

We were among the first arrivals at the Viller-Bretonneux Memorial. As we were walking in I asked Dave if he knew how many people were buried here. He advised that in this particular cemetery there were 10,732 Identified Casualties being honoured from many different countries. The numbers were frightening, especially when Dave told us that this cemetery was only one of many scattered throughout France. It was very sobering.

After a few moments to gather our thoughts, Maman indicated to Dave that he should lead the way. At this Dave opened the bag he was carrying and pulled out a map and then headed off (after taking Gabrielle's hand in his that is).

He quickly located the headstone he was after. When he did locate it he just sank to his knees in front of it. He simply looked at it for quite some time. While he was looking at it I took note of what was written on the headstone. It read: 26711 Private, O. H. Vogt, 8TH BN. Australian INF, 12th August 1918

Eventually Dave reached into his bag and retrieved his camera and took several photos of the head stone. He also took some photos of the area surrounding the grave. As he stood up I asked him, "Has anyone from your family been here before?"

"To the best of my knowledge no, they haven't." Dave said with some unshed tears in his eyes, "Grandma was devastated at his loss and could never bring herself to come here. Same for her mum. I think secretly she wanted to, but for many different reasons they couldn't bring themselves to come."

"His wife Jennifer made an attempt to come here, but as she got close to this place she started to get quite hysterical believing she could feel the pain and fear of those who had died in the area. So they had to turn back as they didn't want to upset her any more than she already was."

"I'm hoping that these photos and my memory will be a comfort to them. To see that his final resting place is being well looked after." Dave said in a voice thick with unshed tears as he looked over at us.

Gabrielle went to him and wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly for quite a while.

"Come, let's get you out of 'ere." Gabrielle said to Dave with a gentle smile on her face. Dave nodded by way of reply, and with a final glance at the grave of his Grand Oncle we made our way back to the safe apparition point.

Once there we again 'jumped' with Dave to an apparition point in a group of trees close to one of the main entrances to the Ranville Military Cemetery. When we arrived at the gate Maman presented Dave with a map of the cemetery showing the grave of his Grand Oncle. The look of gratitude in Dave's eyes was extremely heart-warming. He hugged Maman by way of a thank you and then we made our way to the headstone that was marked.

Here we found the headstone of Flight Sergeant G. L. Vogt, 10th June 1944. Once more Dave simply looked at it for a period of time. He then got out his camera and captured several photos of the headstone. When that had been done Maman took us to a Café on the nearby coast that she had been told about by Papa's family.

We settled ourselves in for an enjoyable morning tea. Dave told us some more about his Grand Oncle's and how they ended up in Europe in two different muggle world wars. While we were talking Dave's mirror phone 'rang' as he called it. Seeing who it was he quickly answered. It turned out to be Shelly telling him that the work on the Burrow was now completed and that Mick, Jono and Bill were going to head off to Shell Cottage to begin scouting there.

"Approved." Dave answered Shelly's request, "But as we discussed last night if they find anything they are to call it in and then we will all deal with it together." He instructed. Getting Shelly's agreement, he ended the call and we continued with our morning tea.

Half an hour later Maman was just beginning to tell stories about Gabrielle's first year at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic when Dave's mirror phone rang again. This time when he answered it I could tell it wasn't good news.

His happy and relaxed face had disappeared and in its place, was the cool dispassionate face of an Auror who was on active duty.

"How many?" Dave asked, "He is sure of that?"

"Ok then. Tell everyone to gear up and 'stand to', we are on our way back now. Meeting in my tent, 5 minutes." Dave stated in his professional tone of voice. As soon as we heard that we all began getting ready to move.

"What 'as 'appened?" Maman asked.

"Mick, Jono and Bill went to scout out Shell Cottage." Dave told us, "During their scouting they located three watchers and traces of a bubble." He explained.

"Mick also thinks there are another two watches disguised as either insects of some sort, or maybe a bird." Dave said with a grim face.

All of us had rather grim faces at this news. I was particularly angry that some unknown people were targeting my family and now my own home. We quickly paid our bill and left the café to find a hidden location to make the jump back to The Burrow.

On arrival, we found Shelly, Ivan, Arthur and Harry all in Dave's tent looking at the map displayed on Dave's TV. They were all extremely focused on the map trying to work out the location of the two hidden watchers. Dave glanced at the map very quickly and then headed into his room to get changed. It wasn't long before he was back out dressed once more in his 'work clothes'.

"Talk to me Mick." He requested.

"Syd, we have the three watches marked on the map as you can see." Mick explained, "I have also indicated safe jump points where we can have some visitors drop in to deal with them."

"I can see that. Good work." Dave answered, "What about those two hidden watchers that you mentioned. Any more on them?" He asked.

"Whoever they are Syd, they know what they are doing." Mick explained, "One of them is disguised as a sparrow and is sitting in a tree with several others. The only thing that gives him away is that every so often he is too obvious in how he looks over at the house and its surrounds."

"The other one I think is disguised as an insect and has positioned himself on a tree that is almost alive with the number of insects on it. I haven't been able to pin point him precisely as yet." Mick informed us.

"Ok mate. It sounds like they have taken some care with their watches this time." Dave answered, "Can Jono and Bill take care of the one as a sparrow?" He asked.

"Sure can skipper." Came the reply from Jono.

"All right then. What do you all think of this idea?" Dave asked.

"Team one consisting of Rowdy, Harry and Goose will jump in and take out 'watcher one' as marked on the map."

"Team two consisting of Guz, Olly and Charlie will jump in and take out 'watcher two' as marked on the map."

"Team three consisting of Abby, Ron and Cassy will jump in and take out 'watcher three' as marked on the map."

"As those three teams make their move, Bill and Jono will take down the watcher hidden as a sparrow. I will jump in next to you Mick and we will stun everything on that tree and then put a shield on it in case we miss something." Dave explained.

"While we are doing that Team 4 which will consist of Arthur, Dad and George will Apparate in and join up with Bill. Once the sparrow has been dealt with Team 4 will cover Bill while he checks the suspected bubble that Mick located. If it is indeed incomplete, then they will take on overwatch duties on their side of Shell Cottage and ensure that nothing surprises us from behind."

"Team 5 consisting of Shelly, Fireball, Molly, Audrey and Mum will Apparate to the far side of Shell cottage and secure that area. That will also put them in a good position should the bug get away from me and Mick and Make a run for it. They will also perform overwatch on their side of Shell Cottage."

"Team 6 will be Fleur, Gabrielle and Monsieur and Madam Delacour, they will Apparate direct to Shell Cottage and be in a position to setup shields on the cottage in the event that any Dementors appear. I'm sure you know the shields I'm talking about? Dave asked us.

"Oui. We do." I told him.

"Team Seven will be Ginny, Hermione, Izzy and Percy. You will also go to Shell cottage with Team 6. Your role will be to put up Patronus shields if Dementors appear." Dave told us.

"If Mick and I do miss the bug that is on the tree, Jono will join us and the three of us will change our forms and track them down."

"If that occurs and we have no Dementors then Abby, you put up as big a shield as practical to cover any and all forms of magical transport over the area." Dave said looking directly at Abby.

"Will do Syd." She answered.

"Teams 1 and 2 you will perform the usual 'leap frog' duties in terms of overlapping shields to ensure that our little bug is always covered and can't Apparate or similar." Dave instructed. Getting nods of agreement from those teams.

"If no Dementors are on the scene and we do have a chase on our hands. Team 6 you will be over watch for Team 1 while they maintain their shields. Team 7 you will do the same for Team 2 and Team 4 you will do that for Team 3. You are to keep each other in sight at all times and stay in touch also."

"Team 5 if the other teams do need to head off on a chase you are to keep Shell Cottage secure. You will also be reserve in case we need one."

"Any questions?" Dave asked us as he looked around, "Suggestions?" he asked when he got no questions.

"Drunkmouse, surely you have something to add?" Dave said with a smile to the mirror phone that was on the table.

"Not at this time Syd." Was the reply, "I have alerted the Hotel de France to expect some guests soon." He added.

"Thanks mate." Dave replied, "Now those of you not yet in your bunyip fur I strongly suggest you go and get that taken care of quickly. I will collect some extra belts while you are doing that." Dave advised.

We all quickly made our way to our rooms and got changed in a hurry. I was pleasantly surprised that the bunyip fur garments were indeed quite comfortable. I only hoped that I wouldn't need to test their capabilities personally.

When we were all back in the tent Dave checked that everyone was suitably attired and had their belts and ear pieces in. He then advised Drunkmouse that we were heading to the main Apparition point. When there he confirmed that we could all hear each other and that we knew where we were going. We all indicated that we could and we did.

"Ok then. We Apparate on the count of three." He advised, "One, two, three." And we all Apparated.

When we arrived at Shell Cottage I very quickly heard several sets of calls telling us that the three watchers were down and cuffed. The watcher disguised as a sparrow was also taken care of by Bill. However, the one that had disguised themselves as an insect had taken flight at the sound of the apparition pops along with all the other insects.

Seeing this Abby threw up a very large shield very quickly.

Mick, Jono and Dave quickly cast some shields and stunners at the cloud on bugs. But it was too late, as too many of them had gotten airborne. Mick then cast some odd sort of purple spell that seemed to cover a wide area around him.

One bug fell from the sky and started to change form on the way down. As the bug fell it looked as though it had changed into a mouse. Dave and Jono quickly changed into a pair of wolves, and were off after it. Mick changed into an odd looking reddish golden coloured dog and took off as well.

I heard Ginny call out over our ear pieces that they were chasing a mouse to the far side of the house. I then checked on Bill's team who were checking the bubble, they confirmed that it wasn't complete and we had no sightings of Dementors. So, I then quickly ran to the other side of the house just in time to see the mouse round the corner of the house with the two wolves and Mick's dog in hot pursuit. As the mouse cleared a small bush I had recently planted four stunners greeted it almost at the same time.

The mouse didn't have a hope. It flew backwards when it was hit and crashed right into a very surprised Jono. His reflexes were very good as he managed to catch it in his jaws and then he quickly changed form and forced the mouse to revert to its natural form as well.

The person who it changed into was very quickly pinned by Jono while Dave cuffed him. They then stood back and watched him be taken by port key to France.

"Good shooting Aunty Molly." Dave exclaimed with a smile after he had stood up from the prisoner. Molly beamed back at him.

"All teams check in" Dave requested.

All the teams checked in with no injuries, which was a relief.

"Great work everyone." Dave told them, "Fleur, Bill, Molly and Cassy can you all check the inside of Shell Cottage. While Mick, Jono, Guz and Goose check the surrounds with some volunteers." Dave ordered.

In a very short space of time the house itself and the surrounds were pronounced clear of any intruders. We were all very relieved by this news.

"Ok, seeing as we are all here anyway. How about we get started on securing Shell Cottage?" Dave asked us all.

Everyone readily agreed, so they began to divide up into the same groups as they had done at the burrow. Before everyone headed off Dave spoke up.

"This time I would like our hosts to take the lead in getting the various charms setup." He requested, "This way they will get familiar with them quicker and will be better able to reset anything if required." He explained.

"Objections?" He asked. When he got none, he called Bill over before he headed off with Mick and Jono.

"Would you both like me to configure a door way here for you?" Dave asked us, "It will give you a few different benefits if we do."

"The biggest benefit will be a doorway will give you an alternate means of exiting, or calling in assistance if you need it. As while they can be shielded against they are often overlooked in this part of the world. Given that they are more common in Asia than in Europe." He explained.

"Your door can also be linked to any other permanent door. Provided the owner of the master key for the other door agrees. I'm fairly sure that Molly and Arthur will agree to have your door linked with theirs." He chuckled, "When keys are linked like that anyone who owns a key so linked can use the door even if they are unable to create one themselves."

"We could even link your doorway to Fleur's parents place if they desire to have one also."

"Another benefit would be it will make it very difficult for anyone else to send a doorway close to your house. As a permanent doorway will act like a magnet to any other doorways as they begin to appear. Given that your door would also be a secured door anyone on the other end would not be able to travel through it." He added in a grin.

"Is this agreeable to you both?" He asked us.

"It certainly is." Bill remarked with a smile on his face. Dave readily returned it and looked to me. "I have non objections." I told him happily.

"Excellent." Dave replied, "Let's go and find a suitable door inside to use. It will need to be one where you don't have any plants or animals on the other side of it. As you do NOT want to be on the wrong side of a doorway." He added.

"What would happen if you were?" Bill asked him.

"The most common result is blindness and madness." Dave said seriously, "As to what you would apparently see, it would be reality turned in on itself and the human mind isn't prepared to deal with that sort of thing." He explained.

"I see." Bill said a little shaken.

We quickly made our way into the house and as with the Burrow we ended up selecting the scullery door to use. Dave repeated his actions from the Burrow and produced an ornate lock on the door.

He then withdrew the key looked at it for a few moments and put it back. Turning the key he opened the door. Once more we saw a large kitchen and family dining room overlooking a night shrouded coastline.

"It appears to work." He stated happily.

"Ez zat your 'ome?" I asked him.

"It's my parents place." Dave answered, "My own house isn't finished as yet. As since Emma passed away I kind of didn't see the point anymore." Dave said in a small voice as he looked through the window to the beach beyond.

"I'm sorry." I told him, "I didn't realise."

"No need to be sorry." Dave answered me with a small smile, "I have been travelling so much lately it wouldn't have mattered very much anyway. As most of the time that I do get to visit it, I spend it in the library searching for information." He said with a rueful smile.

With that he closed the door and asked us to both remove the key from the lock. As with Molly and Arthur we each had a key in our hands.

"It's now done and secured." Dave said happily, "When we catch up to Uncle Arthur and Aunty Molly at lunch time we can link your keys then."

"Agreed." We both said hugging Dave by way of thanks.

With that we all went off to work with the various groups who were working on better securing our home. With the extra hands of Ivan, Sandra, Dave, Shelly, Audrey, Maman, Papa, Gabrielle and I the work was progressing much faster than it had done at The Burrow. A fact that Fireball commented on frequently to Dave's annoyance and her enjoyment.

Eventually the finishing touches were being applied to the new security that had been installed. As Dave, Bill and Shelly were connecting the cameras to the recording device and the "TV" that they had placed in the lounge the subject of lunch came up. Unsurprisingly Ron and Jono were the ones who raised it.

Maman and Papa suggested we get lunch from a wonderful restaurant that they knew in Normandy and bring it back here to enjoy. As it was a lovely day and we had the beach all to ourselves. Shelly and Cassy immediately offered to take Maman and Papa to the restaurant to collect the food. Ron and Jono were also very quick to offer their services to help carry it back. With the agreement of the rest of us to the plan that group departed for France while the rest of us got table and chairs setup on the lawn near the house.

That work didn't take very long and once completed everyone just sort of dispersed to either find somewhere quiet to sit or to go exploring. Bill and I found ourselves seated on the grass with Molly & Arthur and Ivan & Sandra. Ivan & Sandra were showing us how to use the security cameras that had been installed around our homes. Sandra had the cameras from our house showing on her mirror phone, while Ivan had the ones from the Burrow showing on his.

It was remarkable to be able to view the surrounds of our home like this. The different groups as they walked around gave us the chance to see how well the cameras picked up people as well. Harry and Ginny were over at Dobby's grave, Harry looked like he had been crying and Ginny was doing her best to comfort him.

We noticed Dave and Gabrielle were both down on the beach. Their shoes and what looked to be their socks also were in a neat pile above the high tide mark and they were walking hand in hand in the water. Eventually they stopped and faced each other and kissed a few times. After this Gabrielle seemed to take charge of the conversation and the next thing we knew it looked like she was beginning to teach Dave a few simple dance steps.

This gave us all some laughs.

"It appears that she really does intend to try and teach him to dance after all." Sandra said with a brilliant smile on her face.

"Oui." I answered with a smile of my own, "She has always enjoyed dancing and is very good at it. But I'm not sure if she has had to teach someone as 'challenged' as Dave though." I chuckled.

"She is a brave girl." Ivan stated confidently, "I will give her that."

While we were watching Gabrielle's attempts to teach Dave we noticed two more people enter the picture. They were very quickly identified as Ginny and Harry. Harry looked to be a little self-conscious but Ginny seemed to have a determined stance about her. Seeing this Molly bean to laugh.

"Do you know something we don't about this?" Sandra asked her sister.

"I do indeed." Molly answered with a smug smile on her face, "When she witnessed Gabrielle's offer to teach Dave to dance, it gave Ginny an idea. Apparently, Harry's efforts at dancing during the yule ball for the tri-wizard tournament were 'less than Steller' according to her description of the event." Molly remarked still smiling.

"She mentioned that if Gabrielle was indeed brave enough to try and teach Dave she was going to see if she could convince her to try and help Harry with his dancing as well."

"From what we are seeing it does indeed look like she is putting her plan into action." Molly said with a brilliant smile on her face, "I do know that Ginny loves to dance and the chance to learn it 'properly' especially with Harry as her dance partner would be like a dream for her."

This made us all smile as we watched the scene play out in front of us. Gabrielle soon had everyone out of the water and she was drawing on the sand some guides as to where people should be placing their feet. Both Dave and Harry were concentrating very hard on where they were supposed to be putting their feet. To the extent that we could see both Ginny and Gabrielle frequently reach out and lift their heads up to remind them that they needed to keep their eyes on their partners also.

We were still watching the impromptu dance lessons when the others arrived back from France with lunch. Maman and Papa thought that the scene on the beach as adorable and couldn't help but smile at it.

It was with reluctance that we broke up the dance lessons as we called everyone in for lunch. Both Gabrielle and Ginny had smug little smiles on their faces when they returned. Dave and Harry on the other hand still looked like they were trying to remember the dance steps that they had just been shown.

"How are your toes?" Fireball asked Gabrielle with an evil glint in her eyes.

"Still intact." She answered proudly looking fondly over at Dave who was looking a little embarrassed, but he still returned her smile.

"How about you Ginny?" Fireball asked, "Your toes still all in one piece?" She asked with a grin.

"So far." Ginny replied with an evil smirk to Harry who chuckled under his breath at something that no one could make out.

Fireball seemed a little disappointed that there had been no incidents in the first round of Dance lessons. It didn't however stop her from regaling Gabrielle (and everyone else) about some of Dave's 'incidents' over the years while trying to dance at various family functions. Everyone enjoyed the stories, but I'm certain that Dave's sole enjoyment was seeing Gabrielle's laughter at them. This was the main topic of conversation during our latish lunch.

It was a very enjoyable event and even the washing up was quickly taken care of with all the extra hands that were available. While we were putting away the dishes Dave's Mirror Phone rang. As soon as he looked at it I was sure something was up as the expression on Dave's face was just wrong. That's the only way I could think to describe it. When he answered the phone he quickly excused himself outside. I looked around every member of Dave's team who was present in the room when the phone rang were watching him intently. It was like they were expecting immediate orders for action.

At one point Dave turned back to look at the house and saw the crowd watching him. He acknowledged their stares but he was also looking for someone. Eventually he spotted his father and his face just went kind of blank, Ivan's face did the same. When that happened, I was sure I could hear voices just out of reach talking, those voices disappeared once Dave's face lost that blank look.

When Ivan lost his own blank look he immediately asked where Arthur was. It turned out he was in the lounge and the two of them quickly joined Dave outside. This event brought more people into the kitchen and lounge where we could watch the goings on outside. The conversation outside seemed to be a rather grim one judging from the faces of those three. This was confirmed by Molly when she next spoke.

"It has been quite a while since I have seen Arthur that angry." She told us with a worried look of her own, "Either something very bad has happened or is about to." She added.

Before we had a chance to ask her what she meant by this the three were coming back into the kitchen.

"What's happened?" Sandra asked Ivan.

"Call the others in right now." Ivan ordered Guz who was closest to the door on the far side of the cottage. He quickly complied and we could hear his big booming voice calling the others to the cottage.

The remaining members of Dave's team were very quickly inside our now very crowded home. When they were inside all eyes turned to Dave who still had a very grim expression on his face.

"To answer the questions, I can see on all of your faces, that phone call was from Torquemada." He explained. This got a strong reaction from Dave's team and family.

"Torquemada's team have managed to extract some high priority information from one of the guests that we sent them earlier. In fact, I believe it was the 'watcher' who was disguised as the sparrow that Bill caught." Dave said with a half-smile at Bill.

"This person has told Torquemada personally." At this comment, Dave paused to let that bit of information sink in, "That they were hired to participate in an assassination attempt tomorrow at the Ministry."

This caused quite a stir from all assembled and it was quite noisy for a few moments. Dave held up his hand and quiet was gradually restored to the room.

"Torquemada's guest didn't have any information on the target of the assassination. But given that tomorrow is the 'formal meeting' between the British Minister of Magic and the Australian Minister that is two very high profile targets right there."

"Uncle Arthur tells me that he and Aunty Molly were also planning on being in the Ministry for the formal greeting between the two ministers also. So that adds a third target." He stated.

"With this in mind we are going to need to work out a co-ordinated plan to deal with any attempt that takes place. This means that we need to get Gawain, Chief Williams and Kingsley all together urgently. Uncle Arthur has offered the Burrow as the best place for this as it has more room and I'm sure you will all want to be in on the planning." He said with a small smile.

There were murmurs of agreement at that last statement from all concerned.

"Ok then. Rowdy, Goose and Guz you three will go to our embassy with Uncle Arthur to collect Chief Williams. Once you have him bring him up to speed on what we have just learnt. Then ALL of you will head to the ministry to collect Kingsley and bring him to the Burrow. When you leave the embassy, make sure you all 'have a different face' as we don't want you three to be known just yet." Dave ordered.

"But don't head directly to the Burrow from the ministry, make a few 'stops' along the way." He said with a predatory grin. The three of them returned the grin at Dave and I had a feeling that whatever the 'stops' were that he had hinted at were not simple apparition points.

"Shelly, Cassy, and Izzy you three will need to jump over to France to collect Gawain Roberts. Please give him my most sincere apologies for interrupting his time with his wife. But we need him in his official capacity at the Burrow for this to have any chance. Advise him on what we have learnt and this will let him know that we are not doing this lightly." Dave ordered them. They quickly agreed. "While you're there grab some more bunyip fur armour (boys and girls) and ear pieces, also see if the new Mirror Phones have arrived as yet." He requested.

"Thank you all." Dave replied, "Bill can we borrow your door for a few moments?" Dave asked.

"Certainly, you can." Bill said as he moved to unlock it.

"Dad can you use your key to send the first group into your quarters at the Embassy?" Dave asked him.

"Of course." Ivan replied as he used his key in our door and opened it upon a rather formal looking lounge area. Rowdy, Goose, Guz and Arthur quickly went through the door and it was closed behind them.

Dave then stepped up and put his own key into the door and opened it onto a formal looking reception area. I did notice that as soon as the door was opened several people were facing it with their wands drawn.

"Bloody Drongos" Dave called into the room. This struck me as rather odd until I saw the smiles on the faces of the wizards in the other room. It must have been a password of some sort, as they all put away their wands and stood at attention when they heard it.

"Can one of you lot help Shelly track down Gawain Roberts." Dave asked the group.

"I can." A slender looking person answered, "I just came from his cabin a short time ago."

"Thanks George." Dave said as he stepped away from the door and let Shelly, Cassy and Izzy through. He then quickly closed the door and turned to Molly.

"Do you want to open the door to the Burrow?" He asked her with a small smile, "It will be good practise." He added with a larger smile.

"I must admit that I am eager to try it out." Molly answered excitedly.

"Ok then step right up here." Dave instructed, "Put your key in the lock. As you turn it to the left just think about the Burrow. When you feel the lock click the door is ready to be opened." He explained.

Molly stepped up to the door and put her key in as instructed. She turned her key to the left and then opened the door. The look on her face when she saw her own kitchen in front of her was absolutely adorable. Everyone had to smile when they saw it. She was delighted.

"Excellent." Dave said with his own beaming smile in place, "Remove your key and step on through."

Molly did so and everyone else followed suit. When it was just Dave, Bill and I in the kitchen at Shell cottage Dave turned to Bill.

"To lock the door behind us, put your key in and turn it to the right till it clicks. Then return it to the centre and remove your key." He instructed.

Bill nodded and performed the task. We all then stepped through and Bill pulled the door closed behind us. When he next opened it there was only the Burrows scullery behind it.

"It's quicker than travel by Floo." He said with a smile on his face.

"Definitely." Dave agreed with a smile, "A lot less messy also." He added.

"Both the Chinese and the Indians claim credit for first creating this sort of travel. But whoever it was they deserve a medal in my opinion." Dave said with a grin.

"Let's get things ready for when the others get here." He suggested.

"Agreed." We all answered.


	38. New and Old Friends

We all headed into the lounge which was now fitted with a 'TV' just like the one in Dave's tent. It looked very strange to me to be in the room that I had grown to love and enjoy so much during my time with and then as a part of the Weasley family. But even after only a few movie nights in Dave's tent I could also see it becoming a great source of enjoyment for the family.

As he got to the TV unit Dave tapped his mirror phone to it and then pressed a few buttons. Soon we were looking at a floor plan of the main foyer of the British Ministry of Magic.

"Nice floor plan Drunkmouse." Dave exclaimed with a smile, "Is that the most recent one on file?" He asked.

"That it is Syd." Drunkmouse answered.

"Thanks mate. When the others get here we will ask Kingsley to describe how it is going to be configured for tomorrow's activities." Dave answered.

Dave looked like he was about to say more when he was grabbed from behind turned around and engulfed in a rather large hug. He must have had an idea of who it was as he had a strange smile on his face at the event. When he was eventually released from the hug he faced his 'attacker'.

"I take it that everyone is happy and healthy then?" Dave asked a still rather emotional Gawain Roberts.

"Yes, they are, thanks to you and your team." Gawain said with unshed tears in his eyes, "I can't thank you all enough for what you did." He added in a voice still thick with emotion.

"There is no need to." Dave said with a friendly smile for Gawain, "It was a team effort from us all. We just wish we had known earlier what was up. You play your cards very close to your chest mate."

"Even with our bugs in your office it still took almost a month to get out of you what exactly had happened. After that it was only a matter of figuring out where she was being kept."

"But once we knew, there was no way we could in good conscience do nothing to help her, and you." Dave stated as he and Gawain shared a very warm and solid handshake.

"What do you mean 'bugs in my office'?" Gawain asked his face full of curiosity.

With an almost embarrassed smirk on his face Dave spoke to the TV, "Drunkmouse could you put up on the screen the feed from Gawain's office in the ministry?"

"Coming up now Syd." Was the reply from the TV. The picture soon changed to that of an office with a rather cluttered desk and several sets of filing cabinets around the edge of the room.

The expressions on Gawain's face were rapidly changing between the emotions of wonder, shock, anger and disbelief.

"You are telling me that you can see and hear everything taking place with in my office?" He asked unsure if he should be angry or impressed.

"Yes. But it isn't just your office, we have most of the Auror Office bugged, along with the office of the Director of MLE. The chief assistant to the Minister. Some of the Wizengamot offices, almost all the Ministry Tea Rooms along with the Café down stairs." Dave explained a little sheepishly.

"How?" Gawain asked as his professional curiosity won out.

"I do believe that is one of the things that we will be teaching you and your team." Dave added with a sly smirk, "We could make it part of the training. A 'scavenger hunt' across the Ministry offices to see if they can locate all of our bugs as well as a few from some local criminal organisations." Dave suggested.

Gawain had an odd little smile on his face at this new information. He was still staring at the screen when Arthur, Kingsley, Chief Williams, Rowdy, Goose and Guz walked in.

"That looks just like Gawain's office." Kingsley exclaimed in surprise.

"Correct Minister." Dave answered, "It is Gawain's office." He chuckled, he then tapped a few times on his mirror phone and the view changed.

"That's the main floor of the Auror Office." Kingsley remarked as he went a little pale seeing a few of his Aurors walking around and hearing some of the conversations. Dave then tapped the screen on his Mirror Phone again, this time the picture changed to show the desk of his personal assistant who was working on the weekend preparing for the visit tomorrow of Ivan and his formal delegation.

"Looks like he is editing your speech there Kingsley." Dave said rather amused, "Would you like us to make a copy of it for you so you can practise it?" He asked with an evil smirk on his face.

Kingsley fixed him with a look of resignation and asked, "Is that how you got my personal schedule?"

Dave glanced to Ivan, I'm guessing to obtain permission to disclose that bit of information. Ivan nodded his agreement while struggling to contain a smile.

"No Minister actually it isn't." Dave answered, "We got your schedule as we are on the mailing list to be notified about changes to it." He explained.

"What?" Kingsley blurted, "How?" He asked.

"You never questioned the existence of 'The Minister's Office of Public Excuses and Cover ups' and why they needed to know about your personal schedule?" Dave enquired.

Kingsley looked completely gobsmacked, "I thought that the idea of that office for the previous Ministers was certainly a good one." He admitted shamefacedly, "Personally I was hoping to never have to use their services. But then again you never know, do you." He said with a sly grin at Dave.

"So, you are telling me that they are not a real office in the Ministry then?" He enquired.

"They are a 'real office' in your Ministry. They have however only been in existence since we arrived in the country." Dave explained with a sly smile.

"It is a rather small office seeing as lately it has only really been Percy running it." Dave admitted with a shy grin, "Lots of other government departments and offices didn't know about the office either. However, as the bureaucratic mind doesn't like to admit that they are uninformed about ANY office relating to the Minister no one challenged the existence of our newly formed office."

"This was even more true when word got around about how 'helpful' we could be in covering up both the minister's mistakes as well as their own, they ALL became VERY helpful in terms of supplying us with information." Dave disclosed while looking a little embarrassed.

"I think I'm going to have to amend a few mailing lists in the ministry." Kingsley decided while regarding Dave with a look of amused wariness, "I'm beginning to see why you said our Ministry 'leaks information like a strainer leaks water' when we first met."

Dave only grinned by way of reply.

"Any other surprises that I should know about?" Kingsley asked Dave a little worriedly.

"Not at this point in time minister." Dave answered evasively.

"Have Uncle Arthur and Chief Williams brought you up to speed on what we have recently learned?" Dave asked Kingsley.

"No, they haven't." Kingsley replied, "They only mentioned that it was urgent and that it shouldn't be discussed in the Ministry Offices."

On hearing this Dave looked to his father with a question on his face. Ivan cleared his throat and Kingsley turned to face him with a questioning look on his face.

"Earlier today we captured a group of 'watchers' who were carrying out surveillance on Bill and Fleur's home." Ivan explained, "During interrogation one of the people who was captured informed us that he was hired to participate in an assassination attempt tomorrow at the Ministry."

Kingsley face went pale and then flushed with anger at this statement. Chief Roberts and Chief Williams were in a similar state themselves.

"The information that has so far been extracted from this person leads us to believe that he was hired as either a distraction or what the muggles call 'cannon fodder'. As the information that he does have leads us to believe he isn't part of the main attempt."

"Given the number of high profile targets who are going to be in your Ministry tomorrow we thought it best to bring you and Gawain in to organise a planned response to this probability." Ivan suggested.

"Agreed." Kingsley replied in an emotionless voice, "Do we know as yet who hired the person you have captured?" Kingsley asked.

"No, we don't." Ivan answered, "He himself doesn't seem to know either. As the people who hired him went to great lengths to keep their identities secret."

"Do you have a full list of the attendees at tomorrow's event?" Gawain asked Kingsley.

"I do indeed." Kingsley replied as he placed a sheet of parchment on the table for all to see.

"Why is the MACUSA Ambassador on this list?" Gawain asked, moments before Ivan was about to ask the same question.

Kingsley smiled when he heard this question, "He requested to attend, as apparently the two of you are 'old friends' as he explained it to me." Kingsley informed Ivan. Ivan only looked at Kingsley with a confused look.

"I'm not sure who the current MACUSA Ambassador is to the UK so I couldn't say one way or the other." Ivan replied still with the confused expression on his face.

"He tells me that he got to know you when he was the Legal Attaché in the MACUSA Embassy in Australia and you were the Director of M.L.E." Kingsley explained to a still confused Ivan.

"Does the name Theodore Edmund Fontaine mean anything to you?" Kingsley asked.

Hearing this Ivan's face lit up with a brilliant smile, then he and Sandra both began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Kingsley wanted to know.

"He wasn't pulling your leg Kingsley." Ivan said as he wiped away a few stray tears, "I do indeed know him and his family quite well."

"It's just that when he left Australia last year he feared that he was going to be offered an Ambassadors position some place." Ivan said still struggling to contain his laughter, "He was dead set against accepting such a role as he isn't one for 'diplomatic niceties'."

"That's probably why the two of you always got along so well." Sandra remarked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I wouldn't bet against that." Ivan chuckled, "He also had a rather large bet with his wife that he could wangle his way out of any Ambassadors position that he was likely to be offered. As he is very good mates with Samuel Quahog, the Head of the MACUSA's Department of International Magical Co-operation."

"He was so sure that Sam would 'save him' from any such offer that he bet his wife, that in the event of him ever getting such a position he would take her to dinner in Paris once a month for an entire year." Ivan said with a rather large smile on his face. The rest of us had a laugh at his news.

"Doesn't she have that same bet with you?" Sandra asked Ivan with a cheeky twinkle in her eyes.

"Why would she bet with you about her husband becoming an Ambassador?" Kingsley asked with a degree of confusion.

"Our bet isn't about her husband being an Ambassador." Ivan remarked with a rueful smile, "But the 'prize' of the bet is indeed Dinner in Paris. But not every month." He chuckled.

"What's your bet with her about then?" Molly asked.

"The bet is about whether or not we are indeed related." Ivan explained with an amused expression, "As she is positive that our family trees are connected somehow."

Everyone was a little surprised by this statement, none more so than Harry. Seeing the look on Harry's face, Ivan explained further. "I told you when we first met Harry that I and my father had been told many times over the years that we bore a striking resemblance to one family or another."

"Yes, you did." Harry agreed.

"Well Ted's wife is one of the most incessant in her claim that we are indeed members of her family." Ivan told him, "She has her family tree traced all the way back to about 1655. In that time, virtually her entire family have been in America. No one left to go elsewhere and she hasn't been able to find any recent links to the UK. Even with all that she is still convinced of a link between our family trees."

"She even has her own dedicated research staff that are looking into her family tree as she is fascinated with her family history. Even more so than my dad was with your family." Ivan remarked warmly.

"She is adorable in her determination and drive to find out one way or another. But I do believe she is barking up the 'wrong tree' as they say." He said with a chuckle at his own joke.

"That joke is still as bad as when your dad first tried it on." Sandra told him with a smirk of her own. There were a few sets of chuckles at this comment.

"She thinks that you are part of the Fontaine family?" Hermione asked.

"No, she doesn't think that we are part of her husband's family." Ivan replied, "She thinks we are part of her birth family."

"Which family is that?" Hermione asked.

"Potter." Sandra replied with an amused look at the expression on Harry's face.

"Potter?" Harry asked bewildered, "Are you sure?" He asked hopefully.

"Extremely." Ivan replied, "She has her family tree traced back to one Abraham Potter. He was apparently one of the original twelve Aurors in MACUSA when it first formed back in 1693." Ivan explained to an extremely surprised group of people.

"When she first proposed her thoughts on this link it caused a bit of friction with my father." Ivan said sadly, "As at the time the thought of any link to ANY Potter family was rather painful for him. But Kat can be rather insistent and she eventually wore him down and brought him around. Especially when she got him to understand that her family wasn't in the UK at the time of his encounter with the Potter's there." Ivan explained.

"Why does she believe so strongly in a link between your families?" Harry asked eager for the information.

"I'll let her explain that to you Harry." Ivan said as he smiled warmly at Harry, "If I explained her hypothesis to you and robbed her of the chance she would never forgive me." He chuckled.

"Too right she wouldn't." Sandra agreed still showing her amusement, "Neither would any of her sisters." She added with an evil smirk.

"Don't remind me." Ivan said with a rueful smile and a shake of his head.

"If Ted was planning on being at your Ministry tomorrow anyway, I do think we should let him know about this assassination attempt that we have uncovered." Ivan explained to Kingsley, "At the very least he will want to let his own protective detail know about it if he still decides to attend."

"We might even be able to get him to assist with our plans." Ivan said as a certain wicked light entered his eyes, "Ted used to be an Auror in his younger days and he is one of the best duellists that I have ever seen."

"Would it be ok with you Arthur and Molly if I extended an invitation to him to meet with us here?" Ivan asked them both.

"It certainly is." Arthur replied after a quick glance to Molly.

"If he is willing to help, I won't say no to more friendly assistance." Gawain offered.

"Me neither." Chief Williams agreed, "I remember 'playing' with him back home at the academy on a few occasions." He recalled with a small smile at the memories.

"I don't have any objections either." Kingsley offered, "As long as the choice is his." He suggested.

"Always." Ivan replied, "I wouldn't try to pull the wool over his eyes on something like this." Ivan said as he began checking his pockets for the pen and paper that he eventually brought out. He quickly wrote a brief note and signed it, then placed it in a very formal looking envelope. This he then handed to Dave.

"Take that and deliver it to the MACUSA embassy. Tell them who it is from and that it is 'eyes only' to the Ambassador." He ordered Dave.

Dave stood to attention and snapped his heals together. He then quickly 'changed' back into the body of 'John Citizen' that he had been wearing when we first met him. With a quick smile to Gabrielle (she was a little surprised at this, but she happily returned his smile) he grabbed Guz and the two of them exited the Burrow and made for the Apparition point.

"Why did he change like that?" Harry asked as he watched Dave and Guz disappear from the Apparition point.

"It makes it easier for him to move about in public." Ivan explained, "When he was first over here he would often have trouble being in public as he frequently attracted a lot of… let's call it attention."

"Or you could call it crowds of girl's wanting his autograph, or a photo with him." Fireball added while happily chuckling away, "It drove him more than a little nuts." She said as she laughed to herself. Gabrielle had an amused smile on her face at this news also.

"Is that what happened?" Ginny asked her face alight with mischief, "It's not how he described it to us when we first met him." She said with an evil grin.

"How did he describe it?" Sandra asked.

"He said something like 'When I was spotted a mob quickly formed' to explain why he wasn't himself." Ginny told them.

"A mob?" Fireball remarked, "I can't wait to tell that one to Grandma. She will have a fit." She said with a laugh.

"Jasper, play nice." Sandra chided her.

"I am mum. I am." She replied.

"If the girls are finished with their schemes?" Ivan asked as he gave them both rather amused looks, "At first he thought it was his height brining all this attention, so he made himself to be only six feet tall."

"This only made the problem worse." Ivan said with a chuckle, "I still remember some of the descriptions that Jimmy wrote about incidents that happened." Ivan recalled chuckling at the memory.

"For some reason, Dave was a little stubborn about wearing a 'different body full time', but once we convinced him of it the issue was resolved and he had much more freedom to move around in public."

"He still hasn't realised the reason behind it?" Harry asked looking slightly amused at the situation.

"Nope." Shelly said with a straight face at Harry. But eventually they both began to grin almost uncontrollably.

Grins were beginning to spread around the room (except for Ivan who was wondering what they were all smiling at), when we heard some knocking coming from the door to the scullery.

"Auror Syd, requesting entry." Came the voice on the other side of the door, "I have with me the MACUSA Ambassador to the UK and his wife." He stated.

When he heard this Arthur quickly went over to the door and inserted his key and then opened it. On the other side were Dave and Guz, directly behind them was a very surprised looking man and woman. The man had the polished look one would expect from a professional diplomat, but there was also something around his eyes that indicated a tendency for mischief.

The woman on the other hand looked like someone who had only recently escaped from a well-loved library. Her eyes were a delight. They were so open and friendly, while being penetrating and curious at the same time. Her face was one that you couldn't help but smile at, especially when she was smiling (which was often).

When Dave and Guz cleared the door the two on the other side could clearly see Ivan and Sandra. The man immediately crossed to Ivan and embraced him warmly.

"It's so good to see you again Ivan." The Ambassador greeted Ivan, "I was so deeply saddened to hear about James. It was a great loss to the wizarding world his passing." He said to Ivan while holding him by the shoulders and regarding him with genuine affection.

"It is always good to see you also Ted." Ivan replied with a smile, "I thank you for your thoughts on Jimmy. I also certainly appreciated the letter that you sent when you heard about his death."

"We both did." Ivan remarked with a glance at his wife. Sandra came over and also warmly embraced the Ambassador.

While she was doing so, the woman approached Ivan and wordlessly held her arms out to him and embraced him warmly.

"You have my deepest sympathies over the loss of your wonderful little boy." She said to Ivan as she wiped away a tear from her eyes, "I almost didn't recognise him when he turned up at the Embassy last year, with an offer of extraction for us."

With that she turned and quickly embraced Sandra as well, "You also my special lady." She said with a smile, "I have certainly missed you since we left Australia. While your letters have been lovely they're nothing compared to you."

"Thank you, Kat." Sandra replied, "I have certainly missed you also. Our 'girls' nights' just haven't been the same without you." She said with a slightly naughty giggle.

After these obviously old friends had greeted each other Ivan and Sandra quickly introduced them to Arthur and Molly. They were both delighted to meet each other, Kat (as Sandra called her) was over joyed to hear that Molly was Sandra's little sister. She was also thrilled to meet Molly's family. Everyone was warmly welcomed on both sides.

Kat was especially delighted to meet my Bill, especially after she found out that he was the 'Bombshell' that she had heard mentioned so many times in Nat's stories. Poor Bill was beginning to get an understanding of Harry's views on celebrity status. It was very amusing to watch.

When I was introduced to them both I immediately found myself liking them both. They were hard not to like and their obvious enjoyment at meeting friends and family of Ivan and Sandra was infectious.

Ivan introduced Kingsley who they had both heard of but never officially met as yet.

"I certainly hope that you last longer and have a safer end, than the previous holders of your office." The Ambassador chuckled to Kingsley.

"Thank you, Ambassador, I certainly plan on achieving that goal myself." Kingsley chuckled by way of reply.

Molly then introduced Hermione who was also warmly greeted by them both. As she went to introduce Harry though Kat squealed with delight when she laid eyes on him.

"Oh… He IS a true Potter." She said with a delightful smile on her face. This of course completely confused Harry and his look of bafflement only served to encourage her more.

"That expression is oh so familiar as well." She exclaimed joyfully, "It must be programmed into the Potter boy's at birth."

"Excuse me, what do you mean 'a true Potter'?" Harry asked her as he tried to make sense of her comment.

"Hair that rampageous can only be found in the male Potter's of my family, young man." She chuckled to Harry, "All the boys in my family have had hair like that. It didn't matter what colour hair it was or how much or how little they had. Their hair was a glorious monument to disorder and chaos." She said as she regarded Harry fondly.

When she said this Ginny, Ron and Hermione were all struggling mightily to hold back some serious laughter at the utterly perplexed look Harry was displaying.

"I have seen your photos in the papers here quite a few times. Along with those dreadful wanted posters that the Ministry put up. But none of them did your hair justice my dear boy." She stated enthusiastically to Harry's bafflement and Ginny's delight.

"The hair never lies young man." She told him, "In every image of the boys in my family tree you can see that same hair. Thankfully the Potter women avoided such a dreadful fate." She remarked playfully to him.

"Kat, I would like to introduce you to Harry Potter." Ivan said as he too was struggling to contain a smile on his face, "Harry I would like to introduce you to Katherine Emma Fontaine. Ted's wonderful wife and a very proud member of the American Potter clan." Ivan said smiling.

The two of them shook hands warmly, but Harry was still unsure just what to make of this Kat.

"Kat, we recently learnt that young Harry here is indeed related to the Potter's that accused my father of his crimes." Ivan explained.

The eyes on Kat's face went wide with surprise and she turn to Ivan to get confirmation of that piece of news. It seemed to sadden her.

"Young Harry however was completely unaware of his family's actions however as he lost both his parents when he was only 18 months old. After which he was sent to be raised with some muggle relatives who absolutely hated magic in any shape or form. As a result, they gave him a very rough time when he was growing up."

"They couldn't break him though and he has turned out to be one of the finest young men that I have ever had the opportunity to meet." Ivan remarked while smiling warmly at Harry (who happily returned it), "He has also offered his assistance in looking through his family vault for any information about what happened to my father."

"See, I kept on telling you and your father that not ALL of us Potter's are bad people." She pronounced proudly as she swatted him on the arm. This generated several sets of laughter in the room.

"You sound just like Dave." Ivan chuckled.

"If he agrees with me he must have grown into a very smart young man." She stated confidently. This also caused Dave's sisters, cousin and team members to burst into laughter. Ginny and Gabrielle were also succumbing to their own gales of laughter as well. I wasn't far behind them either as I happened to glance over to Dave, who was still 'dressed' as John Citizen and looking very amused.

Ivan and Sandra were also having a great deal of trouble keeping a straight face at this comment and they both looked over to Dave. Seeing the look on his face Sandra broke down and joined in the laughter as well. Ivan ended up laughing at the expression on Sandra's face.

Kat and Ted both walked over to Dave looking at him suspiciously, "I thought you said your name was Syd?" Ted asked Dave.

"I never said my name was Syd, Ambassador." Dave answered, "I said you could call me Syd." He chuckled.

"I see." Ted replied, "So what is your actual name then?" He asked.

"My name is David Fabian Gideon Webb." Dave replied, "But you can call me Dave." He added with a very cheeky grin while he shook hands with them both.

Ted turned to Ivan and asked, "He really is your son?"

"Yes, I have to admit that he is." Ivan said playfully as Sandra swatted him in the arm.

"Well he certainly lucked out in the looks department." Ted said to a suddenly quiet room, "As he looks nothing like you."

This caused everyone to break out into laughter at the expressions on the faces of Sandra, Ivan and Dave. They were all sharing a laugh but for different reasons. Dave was laughing at the expression on his mother's face. While Ivan was laughing because he had a good idea of what Ted's reaction will be when he asks Dave to return to his natural form.

"What's so funny?" Ted asked Ivan.

"Show him Dave." Ivan requested.

At this Dave slowly reverted back to his natural form. His body just seemed to flow from one form to the next as though it was liquid being poured into a Dave shaped bottle. When he had finished changing form Ted and Kat both looked at Dave with wide eyes of surprise.

"The poor unfortunate sod." Ted exclaimed, "Of all the people he could have taken after, he gets to look just like you." He said in mock despair and there was some nervous laughter around the room.

He then walked over to Dave and placed one hand on his shoulders and consoled him with, "You have my sympathies my boy. It's a tough break to end up looking like that lump over there." He said with a chuckle.

After they had exchanged another warm hand shake and a laugh Kat walked over to Dave and gave him a very close looking over.

"I'm so very happy that you have FINALLY emerged from your 'ugly duckling' phase young man." She said with a smile as Dave's sisters were all sharing very evil grins. Gabrielle also had an extremely amused expression as she watched the play of emotions across Dave's face.

"I was deeply saddened to hear of your Emma's passing also." She said with a tender expression as she warmly embraced Dave, "She was a truly wonderful young lady." She whispered into Dave's ear before pulling back and wiping some tears from her eyes.

"Thank you, Kat." Dave replied, "I know that she thought the world of you and it would have thrilled her to hear you say that." Dave said smiling at her.

She then very confidently walked back to Ivan and held out her hand and rather smugly demanded, "Well. Pay up."

"Pay up what?" Ivan asked her very amused.

"Our bet." She stated

"You can't look at him and not see my brother." She remarked before catching herself and then saying, "Well maybe you can't but I'm sure Sandra can." She added as she looked over to Sandra with a loving smile.

"Hair like that only runs in one family tree." She stated confidently.

"I'm sorry Kat." Ivan replied, "Your hypothesis about the genetic traits of hair are not proof enough to claim that bet. As I and just about every geneticist you have ever spoken to, has told you." He said with a smile at her. Sandra was also enjoying this exchange between them.

"Theory!" She stated rather forcefully.

"Hypothesis!" Ivan replied just as forcefully, albeit with a smile. "To be classified as a theory it has to be proven with objective evidence and make testable predictions." He explained patiently. This exchange had the airs of a familiar and long running argument about it between the two of them.

"Blood calls to blood! You stubborn old fart." She exclaimed cheekily, "Your father might have been cut from the tree by some misguided idiots many years ago..."

"No offence intended there young Harry." She said as she smiled warmly at him. Harry could only smile back in reply as he was totally caught up in this display in front of him.

"But I on the other hand am still part of the mighty oak that is the Potter family tree." She remarked standing to her full height and pointing her finger at Ivan's chest, "And I know what I'm seeing standing here before my eyes."

"I'm formally laying claim to you, along with both of those wonderfully scruffy looking young men behind me." She said with a brilliant smile as Dave's sisters, cousin, and mother along with Ginny and Gabrielle burst out into a fresh round of laughter, "And I'm more than willing to fight anyone who tries to deny my claim."

Harry and Dave were clearly greatly amused by this exchange between Ivan and Kat. Molly was also eagerly watching the proceedings as well. Although I think she was a little wary of someone else laying claim to 'her' Harry.

"Is that enough proof for you?" She almost demanded. When Ivan didn't change his sceptical look, he was giving her she exclaimed, "Bloody Aurors and their need for 'objective evidence'."

"Care to double our bet then?" She asked him with an arch little smile, "I mean now there are two lost branches that I need to re-connect to the Potter family tree."

"Harry can bet with you on his own family if he likes." Ivan said with a grin, "I'm not silly enough to go and make more bets with you than I already have."

With that comment, Kat turned to Harry and asked, "Well my wonderfully scruffy looking young man. How about it?" She asked Harry.

"P… Pardon?" Harry asked caught completely off guard.

"The bet is dinner in Paris. If I'm right it's on you, if I'm wrong it's on me." She said with a cheeky grin at Harry, "I'll even let you bring your lovely young lady over there, if you like." She added pointing to Ginny.

"It will keep the newspapers from talking." She remarked to Sandra with an evil chuckle. This set the girls laughing again. Harry meanwhile was unsure what to make of her offer.

"Don't look so stressed Harry." Dave advised him, "For you it is a simple bet easy to prove." He advised.

"Is it?" Harry asked, happy for the interruption, "How?" He asked.

"One of those muggle DNA tests will show if you share the same Y-Chromosome with her brother." Dave told him, "Depending on how far back your link may or may not be it will also likely tell you how closely you are related also."

"Really?" He asked as his eyes lit up, "Did you do one of those tests also?"

"I didn't but dad did." Dave replied, "It didn't show anything however, as we are 'broken' so it gave a non-result. The first ever I believe." He added a little sadly.

Kat came over and put her arms around Dave, "Don't worry Dave. I'll get you and your father eventually." She said with a grin as Dave happily returned her brief hug.

"So, young Harry. Are you going to accept my bet?" She asked him eagerly.

"Go on Harry. Do it." George encouraged him with an eager smile.

"Yeah Harry, go for it." Ron told him also smiling encouragement. Harry looked over to Ginny for her thoughts.

"Sounds like a win-win to me." She said with a grin lighting up her face, "As I get dinner in Paris no matter the result." She remarked as her grin turned into a brilliant smile at thought.

Personally, I think it was Ginny's smile that ended up convincing Harry to take the bet and the DNA test. The result of which was to profoundly change his life and forge a set of new connections that he could only have dreamed about.

After taking in the expression on Ginny's face and how happy she was Harry turned to Kat. "Ok then. You're on." He said as he held out his hand to shake on the bet.

"There's no need to be so formal Harry." Kat told him as she engulfed him in a hug.

"What's involved in doing a DNA test?" Harry asked her once she had released him from her hug.

"It's very simple Harry. You just scrape these around the inside of your mouth." She explained to him as she pulled out two items that looked like small chunky combs. "They then go into these tubes and off to the DNA lab. They send the results back to you in a few weeks." She told him eagerly.

"Then you can take me and your lovely lady out to dinner in Paris." She said with a joyful laugh, one that Ginny also joined in on.

"All right then." Harry replied, "Let's do it."

I'm not sure who was more excited Harry or Kat. But she quickly had instructed Harry how to use the odd-looking combs and collect the samples correctly. They were both soon secured in the tubes and put back in her purse. Kat also promised Harry that she wouldn't peek at the results until they could look at them together. He agreed to this also.

"I'm glad that's settled." Kat remarked as she gave Ivan a smugly knowing look which caused him to smile.

"I understand Dave that you have been keeping my little brother busy the past 2 years. With all your letters to him." She enquired.

Everyone turned to Dave, we all were rather curious as to what she was referring to. With a shy smile, Dave answered, "Yes we have exchanged quite a few letters between us."

"Who is your brother?" Harry asked Kat.

"Professor Potter." Kat replied happily, "It has a wonderful ring to it don't you think?" She asked him.

"It does actually." Harry agreed.

"As to his name, it is Abraham 'Abe' Jackson Potter." She told him, "He is the History of Magic Professor at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in America." She stated proudly.

"Because he loves questions about magic of all sorts I thought he would be a natural choice to answer Dave's rather incessant ones." She said with a smile at Dave.

"He certainly does love to answer questions about the history of Magic." Dave agreed, "The move obscure the question the more it seems to delight him. I was very pleasantly surprised when he agreed to help me in my quest for the information that I was after" Dave replied with a smile on his face.

"Because of his job, he has access to one of the greatest magical libraries around." Dave explained, "I think he has just about checked every book in it personally." He explained sounding impressed.

"And?" Kat almost demanded, "Was he able to help you with your endless questions?"

"Yes. Yes, he was actually." Dave said with a smile, "He was able to help a great deal. The information he provided filled in a great many blanks for me."

"The contacts he gave me filled in a great many more also."

"What questions did you have for Kat's brother Dave?" Ted asked him.

"I was asking him if it was possible to destroy a Dementor." Dave replied to an astonished room.

"Destroy a Dementor?" Ted remarked, "It's impossible, isn't it?"

"Actually no. It isn't." Dave replied, "It is just extremely difficult, and more than a little painful. But very possible." He stated in his professional voice.

"So, that's where you learnt how to destroy them." Ivan said with his eyes wide in wonder, "Kat's brother told you how to do it?" He asked.

"No, he didn't tell me exactly how to do it. But he did show me and Jimmy some extracts from some very old books that talked about it having being done before. This validated that it was (or used to be) possible to do. Knowing that it was possible at one point in time kept our hopes alive and encouraged us to keep looking into it."

"He also gave us a great many tools that proved to be extremely helpful." Dave explained.

"The biggest piece of the puzzle he provided was, he put me in contact with a Mage over in China." Dave told us, "This Mage had specialised in studying the magic associated with many of the ancient Chinese legends. With the goal of understanding and then replicating the magic that they would have involved."

"His favourite legends were the ones around magical folk destroying Dementors." Dave said to a surprised room.

Kat's eyes were alight in excitement, "And you have been able to pull it off?" She asked him.

"Yes, I have. I destroyed 14 of them in the yard outside the day I first met this lot." Dave said with a grin. "Fireball destroyed one also."

"Have you told Abe about this as yet?" She asked excitedly.

"No, I haven't yet written to him with that news. Jimmy and I were only able to reliably replicate the results from the old Chinese legends the week before we were sent to the UK on our current mission. Since that happened we have been rather busy." Dave told her, "We still have not as yet figured out the 'Flaming Sword' that is described as the most effective option to deal with Dementors though." Dave said with his disappointment clear to see.

"I see…" Kat replied, "Can I tell him about your progress so far then?" She almost begged Dave.

"If you wish." Dave answered her smiling at her exuberance.

"Thank you." She replied almost dancing with delight.

"What exactly is a Mage?" Hermione asked Dave.

"As it was explained to me by Yuan Zedong, the main difference is that a Mage deals primarily with elemental magic." Dave explained to a confused group, "Elemental magic is both more 'RAW' and more powerful than what is commonly known as magic around the world. For this reason, it is also significantly more dangerous than 'normal magic'."

"He also told me that as a consequence of this people are not typically accepted into training to become a Mage until they are in their late 40's." Dave advised.

"Their late 40's?" Hermione exclaimed, "How old was this Mage that you spoke to?" She asked.

"He claimed to be 214 years old." Dave replied, "But I have no means to independently verify that claim currently."

"If that is indeed his age I can say he has aged very well indeed." Dave added with a chuckle.

"Dave, you didn't, did you?" Ivan asked with a look of worry on his face.

"Not to worry dad." Dave replied with a smile on his face, "He invited me to partake in a friendly little duel under training conditions. As he wanted to assess my capabilities before he would tell me anything." Dave advised.

"How did it go?" Ivan asked as his own curiosity got the better of him.

"He tells me that I apparently held my own in the duel. But it didn't feel like that to me." Dave replied.

"How did it feel to you?" Fireball wanted to know.

"To me it felt like he kicked my arse into next week." Dave replied with a chuckle, "It was great fun."

"You consider getting your butt kicked 'fun'?" Ron asked in disbelief as Harry and Ginny looked on with similar expressions.

"In training, yes it can be." Dave replied, "While you typically learn something from every duel, you learn far more when up against an opponent who can best you, than when you are up against someone who can't." Dave explained.

"Everyone has their own idea of fun." Ivan stated with an odd look at his son, "Some are more enjoyable than others." He added with a chuckle. There were a few nods of agreement at this statement, along with some odd looks at Dave.


	39. New Allies and Old Enemies

A/N: A quick note to say sorry for the delay in posting new chapters. We have been "enjoying" a family case of chest colds that my little boys brought home from school and kinder and when combined with some crazy work schedules this caused story writing to fall behind schedule. I hope these new chapters are worth the wait.

* * *

"Ted, we have asked you here today as Kingsley has let us know that you planned on attending the formal presentation ceremony tomorrow." Ivan informed Ted.

"That's correct I am." Ted replied his eyes showing his curiosity.

"In that case, we all thought you should be advised that earlier today we uncovered evidence of an assassination attempt, which is scheduled to occur at the Ministry tomorrow." Ivan said with a serious look on his face that Ted appeared to recognise.

Almost mirroring the look on Ivan's face Ted asked, "Do you know who the target of the assassination attempt is?"

"We are not 100% sure." Ivan advised looking a little uncomfortable, "We do know that there is a 5 million Galleon contract out on Molly Weasley thanks to Rodolphus Lestrange."

Hearing this news both Kat and Ted, along with Gawain were all showing their shock and anger. The anger was quickly replaced with an icy cold resolve that was clear to see.

"What is being done about it?" Ted asked.

Ivan looked to Kingsley to provide the first part of the answer, "We have begun to implement a law drafted by the previous administration that will apply serious financial hardship on the Lestrange family." Kingsley advised, "This will involve the freezing and seizing of any and all assets and a full audit of their financial activities. The family will only be able to regain access to their funds by satisfying all of our 'concerns'." Kingsley said with a sly smile.

"That law will be fully enacted on Monday." Kingsley advised.

"There also is going to be a series of newspaper articles letting all their business partners and contractors know about the seizing of funds. As well as to let them know that any recently paid monies could well be seized by co-operative governments."

"That's rather harsh." Ted remarked.

"The best part is we will offer them immunity or access to their funds if they provide us with useful information." Kingsley remarked smugly.

"I smell your finger prints on that part." Ted told Ivan with a smirk.

"Close but not quite." Ivan replied with a smile, "It was Dave's idea actually." He told him proudly.

"Little Dave?" Ted remarked with a proud smile at Dave, "Looks like he got more than his silly looks from you." He added with a wink at him.

"That can't be all you are up to?" Ted questioned.

"It isn't" Ivan advised, "Kingsley is making enquires around Europe and we are doing the same in our region to see if the contract has been made publicly available or offered to any of our operatives."

"We have implemented enhanced security around Molly and Arthur's home here as well as around Bill and Fleur's place. We also plan to implement better security around the homes of George, Percy and the Delacour Family as well." Ivan replied.

"But we have not yet made any plans about tomorrow's event." Ivan advised him, "As you were planning on being there tomorrow we thought we would extend an invitation to you. That way you could decide to stay away or join in the activities." Ivan offered.

"Well I'm certainly not going to stand by and let anyone take 'pot shots' at you or any of your family." Ted replied with a steely glint in his eyes.

"I'm so glad you said that Ted." Kat told him with a smile, "Otherwise I would have to disown you." She chuckled while smiling fondly at him.

"Thanks, dear." Ted replied with mock angst, "Do you mind if I invite one of my own Aurors to provide assistance?" He asked.

"Who do you have in mind?" Ivan asked Ted.

"Randall Percival Graves." Ted replied.

"Randall Graves?" Ivan asked, "Is he the same Auror Graves that worked with our own 'Long John' on that case in Singapore, involving that mob selling those cursed defensive Talismans around the Pacific rim?"

"The very same." Ted replied with a smile.

"He could be very useful to have along." Ivan remarked to Kingsley, "He is almost as good a duellist as his Grandfather if I recall."

"He even gave you a run for your money also." He teased Ted with a friendly smile.

"Who was his Grandfather?" Kingsley asked.

"The late great Percival Graves." Ted advised, "Before he was murdered and impersonated by Grindelwald he was the pride of the MACUSA Auror department and a great friend of my own father." Ted commented sadly.

"Ah… I see." Kingsley answered, "I have heard of that unfortunate episode. Did they ever end up finding the body of the real Percival Graves?" He asked hopefully.

"Sadly no. It is something that still causes his family a good deal of anger however." Ted answered, "But despite, or because of it the descendants of Percival Graves are some of our hardest working and most dedicated Aurors. With the possible exceptions of the Potter's that is." He added with a smile at his wife who happily returned it.

"Well with references like you two I have no problem inviting him along." Kingsley replied, "Gawain? Any objections from you." Kingsley asked.

"I've heard stories of his Father and Grandfather." Gawain replied, "If he is anything like them I wouldn't say no to having him on my side." He answered with a smile.

"Steve?" Ivan asked Chief Williams.

"I've read the reports of what those two got up to in Singapore and around the region while on that case. So no I have no objections to working with him." Chief Williams answered.

"Sounds like it is unanimous then." Kingsley said with a grin, "Arthur, Molly, at the risk of turning your house into an armed camp of Aurors do you mind if we invite Auror Graves over?" He enquired.

"The more the merrier." Arthur replied with a glance at Molly, "If he is going to help keep my Molly safe he is more than welcome." Arthur stated firmly.

"Dave, can you take the Ambassador back to the MACUSA embassy to collect Auror Graves then?" Ivan asked.

"Technically he never left the Embassy dad." Dave answered with a sly smile. Seeing the looks directed at him, he explained further, "The door wasn't shut fully when we brought the Ambassador through, as I was fairly sure we would need to sneak him back in the same way to avoid suspicion being aroused." Dave explained.

"He is a sneaky bugger. Just like you." Ted chuckled to Ivan as he made his way over to the door that Dave was holding open for him, "Give me a moment to go and collect him for you all." He requested as his disappeared out the door while Dave carefully closed it almost all the way.

It didn't take very long before we could hear voices on the other side of the door. When it opened, the Ambassador was there along with a very startled looking Auror Graves.

"That's a VERY impressive wardrobe you have there Ambassador." Auror Graves remarked with a smirk.

"It gets more impressive when you see who is inside it." Ted answered smiling happily.

"Auror Graves, I would like to introduce you to Arthur Weasley. The current Director of MLE here in the UK and master of this house." Ted began, "Arthur I would like to introduce Auror Graves our Legal Attaché here in the UK."

The two men warmly shook hands. Auror Graves was then introduced to Molly, who also greeted him warmly.

"I would also like to introduce you to Kingsley Shacklebolt the British Minister of Magic, and his Chief Auror Gawain Roberts." Auror Graves was momentarily surprised at meeting these two but he quickly recovered from it. They all greeted each other warmly as well.

"It is also a great pleasure to introduce you to a very old friend of mine Ivan Septimus Webb the Australian Minister of Magic." Ted announced with a large smile on his face at the expression on the face of Auror Graves.

"Is he the same Ivan Webb that you are always telling me stories about?" Auror Graves asked with a half-smile on his face.

"One and the same yes." Ted replied also smiling.

"So, he is real then and not a figment of your imagination." Auror Graves chuckled at Ted. Sandra and Kat also had a laugh at this as well.

"I'm very pleased to meet you Minister Webb." Auror Graves greeted Ivan.

"Like wise Auror Graves." Ivan replied smiling, "Old Long John speaks very highly of you since your time together in Singapore." He commented smiling.

"Don't believe all his stories Minister." Auror Graves replied struggling to hide a smile.

"Never." Ivan answered with an evil grin on his face.

Auror Graves was then introduced to Chief Williams, the extended Weasley family and the different Aurors from Dave's team who were present. Eventually the introductions made their way around to Harry.

"Auror Graves, may I present Harry Potter. You may have read about him in the papers here a time or two recently." Kingsley chuckled as he made the introductions.

"I do believe it is an honour to meet you Mister Potter." Auror Graves greeted Harry, "I'm extremely pleased to see that you have indeed survived your recent ordeals. Your work on them was most impressive from the little bits that have been made public. I'm sure that there is much more to the tale however." He added with a genuine smile at Harry.

"Thank you Auror Graves." Harry replied, "I'm rather pleased at that also myself." He added with a grin.

"I'd be surprised if you weren't." Auror Graves chuckled.

"Lastly but not least, I would like you to meet Auror David Webb of the Australasian Auror Service." Kingsley said as he directed Auror Graves to Dave who was still standing by the door which he had recently come through.

"Auror David Webb?" Auror Graves remarked with an odd look on his face, "Are you Terrance's friend?" He asked.

"The one that he came over to meet just recently?" He said with a very odd look at Dave.

"Terrance?" Dave asked, "As in Terrance Nott? Works for MACUSA as an unspeakable?" Dave enquired.

"That's the one." Auror Graves answered.

"He's no friend of mine." Dave replied in a very cold voice, "I wouldn't cross the street to piss on him if he was on fire." Dave stated as his whole demeanour seemed to change. I could see a look of concern begin to appear on Sandra's face as she watched this exchange unfold in front of her.

"Really?" Auror Graves replied, "He was so excited to hear that you were here. He was almost ecstatic when I passed onto him the contact details that your brother left at the embassy."

At this statement the room developed a definite chill and a sense of foreboding as Dave's whole stance and manner changed further. His look switched to one that reminded me of a predator about to pounce as he sized up Auror Graves.

"So, it was YOU who sent that little turd and his mates after me, was it." He seethed in a voice filled with cold anger as he came fully away from the wall, "Tell me Auror Graves, do you share Mr Nott's goals or were you just duped by him?" Dave enquired in a voice that was rather frightening for its lack of emotion.

"Dave?" Ivan asked his son with a slightly worried expression on his face, "What is the meaning of this?" He requested.

"Survival." Dave replied, "It's about survival Minister. I need to know Auror Graves exact relationship to Terrance Nott." Dave answered while not taking his eyes from a now confused and wary looking Auror Graves, "And I need to know it before anything else is decided here today. As I do not to intend to be ambushed by any friends of that SOB ever again." He added.

Everyone in the room was looking between Dave and a still rather surprised Auror Graves.

"What do you mean by Ambush Dave?" Ivan asked his son.

"Sorry Minister, I can't answer that question until Auror Graves here answers mine." Dave replied still not taking his eyes from Auror Graves. The repeated use of his father's title instead of his name greatly troubled me. This was a side of Dave we hadn't seen before, it was more than a little frightening.

"Randall, can you answer the question from the Minister's son?" Ted requested.

"The Minister's son?" Auror Graves asked as the colour faded from his face, and he looked between Ted and Ivan both of whom had rather worried expressions, but also clearly were VERY keen to find out the reason for this odd turn of events.

"I had no idea." Auror Graves stated almost emphatically, "He said that the two of you were old friends and that he had information that would be of benefit to your mission here."

"Friends?" Dave almost spat the word, "Terrance Nott doesn't have any friends. The whole concept is completely alien to him." Dave shot back.

"Can one of you please explain what is going on here?" Ted demanded.

"If Auror Graves can't explain his role and views in this, I will be happy to demonstrate on him what Terrance Nott came here to try to do to me." Dave replied coldly.

Auror Graves now turned his full attention to Dave, "Auror Webb I had no knowledge of the intentions of Terrance Nott past what he presented to me at the Embassy." He explained, "He presented me with official orders from the head of his Department authorising him to travel to the UK to meet with you and share with you a device that would be of use to you in your mission here." He stated earnestly.

"Personally, I do not know Terrance Nott as I have not had any dealings with him previously." Auror Graves stated, "So I can't say if I share his goals or ambitions on anything." He answered.

"What did he try to do to you?" He asked.

"He wanted to abduct me and take me back to his lab at MACUSA to be his own personal experiment." Dave stated to Auror Graves who had now gone white in shock, before he quickly flushed in anger. I could see Ivan and his family along with Dave's entire team also becoming dangerously angry as well at that statement.

"Why on earth would he want to do that?" Auror Graves asked.

"Because he thought that this was the perfect situation for him." Dave replied, "In this country I have no legal protections. In your country, I don't even have the legal right to exist." Dave stated as I felt my own blood run cold.

"To Terrance Nott that meant that I would be his perfect lab rat, as he could then do ANY experiment on me that he wanted without fear of any legal repercussions." Dave stated just as the room erupted in angry voices all trying to be heard.

"SILENCE!" Kingsley magically enhanced voice called out. The room was quickly quiet again.

"Dave, are you honestly telling me that a member of MACUSA tried to abduct you?" Ted asked him.

"Yes Ambassador, I am." Dave replied, "It wasn't his first attempt either." He added.

"He has tried this before?" Ivan asked his voice betraying his anger.

"Yes, he has." Dave answered, "After his previous two attempts I told him if he tried it again I would be far more direct and firm in my response to him."

"This was his third attempt?" Ted asked in shock.

"Correct." Dave answered.

"What did you do to him?" Ted enquired.

"I put him and his mates on Ice." Dave replied with a cold smile that rather frightened me.

"You killed them?" Auror Graves asked saddened.

"No." Dave answered, "They might be wishing that I had. But they are very much alive. Just on Ice for the next few months."

"Where are they?" Ivan asked his son.

"McMurdo Station" Dave replied.

"McMurdo Station?" Ted, Ivan and Kingsley asked almost at the same time. This caused some nervous laughter.

"Where is that?" Hermione asked while everyone else had puzzled expressions on their faces.

"The southern tip of Ross Island in Antarctica." Dave answered.

"Antarctica?" Ivan exclaimed, "You took him all the way to Antarctica?"

"Yes." Was Dave's rather simple answer.

"Why?" Ivan asked, but I'm sure everyone else wanted to know that as well.

"After I had escaped his ambush and his 'little device', he was most upset with me." Dave explained, "Although the fact that I had tied him and his mates up, then hung them upside down from a tree might not have helped matters."

"I was trying to figure out what to do with him as he clearly isn't going to stop in his attempts to capture me." Dave recalled, "When he started demanding that I return him to US soil I got an idea on how to keep him out of mischief for a few months." Dave said with a smirk.

"So, I gathered them all up and deposited them outside McMurdo station. I left them there and then did a quick trip to gather some extra supplies for the Base so that no one would go hungry with the extra mouths to feed."

"Then once that was done I knocked on the door to the main admin building and made myself invisible. The scientists that came out were very surprised to find their new guests. But they quickly took them inside along with the extra supplies."

"He and his mates will be there until late August early September when the Ice thaws enough to allow ships in again." Dave stated to a rather stunned room.

"Can't they just leave the station and Apparate home?" Gawain asked.

"Not without their wands they can't." Dave answered with a cold grin.

"How did you escape the ambush?" Ted asked Dave.

"In a moment, Ambassador." Dave replied, "I would like for Auror Grave's here to state clearly and for the record his stance on the aims and motives of Terrance Nott." He requested.

"If he is supportive of him I will need to take him to visit his mate before I answer any more questions." Dave replied in an icy calm voice that felt like it was still holding back a vast anger.

Auror Graves found himself subject to several sets of questioning stares from most of the room. "I can categorically state Auror Webb that I in no way support his motives or goals. In fact, I find them to be completely abhorrent." He stated rather forcefully while holding Dave's gaze with his own, "Had I known of his intent when he came to see me at the embassy I would have kicked his ass out the door and onto the curb." He added.

"I would like to know however, why you say my country denies your legal right to exist." He asked with a genuine interest.

Dave regarded Auror Graves quietly for several moments and then his eyes once again turned golden as he seemed to be measuring him up. This startled Auror Graves for a moment or two but Ted and Kat didn't seem to be surprised by it.

"Your country denies my legal right to exist as they have laws in effect that mandate the immediate execution of anyone like me who arrives on US Soil." Dave explained.

Auror Graves looked to be genuinely shocked and a little sickened by this statement, "Why would you be subject to such a law?" He asked.

Appearing as though he was readying himself for a fight Dave replied, "In your country, as here in the UK I'm classified as a 'Broken one'." Dave answered still watching Auror Graves very closely.

"A broken one?" Auror Graves asked with a look of incredibility, "I thought that it was impossible for anyone to actually be a 'broken one'. They are supposed to be mythical only." He stated as he looked to Ted for confirmation.

Ted for his part was looking to Ivan for an explanation.

"Dave is indeed correct in his assessment of the situation." Ivan advised, "In fact I'm close to be classified as a broken one myself. Given the number of connections I have to my own magical core." He said with a wry smile.

Ted, Kat and Auror Graves all looked to be completely stunned and unsure what to say.

"I always knew that you had a unique skillset" Ted remarked to Ivan, "But I never realised it was quite THAT unique." He said with a grin.

"Thanks." Ivan replied, "I think." He added with a shy smile.

"How many connections does it take to be classified as a 'broken one'?" Hermione asked Ivan.

"In America as here you need five different significant connections." Ivan replied.

"How many do you have?" Hermione asked him.

"Four connections that would count as significant and two that would be classified as 'light'." Ivan answered calmly.

"How many do you have Dave?" Hermione asked with her eyes alight with curiosity. Dave for his part didn't answer he just looked very uncomfortable and avoided her eyes.

"More than five." Sandra answered after a short pause to try and spare Dave from his obvious embarrassment. Hermione acknowledged the answer but I could see that her curiosity was not satisfied however.

"I do think that I'm going to need to speak to the President about this." Ted advised Ivan, "We can't have MACUSA employees trying to abduct people for experiments regardless of the reasons."

"It's also a disgrace to have a law like that on the books of our great country." He stated passionately.

Auror Graves however was looking at Dave with an intense interest, "You can really perform multiple forms of magic then?" He asked with an eager light in his eyes.

"Yes." Dave answered meeting his gaze and watching him curiously.

"Can you do Sorcery?" He asked almost eagerly.

"Yes I can." Dave answered with a shy smile, "Along with several others in this room." He added.

"Could you show me an example?" He asked with his eagerness now on full display.

Dave looked to Ivan and strangely Ted for a moment. Getting a nod from both of them he answered, "If you wish."

Dave then relaxed his stance and held out his hand palm up. With only the slightest of smiles on his face he looked at Auror Graves who jumped slightly as somethings seemed to race from him into Dave's out stretched hand.

"I'm glad to see that you at least, carry two wands with you Auror Graves." Dave said with an evil smirk at Kingsley, "But you really should use a secure holster you know." Dave added as he held up both of Auror Graves's wands for him to see.

There was some nervous laughter from those in the room at this demonstration. Certainly, Auror Graves, as well as Ted and Kat were very surprised by it. Kingsley and Gawain had both gone a little pale at seeing the demonstration as well, but there was also an intense interest, almost a hunger in their eyes to know how it was done.

"I'm thinking that could very well be a good idea indeed." Auror Graves replied sheepishly after he had checked his pockets to confirm that they were indeed his wands that Dave was holding.

"Could you teach me how to do that?" He asked hopefully as he retrieved his wands from Dave.

"I really don't know." Dave answered. Seeing the almost hurt look in Auror Graves eyes he explained further, "MACUSA has no laws or official stance on Sorcery one way or the other currently. So, depending on who it is doing the interpretation of their current laws you could either be allowed to learn it. Or executed for attempting to possess 'forbidden knowledge'." Dave advised.

"Personally, I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for your execution." Dave told him with a smile.

"I can agree with that." Auror Graves replied also smiling.

"If Ted can get a clear ruling from MACUSA on the issue that gives their permission for you to learn it. Then I will happily show you how." Dave answered.

Auror Graves turned very quickly to Ted and remarked, "We really should push for that to be clarified as a matter of urgency." He advised eagerly, "As personally I'm very tired of our Aurors not having access to that sort of knowledge especially when we encounter people with Sorcerous abilities in Asia and South America so frequently."

"Agreed." Ted answered, "You would be happy to teach Auror Graves in those skills?" He asked Dave.

"Once you have your laws sorted out, and provided you can get our Minister to agree to it." Dave added with a smirk at his father, "And he has the ability, then yes I would be." Dave confirmed.

"If I can offer some advice here Ambassador, you will find it much easier to recruit people to teach those sorts of skills to your Aurors once your country makes it stance on those abilities much clearer." Dave explained, "A lot of people with skill in Sorcery know what it is like to be regarded with suspicion due to the historical view of Sorcery in general. So, they as a rule have an aversion to cause others to fall under the same suspicion."

"Does that make sense to you?" Dave asked him.

"A great deal Dave." Ted replied, "It does a great deal."

"It looks like we are going to have to do some more 'horse trading' here." Ted remarked to Ivan with a smile.

"If you insist." Ivan answered while trying to keep a straight face.

"Now that Auror Graves has answered your question Dave." Ted asked, "Can you answer my earlier one? How did you escape from the ambush that Terrance Nott had organised?"

With a very quick glance at his father who nodded his agreement and was showing a keen interest in hearing the answer as well, Dave answered the question.

"I cheated." He said with a smirk.

"How do you get out of an ambush by cheating?" Ted asked confused.

"Guz, do you want to help me demonstrate?" Dave asked.

"Sure Boss." Guz answered with a grin at Dave as he moved over to stand next to him.

"As the first one of Terrance Nott's cronies went to grab me I 'swapped' places with him as we wrestled like this." Dave explained as he put his hands on Guz's shoulder and the two of them immediately looked like the other.

Everyone in the room was more than a little startled by this.

"It is actually a form of an illusion, not an actual change." Dave explained, "To both Guz and I nothing has changed. But to everyone else it has."

"Once the change had been done we continued to wrestle for a few moments. Terrance then brought out his 'secret weapon' as he called it. When his crony saw it almost point blank at his face he actually wet himself." Dave told us, "Terrance then went on to describe his little device in almost loving detail. Including what it would do to 'me' if it actually made contact with me in any shape or form."

"What was his 'secret weapon." Ted asked.

"A type of cursed throwing knife. Very similar to ones we have seen used over here recently." Dave told him as he and Guz once more appeared as themselves.

"What?" Kingsley exclaimed, "The same as the sort that injured Gabrielle?" He asked.

"Worse." Dave answered, "This type was created specifically to target Aurors." He stated to a suddenly very silent room.

"Did he tell you where he got it from?" Ted asked. Dave nodded by way of reply.

"IF Terrance is to be believed, and that generally isn't a wise thing to do." Dave remarked, "He made it himself based on a weapon Gellert Grindelwald used to kill Chief Auror Percival Graves."

"He WHAT!" Auror Graves almost shouted as he stared disbelievingly at Dave, "How would he have found out that information." He asked with a fierce light burning in his eyes.

"I have no idea Auror Graves." Dave replied very calmly, "As I said it is dangerous to take anything Terrance Nott says at face value. How he came about the weapon I can't say for certain, I can say that it is truly one of the evilest implements that I have ever come across."

"What happened to it?" Kingsley asked Dave.

"I took it off him." Dave answered, "Then stored it in a secure location until I could get it to our own Department of Mysteries for them to examine more closely."

"Have you handed it over as yet?" Ivan asked.

"No, I haven't. As I haven't been past the Ministry since I took it off him." Dave replied.

"When did you take it off him?" Chief Williams asked Dave.

"The morning we left to go and chase down that group of women and children who Percy had told us were being spirited out of the country." Dave answered.

"That's why you had snow in your hair when we met up at the rally point." Mick said with a half-smile on his face.

"Correct." Dave answered with a small chuckle.

"Can you show it to us?" Ted asked Dave.

"I can if you wish to see it. But if I do get it out I would ask that no one try to reach for, or use any magic while I have it out. As it responds rather energetically to magical energy. Especially shields." Dave advised us all.

Once everyone had agreed Dave got out his wallet and opened it up three times. He then reached into it up to his shoulder and extracted a decent sized looking box. This was placed on the table. When it was opened there were two smaller odd looking clear boxes inside of it.

One of them contained a knife almost exactly the same as they type that Gabrielle had been injured by. The other held a similar looking black knife that gave me the shivers just by looking at it.

"It makes my blood run cold just looking at it." Kingsley said in a slightly worried voice, "What does it do when it is around Magical energy?" He asked.

"I'll show you." Dave replied as he asked Guz to move over to the other side of the room, "I'm going to lightly reach for my magic as though I'm planning on pushing a small pebble around." He advised us. When we all nodded in agreement Dave faced the case with the knives.

A moment after he faced the case, one of the clear boxes raced out of the case and flew across the room. It halted only a fingers width from Dave's eye.

"Did you make it stop?" Ted asked.

"No, I didn't." Dave answered, "It is charmed to stop at that sort of distance. But if I was to reach for any more magical energy it would embed itself in my eye." He explained to the horror of all present.

"Under normal circumstances the only way to make it safe would be to release all your magical energy and lower all of your defences." Dave explained, "Not usually a good move when being attacked." He added with a crooked smile.

"There are very few actual benefits to being a 'broken one'." Dave told us all, "This is one of them. This knife will not react to 'House Elf' magic." He said as he snapped his fingers and the clear box containing the knife fell into his hand. Dave then held it up so that we could all have a closer look at it.

Ted's face was a study in the emotions of anger and outrage as he looked at the knife in the box that Dave was holding. "I can promise you one thing Dave." He said with clenched teeth, "If I have any say in the matter Terrance Nott will be fired from MACUSA at the earliest possible date."

"I will also do my level best to ensure that he spends the rest of his life in jail for creating such a weapon as that." He promised.

"Thank you, Ambassador." Dave answered warmly, "I would strongly suggest that you get your most skilled and capable Curse breakers to do a careful and thorough check of his office before he is kicked out the door. As he hinted that he has all sorts of similarly nasty devices hidden away in there 'for people who are against his views and aims'."

"It will be done." Ted promised.

"I would like to know more about the knives you mentioned that you encountered over here." Auror Graves asked Dave.

"So would I." Dave answered, "They are a recent development. But when compared side by side with the knife from Terrance Nott the similarities are too strong to be ignored."

"It seems to me that would be worthy of a joint investigation." Gawain remarked to Kingsley.

"It would indeed." Kingsley replied, "We can discuss that tomorrow after the formal welcoming ceremony for our rather large Australian friend here." He added with a smile at Ivan.

"That sounds like a plan." Ted said with a smile at the two Ministers, "Dave can you turn those knives over to the department on Mysteries here?" He asked.

"Not if they wished to open the clear boxes containing the knives I can't." Dave answered, "Only our Senior Unspeakable's can open those particular cases." Dave explained when he saw the looks of disappointment on the faces of Kingsley and Ted.

"They are designed to securely hold potentially dangerous evidence." Dave told us, "To preserve 'chain of evidence' rules they can only be opened under controlled conditions, by authorised personnel." He explained.

"I'm confident however that our Unspeakable's would welcome any assistance that your two organisations can offer to try and solve the mystery of these knives." He stated as he glanced at his father.

"Well put Dave." Ivan replied, "The Australian Ministry would extend its full co-operation and every courtesy to any personnel that you both send out to examine those objects. Provided that they understand the risks involved." He added.

"I do believe that we will take you up on that offer." Kingsley replied eagerly.

"As we would also." Ted added.

"I'm very confident that with our three governments working together on this they will not remain a mystery much longer." Ivan said eagerly while smiling at the other two.

"What did you do with the Wands of Terrance Nott and his cronies?" Ted asked Dave, "As they sound like they should be turned into our Aurors as evidence."

"Indeed." Auror Graves agreed, "I would be more than happy to file the paper work on them."

"They already have been turned into your Aurors, Ambassador." Dave replied with a strangely smug smile on his face.

"Did you deliver them to the embassy here?" Auror Graves asked.

"No, I didn't." Dave answered, "I turned them into your Aurors at MACUSA Headquarters in New York." He explained with a cheeky smile.

"You took their wands into the Woolworth Building itself?" Ted asked with a disbelieving look on his face.

"Yes." Was Dave's answer.

"Who did you give them to?" Ted asked.

"The Auror who was manning the night desk." Dave stated calmly.

"You were not arrested?" Ted asked still not believing him.

"Why would I have been?" Dave asked, "No one in MACUSA knows who or more importantly what I am. Well apart from Terrance Nott and now also the people in this room that is."

"As far as the Auror on duty at the night desk was concerned I was the Legal Attaché from the Australian Magical Embassy dropping off some evidence which is connected to a case that his boss would be getting notified about shortly." Dave explained.

"He even gave me a receipt for the wands." Dave said with a lopsided grin as he handed a piece of paper over to Ted.

"He has certainly picked up your style and flare for operations." Ted remarked to Ivan with a smile and a chuckle, as he reached for the receipt that Dave was given.

"Do you mind if we take a copy of this?" Ted asked Dave, "I will use it to get the paper work started on having Mr Nott's ass fired and hopefully also incarcerated." He stated.

"Feel free." Dave answered.

"Thank you." Ted said as he made a copy of the document and gave the original back to Dave.

"Now that we have gotten the introductions out of the way." Ted said with a smile and a chuckle that was shared by all in the room, "We can get down to the reason that we are all here today."

"And what would that be Mr Ambassador?" Auror Graves asked him.


	40. Plans and Equipment

"We have learned Auror Graves that there is to be an assassination attempt tomorrow at the British Ministry of Magic." Ted advised him.

Auror Graves looked to be caught off guard by this news but he quickly recovered.

"Do you know the target of the assassination attempt?" He asked.

"Not with any degree of certainty at this point." Ivan told him, "The information was only obtained earlier today when we captured a group of people who were watching Bill and Fleur's home."

"We do know that there is a 5 Million Galleon contract being offered on Molly Weasley here by Rodolphus Lestrange." Ivan advised him, "But the person we captured is not high enough in the circles of the opposition to enable us to be 100% sure."

"Further complicating matters is the fact that the British Aurors have suffered significant losses both through death and injuries of their members." Ivan explained, "Another complication is that Gawain here is currently under an imperious curse."

Auror Graves was very surprised by this news. It prompted a re-telling of how he came to be under the curse and how Dave's team discovered this fact. Then what they had done to rectify the situation.

"Gawain is now able to effectively resist the curse that is on him. But we still need him to 'play the part' until we are ready to put our own plans into action on Wednesday." Kingsley said as he joined the conversation with an intense look on his face.

"What plans do you have for Wednesday?" Ted asked Kingsley.

"We are going to arrest the entire Wizengamot and ship them off to the International Confederation of Wizards in The Hague." He advised with a barely concealed smile.

"What?" Ted asked as he failed to conceal the huge smile that now ran across his face, "That has GOT to be your doing." He remarked to Ivan.

"You're close." Ivan told him with a chuckle.

Hearing this Ted turned to look at Dave and asked, "It was your idea?"

"I don't know if I can take all the credit, Mr Ambassador." Dave remarked with a smile on his face, "I will admit that I asked a certain History Professor if such a move was a legal possibility and if it had been done before anywhere." He added with a sly smile at Kat.

"The professor I spoke to really seemed to like the idea and he gave me loads of useful information. A lot of the laws he suggested that could be used were no longer in effect here in the UK and Europe so I had to locate their modern equivalents." Dave explained, "He also told me that it had indeed been done before. Most recently in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. They apparently 'replaced' their entire judicial body as they had been assisting the muggle government in their activities and bringing too much attention to the magical community as a whole."

"After a lot of digging we were able to assemble a collection of laws and arguments that have garnered us the required support from Magical European Governments." Dave advised, "I'm collecting the final signature tomorrow morning and then will be taking the paperwork direct to the ICW in The Hague."

Ted was stunned by this news. His wife however was beaming at Dave.

"You have been working with Abe on this?" She asked with a massive smile on her face.

"Correct." Dave answered.

Kat was almost jumping for joy as she turned to Ivan and remarked very smugly, "See it's just like I've always told you. If you want to solve the world's problems just send in a Potter."

"One of them is usually enough." She added with a smile at Ivan and Sandra, "But when you pair them up like this almost anything can become possible." She purred.

"Kat, I keep on telling you there isn't any proof…" Ivan tried to say.

"Oh proof, smoof." He jested with Ivan, "I keep on telling you that I know what I am seeing with my own eyes. Once I've proven it so that even a stubborn old fart like yourself accepts it, I'm reserving the right to say 'I told you so' until Merlin comes back from the afterlife." She chortled.

"For there to be any possible link it would be so distant to be almost meaningless…" Ivan tried again.

"Bite your tongue, right now." She said almost indigently, "Blood is blood no matter what." She stated as she again poked her finger into Ivan's chest much to the amusement of Sandra and her daughters.

"Somewhere between 12th and 14th cousins." Dave said offhandedly with a distracted look on his face.

"I'll take that bet young man." Kat said enthusiastically to Dave who was started out of his daze by her statement. Much to the amusement of his family and Gabrielle.

"Pardon?" He asked.

"Your prediction." Kate reminded him, "I'm willing to bet on it. If you are too that is?" She asked.

"What prediction?" Dave asked, "I was just discussing it with Grandpa." He told her. This statement caused a few strange looks from Gawain and Auror Graves but Kat and Ted must have known about Dave carrying his Grandfather's soul as they didn't even bat an eye lid at it.

"I see." Kat remarked with a smile, "Well he can come along to keep you company as well then." She chuckled.

"Unless you have a lady friend you would like to bring to dinner instead that is." She chuckled at him. When she saw the smile that lit up Dave's face however her own eyes widened and her excitement was obvious.

"Who is it?" She asked him eagerly as she tried to follow Dave's very quick glance across the room at an equally beaming Gabrielle. Once she identified her target she crossed to Gabrielle and stared into her eyes for a few moments. Gabrielle seemed happy to meet her gaze.

"Like a challenge do you." Kat remarked to Gabrielle as they both had a good laugh at the statement and the look on Dave's face. Dave's family and his team also joined in the laughter at that comment as well.

"You have good taste young lady." Kat said warmly to her as Gabrielle blushed but also managed to smile brilliantly at Dave, "Just watch his feet when you dance with him." She chuckled.

"Hey, I only stepped on your toes one time." Dave protested to the laughter of the room.

"Yes, but they were open toed shoes Dave." Kat reminded him with a cheeky smile.

"We 'ave already danced togezer." Gabrielle told her happily, "And Dave didn't step on my toes." She added with a warm smile at Kat and then Dave.

"Congratulations." Kat told her, "You must be able to hold his attention better than me." She remarked happily to a now heavily blushing Gabrielle and Dave. She quickly embraced Gabrielle and then led her over to Dave so that she could see the two of them together.

"You do make a lovely couple." She said approvingly, "Gabrielle is almost able to make up for all of Dave's rough edges just by smiling." She remarked as Dave's sisters, cousin and mother almost collapsed from all their laughter.

Maman and Papa were also smiling happily and joining in the laughter as well.

"Kat, if you have finished bragging about your family and playing match maker. We would like to try and get a co-ordinated plan for tomorrow sorted out." Ted said while also smiling at Dave and Gabrielle. Gabrielle had placed Dave's arms around her waist and then snuggled backwards into Dave's chest. She seemed to be both very happy and quite comfortable as well.

"I'm never done with those tasks Ted. You should know that." She replied cheekily as she went back to her seat.

With a final smile for Kat, Ted turned to Kingsley and Ivan, "So you are thinking that there are going to be three main targets in the Ministry tomorrow?" He asked the two of them, "Molly and the two of you?"

"Correct Ted. That was my thoughts precisely." Ivan replied and Kingsley nodded in agreement.

"You're planning on bringing a dedicated security detail?" he asked Ivan, "Or are you going to rely on the group in this room?"

"I'm leaning towards using the team we have here as well as Chief Williams." Ivan answered, "But it's how best to use them as we want to make sure we have a team around each of Kingsley, Molly and myself."

"One of the main reasons I wanted Gawain here is to confirm how many Aurors he has on active duty right now, which are not compromised by the opposition like he was until recently." Ivan asked Gawain.

Looking slightly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the two Ministers and the Director of MLE, Gawain cleared his throat and answered, "As of right now, just about all my Aurors that I trust 100% are off injured except Ben Williamson and Walt Proudfoot."

"Greg Savage is a possibility if we can locate his wife and children. As he sent them into hiding after the ministry fell." Gawain offered, "He hasn't heard from them since then. I've heard some of the Wizengamot members who have been 'directing' me making the same threats to him as they were to me. But to the best of my knowledge they have shown him no 'proof of life' at this point."

"In all honestly if we could locate his wife I wouldn't mind having her along, as Mrs Robin Savage truly lives up to her name and she would love a crack at the ones who forced her to take her children on the run."

"Do you know of any other Aurors who might be under duress because of missing family members?" Dave asked Gawain.

"I do indeed" Gawain replied.

"Excellent." Dave answered as he turned to the TV, "Drunkmouse are you still listening?" He asked with a smile at the looks he was getting from the Americans.

"Always." Was the reply from the TV.

"Show yourself mate as we have guests here and need you to run some names for us as a matter of urgency." Dave requested.

The picture on the TV changed to display an impeccably dressed middle aged man in a shirt and suspenders. He was also wearing a bow tie that looked very familiar. One look around the room told me that the others recognised it as well. Chief Williams went rather pale when he saw it. Although Sandra and Ivan were wearing appreciative smiles because of it.

"Nice bow tie mate." Dave said grinning ear to ear.

"Do you like it?" Drunkmouse asked, "Auror Williams showed me and several others in the office a photo of Chief Williams wearing it a few days back. It seems to have started a bit of a following here in the office." He added with a straight face.

Chief Williams was giving Dave a look that would make most people think about moving out of the country. But Dave only smiled back.

"Co-incidentally she asked me to pass onto you the deepest appreciation and infinite affection from her and all of her sisters for the photos." Drunkmouse said grinning ear to ear, "Apparently they haven't laughed so hard in years." He added.

"Thanks mate. I will keep a note of that information for the next time one of their little schemes targets me." Dave added with a chuckle, "It might serve as a 'get out of jail free' card if I'm lucky." He remarked.

"With them, as with the rest of us." Fireball added with a gleam in her eyes, "You are never that lucky." She said with a grin.

Noting the questioning looks from several in the room (Gabrielle in particular) Dave explained, "The Auror Williams that Drunkmouse spoke of is Chief Williams daughter. One of my many cousins, as well as an enthusiastic member of 'The Horde'" He added with a chuckle.

This brought a light of comprehension into our eyes, along with a few chuckles. Chief Williams however was looking resigned to his fate.

"Drunkmouse I need you to run some names for us." Dave requested, "As we have several Aurors here who are likely 'under duress' because of missing family members. If we can offer them proof of their safety, we are hoping to recruit them for action as they say."

"Sounds like a worthy plan." Drunkmouse replied with a smile, "What are their names?" He asked.

Dave turned to Gawain and indicated for him to speak.

"The first name is Mrs Robin Savage. She is the wife of Greg Savage, a fine Auror and a mother of two adorable young children. Twins in fact aged 18 months." Gawain advised.

"Ok, searching now." Drunkmouse advised, "Ok we have a Robin Savage listed along with two children. Alex Savage and a Maya Savage. They are located in a Safe house in Normandy and all are doing fine." Drunkmouse advised to a VERY happy Gawain and Kingsley.

"Robin is reported to have made contact with us through the underground network that was run by a Mrs Augusta Longbottom." He explained, "After Mr P I think she would have been one of our most productive agents." Drunkmouse added.

"You mean Neville's Grandmother was working for you?" Harry asked with his eyes wide in surprise and delight.

"At times, it felt like we were working for her actually." Dave answered with a sheepish grin, "She is a formidable woman but with a heart that is both in the right place and full of love and support for those who stand up to 'bullies' as she calls them." He added with a laugh.

"I don't recall her actually mentioning the name of her Grandson." Dave said with a thoughtful expression, "She did frequently mention that her Grandson was raising all sort of mischief at Hogwarts, and that she was VERY proud of him for doing so. But she never mentioned an actual name." He added.

"That I can certainly believe." Harry added with a grin of his own as Ginny, Hermione, Ron and George all had large smiles on their faces as well.

"Drunkmouse make a note of the contact for that safe house as we will see if we can organise a video call to it later today provided Gawain can get Auror Savage alone safely." Dave advised.

"Will do mate." Drunkmouse answered, "Any more names?" He asked.

"Yes actually. Lilith Redwood sent her parents out of the country around the same time that Kingsley was nearly captured." Gawain stated, "She hasn't heard from them since."

"Ok, Redwood. Searching on that name." Drunkmouse replied, "We have a few Redwood's in the system. Most of them seem to be young families. But we do have a Victor and Rachel Redwood…"

"That's them!" Gawain stated with his joy clear for all to see.

"Ok they are currently at the same safe house as your wife Gawain." Drunkmouse replied, "They are two streets over from her accommodation in fact. They are also both listed as being in good health."

"There is a note here saying that we didn't find them. But they found us." Drunkmouse added with a laugh, "Apparently, they stumbled upon one of our safe houses in northern France and were captured. After some questioning they were offered a place to stay." He added happily.

"Excellent news." Gawain replied, "I can't wait to tell her."

"Ok, next name is Pepper Church." Gawain offered, "Her brother, his wife and their three young girls are all missing. She sent them into hiding after her parents were killed by Death Eaters."

"Looking now." Drunkmouse said with an air of concentration, "We have no members of any Church family under our care." He replied to a disappointed Gawain.

"What is the name of her brother and his wife?" Auror Graves asked Gawain.

"Cameron, and his wife is Sarah." Gawain answered, "I can't recall the names of their children though as I never met them."

"We assisted a Cameron and Sarah Church out of the country to Ireland and then onto America recently." Auror Graves replied, "Sarah was an American citizen by birth so we helped her get back to her family in the US." He explained.

"That could well be them as I do recall that her brother got married in the US, as she requested a good length of leave to go and attend the wedding." Gawain said with the smile returning to his face, "Do you have any photos of the family that you helped over to the US? As we could show them to her so she will know that they are safe." He asked.

"We do indeed as we had to take new photos for their magical passports." Auror Graves replied also smiling, "I will be sure to get them to you as a priority." He promised.

"Thank you." Gawain replied, "Next name is Faye Blackwood. Her husband Christopher is missing and she has no idea where he is."

"Checking now." Drunkmouse replied. After a few moments, he looked up with a sorrowful expression on his face, "Christopher Blackwood is listed as being in Azkaban prison." He stated sadly.

"Are you sure?" Kingsley and Gawain asked almost at the same time.

"Very." Drunkmouse answered, "Dave 'borrowed' the records right off the Ministers desk himself." He replied.

"Christopher Blackwood was a legal expert for M.L.E. He was also a known Muggle-born. As a result, he was amongst the first lot to be arrested and shipped off to Azkaban." Drunkmouse sighed.

"I've always enjoyed breaking open prisons." Dave remarked to his father.

"Me to." Jono added with a smile and a wink at Dave and Ivan.

"No." Ivan stated quite firmly, "The answer was no before and it is still no now. We are NOT going to break into Azkaban." He said as he regarded the two of them with a look of resignation.

"Spoilsport." Muttered a voice that sounded like Shelly. But when Ivan turned around he was met with a sea of innocent looking faces.

"Kingsley is the Minister here now." Ivan informed his Aurors, "He can order his release through correct channels." Ivan told them.

"A prison break might be faster actually." Kingsley offhandedly remarked to a sea of suddenly smiling Aurors.

"Please don't go and encourage them in this Minister." Ivan almost pleaded with a rueful smile.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Kingsley answered with an evil grin, and then a wink once Ivan had his back to him.

"If we can recruit all of the Aurors that Gawain mentioned it will mean six British Aurors in addition to Gawain and Kingsley himself." Dave asked the assembled group.

"Correct." Kingsley answered with a curious expression, "What have you got in mind Dave?" He asked.

"Nothing definite just yet Kingsley." Dave replied, "I'm just thinking about possible options and wanted to confirm numbers." He added then he looked to Auror Graves with his own strange expression.

"Auror Graves, you worked with our Long John a while back correct?" Dave asked.

"Correct." Auror Graves answered with a look of curiosity.

"Did he ever teach you his way of 'playing dirty'?" Dave asked with an evil light in his eyes.

After a moment's thought Auror Graves eyes also lit up and he had a predatory grin on his face also, "You mean that 'trick' he learnt from his mate Raj?" He asked.

"Correct." Dave answered with his grin turning into a full-blown smile, "It could be useful here don't you think?" Dave asked.

"Indeed, it could." Auror Graves answered unable to stop himself from smiling also.

"Just what are you thinking of doing Dave?" Chief Williams asked him.

"I've not got all the details yet boss." Dave answered, "But I was thinking that regardless of how we organised the 'close in' security, it would be very beneficial to have a few 2 person teams playing dirty outside of the main groups." He explained.

Chief Williams and Ivan both had smiles on their faces at this idea. Dave's team also were showing some grins. Auror Graves was also smiling but everyone else was looking rather confused.

"Can you explain what you mean by 'playing dirty' Dave?" Kingsley asked.

"I think I know." Ted offered, "You mean you want to operate disillusioned pairs outside of any likely shield that maybe enacted to take out the opposition from behind. Don't you."

"Correct." Dave answered with a smile.

"How will that work?" Ron asked, "A disillusionment charm will break once you fire a stunner at someone. So, you will only get off a single shot. Or two if you are operating in pairs." He stated.

"If we were planning on firing stunners that might indeed be the case." Dave answered cryptically.

"What would you do instead of using a stunner?" Ron asked.

"Club them." Auror Graves answered grinning.

"Club…" Arthur started to ask before his eyes also lit up, "Oh I see. You want to basically 'throw things' at them to knock them out physically instead of magically." He enquired.

"Exactly." Dave answered, "You can stay disillusioned and perform summoning or banishing style of magic. It only takes a little bit of practise."

"It becomes even more effective if you have one member of the pair maintaining the disillusionment charm while the other one 'throws things' as Uncle Arthur put it." He added.

Kingsley and Gawain sat there thinking about it for a moment, then they both began to smile at the thought. "It's different." Kingsley remarked to Gawain, "But it also could be very effective. Especially if they start to 'throw things' while the opposition is busy hurling spells at our shields."

"I think I like it." Gawain agreed, "Especially if we have a team dedicated to each of the three main likely targets."

"Then whoever ends up as the focus of the attack can be supported by the teams looking after the other two." He offered.

"That sounds workable." Chief Williams offered as Ivan, Dave, Ted and Kingsley nodded in agreement.

"Three main teams. One focused on each of Molly, Kingsley and Ivan." Gawain explained, "Then maybe four pairs 'playing dirty' away from those teams. Two in front and two behind. In case the opposition has some people also playing dirty." Gawain suggested.

"Makes sense." Dave agreed, "Depending on numbers we could even disguise some people as reporters and hide them in the pack of press that are likely to be there. We might even be able to hide a reserve somewhere in the atrium as well."

"Who would you have as the 'dirty pairs' out in front of the stage?" Arthur asked.

"I would have Mick and Jono as one pair as they have a lot of experience at working together and can communicate in perfect silence with one another easily." Dave suggested, "For the other pair I would suggest myself and Fireball, as we can speak in the 'same thought' as they say." He added. "Both sets of pairs can sneak in with your official delegation and then hang back as you go off to the stage that is going to be set up."

"The only catch with me 'playing dirty' is I have to be me for it to be truly effective." He cautioned, "If I'm only going to stay hidden that isn't a problem but if I need to offer an offensive role then that's different when I'm dressed as someone else." He said with a direct look at his father.

"It's a risk, but one that is worth taking I think." Ivan replied, "You don't have the same need to be hidden like you were before. Especially given that you are going to be working with Kingsley, Arthur, Gawain and his team." Ivan explained.

"Fair enough." Dave replied looking almost relieved.

"Don't you like 'dressing' as other people?" Ginny asked Dave with a mixture of mischief and curiosity.

"For short periods of time it is ok. It's when it goes on 24/7 that's when it starts to feel a little strange." Dave answered.

"What about the other pairs?" Arthur asked Dave.

"Well if it was me I would suggest that we pair, Harry and Ginny along with Ron and Hermione." Dave proposed to a few startled looks.

"Explain?" Gawain requested with a curious expression.

"Watching them the last few days it's plain to see that they work well together. They have also been wearing their Talismans long enough that they should be able to pick up on each other's thoughts especially if they maintain skin contact." Dave explained, "Add to that the fact that Ginny is a VERY good shot and Harry can pull off a very good disillusionment charm and that makes one obvious team."

"With Ron and Hermione, the reverse is true. I believe Ron to be the better shot and Hermione better at disillusionment charms."

"It will not take much work at all to fine tune them operating together at all." He stated.

"I do believe that I agree." Arthur added while Molly looked a little worried.

"To add some extra cover to the main group we could get Auror Graves to 'play dirty' in a solo capacity in case any of the delegation with Kingsley turn out to be working for the opposition." Gawain suggested.

"I think I like that idea." Ted replied with a broad grin at Auror Graves, "I know how much you 'enjoy' these formal occasions Randall. This way you can yawn to your hearts content and no one will know." He chuckled. Auror graves attempted an unconvincing 'innocent' look at Ted's comment.

"I'm happy to have Auror Graves here watching our backs." Kingsley replied and with that comment it was quickly decided to have Auror Graves as the 'dirty inside man' for the plan. He accepted that title and the gentle ribbing that followed with well-practised good grace. Although his eyes sparked with some mischief that had yet to reveal itself.

"We can further improve co-ordination by having everyone kitted out with ear pieces again. We might even be able to sneak in mapping of the Atrium beforehand." Dave suggested, "Percy knows the charm involved and it wouldn't look odd at all for him to follow Kingsley and Gawain around as they do a final inspection before the event."

"That will give Drunkmouse something to work with as we know our mirror phones still work in the Ministry. But we can also back that up by having a co-ordinator onsite as well." He suggested with a look at Percy and Audrey.

Percy caught Dave's look and turned to Audrey with the question as well as some worry on his face. "I'm game." She replied, "I have acted in that role before and don't mind it." She added with a smile at Percy.

"Excellent." Dave thanked her.

"We could further confuse the opposition by having the close in teams split as well." Dave suggested, "Two 'obvious' body guards and the remainder of the group disguised to look like the typical useless bureaucrats."

"Dave, your prejudices are showing." Sandra chided him, Dave only smiled by way of reply.

"If Kingsley and Dad both organised their close in support like that we could have Aurors hidden across just about the whole stage and no one would know." He stated happily, "Except for us of course."

"To cover Molly, we can use Arthur, Bill, Charlie, George and Percy. As they will not look out of place being on stage with her." Dave suggested and they all readily agreed before Molly could object.

Dave then turned to look at Maman, Papa and me. "If you all are agreeable you would make a VERY effective reserve team." Dave requested, "We could also make good use of how you girls can read the emotions of others. If we paired Audrey with you all, the map that she will have access to will enable very rapid targeting of anyone that you identify." He suggested.

I for one was very willing to join in and help, I could see that Gabrielle was very keen as well. Maman was willing to put herself in the 'line of fire' but she was reluctant to risk her family. Papa however decided for the family when he spoke, "I'm more than willing to assist in this effort." He stated, "If my wife and daughters wish to join in as well I will support their decisions."

"Everyone in the larger Weasley family has been very welcoming and supportive of my Fleur and in the last few days I have seen that first hand. I have also seen the lengths that they will go to when supporting and defending their family." He added with a smile to Molly and Arthur, "So we cannot turn down this chance to repay that sort of kindness." He said with a proud smile to everyone.

"It looks like we almost have the framework of a solid plan in place." Kingsley offered. "Gawain, how quickly can you make contact with the Aurors that you listed before?" He asked.

"It will take me about 3 hrs to get a chance to speak to them all separately." He replied confidently, "Co-ordinating back to you might be a little more difficult however." He added.

"I do believe that we can help with that." Dave offered with a large smile on his face.

"How?" Gawain asked him.

"With these." Dave answered as he pointed to some boxes that Shelly, Cassy and Izzy were just placing on the table.

Everyone quickly gathered around the table as Dave removed a small box from one of the larger ones. When he opened the small box, we could see a device that looked almost exactly like the Mirror Phones used by Dave and his team.

"What is that?" Ted asked Dave.

Dave didn't immediately answer but he did retrieve his own Mirror phone from near the TV and touch it to the new one he was holding. It then displayed Drunkmouse's smiling face that previously had been on the TV.

"Is that like one of those muggle mobile phones?" Ted asked his eyes alight in wonder, "I have heard rumours of your Tech Department and the one from the Korean Ministry working on a communication device. But I had no idea it was so far along." He exclaimed excitedly.

"You are correct, we are indeed working with Sim Young and his team on these devices." Dave replied.

"You are also correct that they are indeed very much like muggle mobile phones." Dave answered, "However unlike a muggle mobile phone these devices don't run on electricity so they are not affected by the presence of magic." He explained.

"This version of the 'mirror phone' as it is being commonly called also has much better clarity of voice and video along with more storage. We have also designed them so that they will soon have the ability to make calls to devices on the muggle phone networks." He explained to a rather surprised group.

"However, that part is still dependant on, some friends of ours convincing the ICW to support that goal. Along with some muggle companies to make some slight changes at certain key 'junctions' in the muggle networks."

"But that is not relevant to our immediate goals here." He said as his face turned serious, "We have here enough Mirror Phones for everyone in this room. Personally, I would like everyone to be equipped with a mirror phone so that we can all stay in touch securely."

"Those of you who already have a mirror phone can transfer all your stored information and contacts to the new devices the same way as you did with your current ones. After you have transferred the information be sure to securely WIPE ALL YOUR DATA from your old device." Dave instructed firmly. "Keep your old device secured as a spare." He looked around to get confirmation of this from his team.

"Those of you who are new to these devices, follow the instructions in the box on how to personalise the device to you."

"Then once you have done that and secured your device correctly we can show you how to transfer contact information to it." He offered, "I would also like to ensure that everyone knows how to have their mirror phone operate in silent mode as well as how to control the camera on the device."

With that statement, Dave fixed Chief Williams with an evil looking grin. Chief Williams had the good grace to blush under that grin from Dave and his team.

"Mum, Dad can the two of you show Ted, Kat and Auror Graves how to set up their mirror phones?" Dave requested.

"Certainly, we can." Sandra answered happily as she made her way over to them.

"Once the members of my team have got your new Mirror Phones sorted can you please show the others how to get them personalised and secured." Dave requested. A chorus of "Will do skipper." Came back much to Dave's delight.

I did notice that he made sure that he was the one to present Gabrielle with a mirror phone along with a large smile. Bill and I quickly joined him once we had grabbed a Mirror Phone as well.

Dave then quickly walked all of us through how to personalise the phone. This was a simple procedure that involved looking at the phone and speaking a specific phase into it. Once that was done the mirror phone was able to recognise its owner. Dave then showed us how to secure the device. This involved setting a 'pass phrase' as he called it as well as a 'duress phrase'. These offered the ability to fully secure any data on the phone. The duress phrase will still enable the phone to operate but would also send out an alert and a position report that would be copied to Drunkmouse and his team.

With that done Dave showed us how to give and accept contact information. He demonstrated this by tapping his phone to Gabrielle's to give her his 'number' as well as the numbers for his family and team. He got Gabrielle to then pass that same information onto me and I passed it onto Bill. The next part involved Bill having to send his 'number' to Dave, Gabrielle and me. I then sent my 'number' to Bill, Gabrielle and Dave. When it was Gabrielle's turn Dave was fighting down a blush when he asked her to send him her 'number'. She did so happily.

When we all had each other's numbers, Dave showed us how to make both voice and video calls on the phones. Gabrielle called Dave first and I watched from her phone, while Bill watched from Dave's. It was very clear very quickly just how useful these devices could be. After that call Dave got each of us to place a call to the others.

When we all had made, and received calls to each other Dave walked us through several of the other features. Like using the Camera and sending images, as well as sending text only messages and operating the phone with the sound turned off.

It wasn't long before we were all excitedly going around the room 'exchanging numbers' as Dave called it. Once this had been going on for a while Dave called us all back to some sort of order.

"Ok, now that you have all had some fun with your new devices. I'm going to ask that you send your own number to Drunkmouse and he will ensure that you all have a copy of the contacts of everyone here." Dave requested.

"Drunkmouse will also send to your phones a contact called I.C.E. This stands for 'In Case of Emergency' if you place a call to that number it will be like entering in your 'duress phrase'. You can rename that contact to anything you desire, just remember what it is so you don't call it accidently." He instructed us, "Because if you do end up calling that number you will be on the receiving end of a lot of attention." He added with an evil looking grin.

Dave next issued Gawain, Ted, Kat and Auror Graves with a set of Bunyip fur Armour. There were some odd looks from Auror Graves when he was handed his set. Ted however looked at Ivan and asked, "I hope it is more comfortable than the set your father gave us to try out all those years ago."

"Ted, you can take my word that it is significantly more comfortable than those early models." Ivan promised him with a chuckle.

"That's good to hear as those other sets nearly ground all of my ass off." Ted remarked with a chuckle.

"But the good bits were left behind. So, it can't have been a bad thing, now can it?" Kat asked him cheekily to around of laughter from the ladies present and a blush from Ted. Ivan was trying very hard not to join in the laughter, but it appeared to be a losing battle.

"Gawain, how do you want to handle your Aurors?" Ivan asked him, "Do you want to try and get them to meet you here? Or at our Embassy? Or do you want to take a set of armour and ear pieces for them and equip them as you confirm their reliability?"

"I believe it will be easier and less obvious if I can equip them as I locate them and confirm their status." He replied, "Once I have confirmed them I will message you all to let you know who we have and what roles they will play tomorrow." He offered.

"That sounds workable." Kingsley answered, "Should you get Gawain a second wand Dave?" He asked.

"He already has a second one Kingsley." Dave answered with a cheeky grin, "I can feel them both on him. But only one is in a secured holster." He added.

Kingsley looked a little shame faced at this news, "You're not going to let me forget that, are you?" He asked a little plaintively.

"Not if I can help it, I won't." Dave answered with a grin. Gawain also had an amused look on his face.

"When do you want to head off to locate your Aurors, Gawain?" Dave asked him, "And would you like some backup in case you meet up with your 'friends'?"

"If I leave just before dinner I can most likely catch them at their various haunts." He replied, "Backup might be nice, but it could also be a little too obvious if you know what I mean."

"I do. I do indeed." Dave replied, "In that case set your mirror phone to report in every 15min and if it misses a report we will track you down and observe from a distance what is going on. If your 'friends' are making life difficult for you, we can distract them or entertain them. Whichever you prefer." He offered with an evil smirk.

"That sounds like a good offer." Gawain replied also with a smirk.

"You going to contact Greg Savage first?" Kingsley asked him.

"Yes. He has taken to eating regularly at the Leaky Cauldron. So, I should be able to locate him there at around 5:30pm with no trouble." Gawain answered.

"Ok then. Drunkmouse can you contact the safe house that Mrs Savage is located in and ask them to pass a message along to her that we are going to try and arrange a video call with her husband at that time." Dave requested.

"I will most happily organise that one Dave." Drunkmouse answered, "Will request that she be available in the main office at that time so she can jump on the phone as soon as Gawain calls me." He answered to a very happy looking Gawain and Kingsley.

"Who will you try to locate next?" Kingsley asked.

"Lilith would be the next target. Her parents place is not far from there and I can usually find her there after 6:00 in the evenings." Gawain explained.

"Drunkmouse can you give a 'heads up' to her parents that we will be trying for a video call at that time also?" Dave asked.

"Being organised now mate." He replied.

"Who would be next?" Kingsley requested.

"Pepper would be the one I would try to locate next." Gawain replied, "She is a little trickier as she hasn't been staying in one place much lately and she has also been working a great deal…"

"Drunkmouse, is Pepper showing on any of the bugs we have in the Ministry at the moment?" Dave asked.

"Give me a moment to check." He replied. After a wait of several minutes Drunkmouse was back, "Ok she isn't showing on any of our bugs but it was mentioned earlier today that she is currently on a stake out with Auror Ben Williamson." He answered.

"Ah, ok. I know that stakeout location and if I can catch them there I can speak to Ben at the same time." Gawain answered happily, "I will be able to show her the photos that Auror Graves has, as well as give them both their armour and ear pieces. I could even do that before I speak to Greg." He offered.

"I'll go and collect those photos for you now." Auror Graves offered as he moved to the door that Dave was holding open for him. He returned very quickly and handed a set of photos across to Gawain.

"That is definitely her brother and his wife." Gawain commented as he looked at the photos with a wide smile. "She will be over joyed to see them. Thank you." He said to Auror Graves with a genuine smile on his face.

"Us Aurors do need to stick together." Auror Graves replied as he shook hands with Gawain.

"How are you going to find Walt and Faye?" Kingsley asked Gawain.

"Ben will know where Walt is as they have both been watching each other's backs." Gawain said confidently, "I'm also sure that Pepper will know where Faye is staying as well."

"Be sure that they all know how to use the ear pieces and that they will need to announce themselves to Audrey and/or Drunkmouse on Monday when they are in the Ministry." Dave requested.

"Will do." Gawain replied.

"Also please ensure that they make any required adjustments to their bunyip armour before tomorrows 'activities' as well." He said with a serious look on his face.

"Definitely." Gawain confirmed.

"Just how effective is this Bunyip Fur armour?" Auror Graves asked Dave.

"Very." Dave answered, "You will still feel the physical impact of the spell hitting you. Which can hurt quite a lot just on its own. But you will not experience the actual effects of the spell."

"Unless it is an unforgiveable or there are a good number of people targeting you at the same time." Dave explained.

"I see." Auror Graves answered with a thoughtful look on his face. "Can we test it?" He asked hopefully.


	41. Training and Games

A/N: A quick note for this chapter and to hopefully answer some of the questions / comments that I have received around 'Dave'. Yes I am aware that I do tend to highlight Dave's lack of 'awareness' about women in general. All I can say is that there is a reason for this and it will come to the fore in later chapters. As for the comments about the supposed "lack of flaws" in some of the main characters, I can say that they do have their own flaws and weaknesses. Some of them are very serious and have already been alluded to a few times in other chapters. In a chapter that is not far off one of the main characters is going to come face to face with his most dangerous weakness and will be forced to start to deal with it before it gets someone killed.

* * *

"Pardon?" Ted asked Auror Graves, "You want to be voluntarily hit with a few stunners?" He asked with a smile of disbelief on his face.

"Yes and no." Auror Graves answered with that sly look coming back into his eyes, "I don't mind getting hit with one stunner to test it. But I would also like to make sure that my movement isn't going to be compromised by wearing this garment." He explained with a look of mischief at Dave.

Ted and Ivan had smiles on their faces as well when they caught onto the 'true' meaning of Auror Graves request.

"It is only prudent to test one's own equipment, isn't it?" Ted remarked to Ivan who was trying to hide his own smirk.

"Yes, you are very correct there Ted. It would be foolish to go into action with untested equipment." He replied with his own grin now showing.

Dave was watching the three of them with a look of wary resignation on his face. Eventually he turned to his team members who were also looking on in anticipation.

"Guz, Goose…" Dave started to ask. But before he could finish his request, they both jumped up and ran for the door calling back to Dave, "One training floor coming up with the usual shields in place also." Dave had a chuckle as they headed out the door.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked a little confused.

"Dave and Auror Graves are going to have a little friendly duel, supposedly to confirm that the Bunyip fur armour actually works." Sandra answered while looking at Ivan and Ted as a parent would look at a pair of naughty kids, "But I strongly suspect that some older and supposedly 'wiser' individuals are encouraging this as they are both itching to get on the duelling floor themselves against each other."

"What do you think Kat?" Sandra asked her.

"I'm not going to bet against that idea." Kat replied grinning at Sandra.

Hearing this the rest of us suddenly also became very excited to see a training duel between two Aurors. As such things are usually not available for non Aurors to witness. Gabrielle looked both excited and a little nervous at the upcoming duelling contest.

"Don't you think you should go and get changed?" Kat remarked to a still grinning Auror Graves.

"Yes. Yes, I should, shouldn't I." Auror Graves replied as he quickly dashed back through the scullery door to the MACUSA embassy. Arthur directed Gawain to the bathroom upstairs where he could get changed also.

Dave just grinned and headed outside with Gabrielle. The rest of us eagerly followed them outside.

In the yard, we noticed that the training floor that had been there on Friday was back. This time it seemed to be enclosed in a type of haze.

"What's that haze surrounding the training floor?" Ginny asked Kingsley as they both approached the floor.

"That would be the shields to protect the spectators." Kingsley answered with a smile, "Even in a basic training duel, the number of spells thrown around can be significant."

"As you will undoubtedly soon see most of the spells will not be blocked but deflected. It is the deflected spells that can often prove to be troublesome for spectators." Kingsley explained.

"I do see how that could be troublesome." Ginny replied with her own excitement coming to the fore.

As we were waiting for Auror Graves to return, we all staked out a spot to sit and watch from. Ivan, Ted, Arthur and Kingsley seemed to be in a spirited discussion with Chief Williams and Chief Roberts (who came hurrying out from the house still tucking his shirt in). I'm not sure what it was about but there seemed to be a fair amount of good natured arguing going on.

Dave walked passed the group and listened for a moment before continuing on his way to where Gabrielle was sitting. He seemed to be chuckling to himself about something.

"What is so funny?" Ginny asked him.

"They are arguing over who should be stunned without the Bunyip armour to make sure that it is a 'valid stunner' that will be sent against Auror Graves." He answered smiling, "Uncle Arthur, Kingsley, Gawain and Steve all think it should be either Ted or Dad who are stunned as they approved of this idea." He added grinning.

"Naturally they are not keen on getting stunned. Especially by me." He chuckled, "They seem to think I might be too enthusiastic about it for some reason."

"Why would they think that?" Ron asked.

"I have no idea." Dave answered with a look of earnest innocence that wasn't completely convincing.

"Why don't they just agree on doing a 'razzle dazzle' type stunner if they are being such wimps about it." Fireball remarked a little too loudly. This comment looked to have the desired affect she was after, as the group all stopped their conversation and looked over at Fireball.

"You know, that's actually a very good idea." Ted remarked to the group, looking around and seeing agreement in the eyes of all assembled, "Thank you very much for volunteering young lady." Ted remarked with a large smile on his face as everyone else just had to laugh at the expression on Fireballs face at having been caught in her own trap.

"Oh, alright I'll do it." Fireball grumbled as she stumped off to her tent to remove her Bunyip armour.

"What's a 'razzle dazzle' type stunner?" Harry asked eagerly.

"It's a 'low power' stunner used in training to either get people used to lots of noise and flashes of light that you often see in combat." Kingsley explained, "It is also often used when learning some of the more advanced shields, as it often takes a while to get them right and we don't want to cause too much injury to our trainees."

"If it is a low power stunner wouldn't that mean it would make less noise than a real one?" Harry asked with a look of puzzlement.

"Because it is low powered stunner, it really isn't much more than an empty shell." Gawain answered, "It is when that shell collapses back in on itself that the extra noise and light is generated."

"Let me demonstrate for you." He offered.

With that he and Kingsley removed their shoes and walked onto the training floor. Kingsley put up a shield protecting the training dummy while Gawain readied himself to fire a stunner at it.

"This is a standard stunner." He stated as he fired a stupefy spell at the dummy. It was blocked with the expected quick flash of light.

"This is a 'razzle dazzle' type stunner." He said as he gave his wand a very negligent type flick at the dummy. That spell was also blocked but with significantly more noise and light.

"They make great distractions in a real fight when you throw a lot of them at someone's shield. Especially if they haven't encountered them before." Dave added with a grin.

"That they do." Gawain replied as he fired 5 'razzle dazzle' type stunners in a row at Kingsley's shield.

The noise and light generated was very impressive. We were all more than a little shocked by it.

"Does it take less energy to block a stunner of that sort?" Harry enquired of Gawain.

"A little less than blocking a real stunner. They are often used as a way of 'grinding down' someone's shields that you can't get past easily." Gawain explained, "Because you expend so little energy to send the 'razzle dazzle' stunners when compared to the energy needed to block them."

"That's a very neat trick." Harry remarked grinning, "What does it feel like if you get hit by one of them?"

"Unlike a regular stunner, they won't knock you out. But they will leave you dazed for a few moments and that is almost as bad in a real duel." Gawain explained, "They also do not hurt as much as a regular stunner." He remarked grinning at Fireball who was grumbling as she returned back to the training floor.

"You're more than welcome to take my place Chief Roberts." She offered with a sweet smile and battering of eyelashes.

"You're very kind to offer." He replied, "But I do believe it is 'ladies first'?" He added with a smile of his own. Dave and several (male) members of his team cheered Gawain's reply to Fireball. She seemed to take note of those involved.

By this stage Auror Graves had returned and was looking very excited. "I'm pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the armour is. From the Ambassador's stories, I was expecting it to be like wearing sand paper." He told us.

"Some of the early versions were indeed like wearing sand paper." Ivan answered, "So he wasn't pulling your leg on that one. It is only in the last 5 years or so that they have been made significantly more comfortable."

Ivan and Kingsley now called Arthur, Ted, Dave, Fireball, Auror Graves, Gawain and Chief Williams into a discussion on the training floor for a few minutes. Everyone looked focused on the discussion but there was the occasional smile. When the discussion ended, Gawain had a separate quick chat with both Dave and Auror Graves. During this chat Gawain had his back to us so we couldn't see what he was saying but both Dave and Auror Graves were facing us and we could see their frequent looks in our direction. Eventually the two of them were grinning at something and they all shook on some form of agreement. After that Gawain came back to sit with us just behind Harry and Ron, who had both secured 'front row' seats.

"What was that discussion about?" Ginny asked Gawain.

"Safety briefing." Was all that Gawain would answer but he was struggling to hold the smile from showing at the corners of his mouth.

Dave, Fireball and Auror Graves were now on the training floor together. Dave very quickly flicked some 'razzle dazzle' stunners at the target dummy and then asked the other two for a 'ruling' on them. When they were judged as acceptable Fireball went and stood next to the target dummy and Dave fired an identical stunner at her. She staggered back and almost fell over but you could see from the expression on her face that she was clearly 'out of it' for a few moments.

Both Dave and Auror Graves were quickly at her side as they checked on her. She came around after a moment or two and was rewarded with hugs from the two of them before she returned to her seat.

"Are you ok dear?" I heard Molly ask her.

"I'm fine just a little disorientated." Fireball replied with a shy smile.

Back on the training floor Auror Graves was now standing next to the target dummy and Dave was facing him. Upon a signal from Auror Graves, Dave fired a stunner at him that hit him in the middle of the chest. Auror Graves staggered back a step and then immediately fired a stunner back at Dave. This must have been arranged as Dave didn't seem surprised and calmly held up his hand to freeze the stunner in place.

This action got a real response from Gawain and Auror Graves. They both seemed to be very excited by it but it was Auror Graves comment that attracted everyone's attention.

"So THAT's what the 'sticky shield' is supposed to do." Auror Graves exclaimed in delight, "Long John never quite managed to hold anything that still." He added while looking at his stunner with intense interest, while absently rubbing the middle of his chest.

"What did you call it?" Gawain asked with an excitement like a kid in a candy store.

"It's called the 'Sticky Shield'" Ivan informed us, "It began life as a training aid. A way to enable our Aurors to closely examine the spells that they cast. So that they could better understand their form and structure."

"However, over time some of our more adventurous members." Here he looked over at most of Dave's team, "Have come up with some other rather novel uses for it." He explained.

"How do you cast it?" Gawain asked still intensely interested in the stunner that was motionless in front of him.

"Much like a traditional Protego charm." Dave answered, "However when you cast it you need to think of a large number of 'lite' layers in front of your shield instead of the single layer that is typically used."

"You also need to be extremely confident in your belief that the charm will work. Any doubt will cause it to fail, with often painful results." Dave explained, "It will also not work properly on unforgiveable curses as they are to 'slippery'." He warned us.

"What other uses have you put it to?" Hermione asked eagerly.

Dave smiled back at her with his crooked smile (which incidentally seemed to have a rather strong effect on Gabrielle) and replied cryptically, "You might get to see one or two of them in the upcoming 'activities'."

"Speaking of which." Ted remarked, "Are you two youngins going to get started any time soon?" He asked them.

With this Dave and Auror Graves headed back to the training floor. Just before passing through the wards around the training floor Auror Graves conjured a small table and placed something on it. Stepping back, he allowed Dave to see what it was. After Dave had glanced at what was on the table he smiled broadly and remarked.

"You have clearly spent too much time around Long John." He said with a chuckle, "But, you're on." He stated as he too placed something on the table.

"What's on the table?" Hermione asked Harry who was the closest. Harry had a closer look at the table and smiled.

"There are four red Jelly Beans on the table." He chuckled.

"That's a good bet to make. Randall must be feeling confident." Ted chuckled to Ivan and Sandra. The rest of us also had a laugh at this except for Gawain, who had to have the whole Jelly Bean 'thing' explained to him. Once that was done however he also was smiling.

Out on the training floor Dave and Auror Graves were facing each other with their wands in hand. Once they appeared to be ready Chief Williams spoke up.

"The rules of the duel are this. The duel with be in the standard 'progressive' format. Each new stage will be clearly announced. Only shields and stunners are to be used. No enhanced movement is to be used."

"The duel is also restricted to 'traditional' magic." He stated as he gave Dave a long hard look until a smiling Dave nodded his agreement, "The winner will be the first one to immobilise their opponent, unless one of you withdraws or is injured. Usual safety rules are in place also." He added firmly.

With that taken care of he bowed to both of them and left the training floor. Dave and Auror Graves bowed to each other and readied themselves. A countdown of 3, 2, and 1 was heard and the moment Zero was called out both Dave and Auror Graves fired stunners at each other.

They were both extremely quick and they were both on target. Both stunners were blocked however. Or more correctly deflected. As the stunners raced off to crash into the wards that were in place around the training floor. One of the stunners hit the wards almost in front of where we were all sitting.

"That's why we have the wards in place." Kingsley said grinning to Ginny. She acknowledged the comment but she was watching the duel with rapt attention.

Looking around I could see Gabrielle watching the duel closely also. As interested as the two of them were neither of them came close to the excitement and intensity that Harry was displaying while he was watching the duel unfold in front of us. Gawain appeared to have picked up on this also and was watching Harry closely for several minutes before he leaned forward and spoke into Harry's ear.

"Tell me what you see." He asked Harry.

"A very intense duel that I'm rather glad that I'm not involved in." He replied.

"Really?" Gawain remarked, "Is that all that the 'great Harry Potter' can see." He questioned with a smile on his face. Harry turned to look at Gawain with some surprise, but noting the look of amusement on his face he turned back to look at the duel that was unfolding in front of us.

After a few more minutes Gawain again asked Harry, "What do you see?" I got the distinct impression that Gawain was treating this like a lesson for Harry, one he was drawing out as he was trying to impart something important to him.

"They are both very quick and very accurate." Harry answered.

"Anyone can see that." Gawain replied, "What else do you see?" He asked.

"They are also very controlled in what they are doing." Harry observed, "They are not lashing out randomly, it's almost like they are measuring each other." He said thoughtfully.

"Their defences are also extremely measured. It's like they are not willing to commit their full strength to any one defence." Harry commented, "They are almost delicate in the way they handle their shields. They don't block spells they are deflecting them to conserve energy."

"Much, much better." Gawain remarked as he sat back with a smile on his face. He then made some sort of signal to Chief Williams, who nodded in acknowledgement. He then caused the colour of the wards surrounding the training floor to flash red several times in quick succession.

When that occurred both Dave and Auror Graves smoothly drew their second wands and brought them to bare in the duel. The rate of attack, defence and counter attack increased dramatically as they were both now fully utilising both of their wands in their hands. It was becoming increasingly difficult to track what was occurring on the training floor.

"What can you see now?" Gawain asked Harry after Dave and Auror Graves had been using dual wands for a few minutes.

"It seems like they are developing some sort of pattern out there." Harry answered, "It's like there is almost a detectable pattern in the way they launch their attacks and counter attacks. But then it will quickly change again."

"Very well done Harry." Gawain replied with a large smile, "That's is exactly what they are doing. They are both trying to entice the other into thinking that they know what is going to happen next. And then become over confident because of it."

"However, they are also both wise to each other using this tactic." He stated confidently, "It will be interesting to see what they try on each other next." He commented as he once again signalled Chief Williams. This time when Chief Williams acknowledged the signal from Gawain the wards flashed blue a few times and a voice stated loudly and clearly, "Wands are now optional."

When that was announced, Dave was very quick to put away both of his wands, when that happened he looked both more calm and relaxed. While Auror Graves seemed to look wary like he was expecting some sort of trick. In the end, he was correct there was a trick involved. It just wasn't the one he was expecting, which really is the best kind of trick when you think about it.

Once Dave had put away his wands Auror Graves unleashed a string of rather powerful stunners mixed in with some 'razzle dazzle' ones. This mixture seemed to cause Dave to retreat slightly quicker than he had done before. As he was doing so he seemed to almost tangle his long legs and stumble a bit.

When Auror Graves saw that he quickly fired a powerful stunner at Dave. The expression of Dave's face looked to be one of shock as the stunner was fired, however as it reached him Dave seemed to hold out his hand to the stunner in an odd way.

"He's going to try and freeze it." Ron exclaimed excitedly.

But that isn't what Dave ended up doing. Instead Dave seemed to catch and redirect the stunner, as he then spun very rapidly on the spot. When he was again facing Auror Graves he released the stunner that had been fired at him while sending one of his own very closely behind it.

With that done Dave moved very rapidly to the far side of the training floor where it looked like he was about to launch another attack. This move caught Auror Graves attention and he negligently deflected the first stunner and was about to fire again at Dave, when the stunner that Dave had 'hidden' behind the first one struck him.

As he was wearing Bunyip armour the stunner didn't knock him out but it staggered him enough that Dave was able to 'sneak' yet another stunner in to strike Auror Graves in the head and this one did indeed knock him out.

Dave very quickly cast some sort of spell to stop Auror Graves from hitting the floor and then gently lowered him down to the mat. He then quickly crossed to him and revived him.

"You ok?" He asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah I'm fine." Auror Graves answered with a rueful smile, "You have GOT to show me how you did that, you cheeky little bugger." He chuckled.

"I think that can be arranged." Dave replied also chuckling, "One side effect of being a rather large lump is that people always seem to expect me to be slow and clumsy. They never seem to question a stumble especially if I'm moving quickly. Over the years, I've learnt to take advantage of that." Dave explained.

"That you have indeed." Ted remarked as he crossed to the training floor to check on the two of them. "That was one of the most impressive shield and stunner training duels that I have seen in a long time." He stated happily.

"Why did you both take so long to get going though?" He asked the two of them. Auror Graves and Dave just sheepishly looked to Gawain who was smiling broadly.

"I asked them to take their time and demonstrate a few things." He explained, "As I wanted to see if young Harry here would pick up on what they were actually trying to do." He chuckled as he saw the look on Harry's face.

"It was a test then?" Harry asked slightly worried.

"Indeed, it was." Gawain answered, "You will be happy to note that you did very well in it." He said to a now smiling Harry. Ron and Ginny were also smiling happily at this statement.

"So, Harry, you want to have a go next?" Gawain asked.

"Against who?" Harry asked warily.

"Smart boy this one." Gawain chuckled to Kingsley, "He wants to play but wants to know who his opponent is before he agrees." Both Kingsley and Gawain smiled at this.

"You will be against me Harry." Gawain replied as some of the colour drained from Harry's face.

"Go on Harry. Do it." Ron encouraged him.

"I like your enthusiasm there Ron." Gawain said approvingly, "You can be next after Harry." Everyone chuckled at the look of dread that appeared on Ron's face at this news.

"Ok." Harry replied, "I'm game. Same rules as Dave and Auror Graves had?" he asked still smiling at Ron's expression.

"Agreed." Gawain answered as he removed his shoes and socks.

"Harry, a moment." Dave requested. Harry walked over to Dave with a questioning expression, while Gawain just looked suspicious.

"Be wary of his 'double stunner' that he likes to use." Dave advised, "He also likes to deflect your own attacks right back at you." Dave said with a smile at a rather confused and slightly annoyed Gawain.

"How do you know that?" He almost demanded of Dave.

"How can I not, considering how many times we have duelled together." Dave replied with a chuckle.

"I've never duelled with you before." Gawain stated confidently.

"You have indeed, but I was dressed as someone else." Dave chuckled.

"Who?" Gawain asked his eyes alight with curiosity.

Dave then changed himself into a 6" tall, solidly built, bald headed and beared man. The expression on Gawain's face was a sight to see.

"You were, are Eric Warren from the Department of Mysteries?" Gawain exclaimed in disbelief.

"That I am." Dave replied, "You actually caught me 'red handed' coming out of the court rooms in the Ministry after I had 'borrowed' some records." Dave explained sheepishly.

"I'm not sure who surprised who more." He chuckled, "As I was in a bit of a rush and didn't do my usual checks. You seemed to be annoyed and distracted when we met, so I decided to see if I could further distract you from what I had been doing by offering to partake in a friendly duel with you." Dave grinned.

"I have to admit I never expected to enjoy it as much as I did. Nor did I expect you to request a rematch." He added with a laugh.

"A rematch?" Kingsley asked, "Why did you want a rematch? Did 'Eric' actually beat you?" He enquired of a now sheepish looking Gawain.

"Over all I think we're about even aren't we 'Eric'?" Gawain replied with a smirk.

"Actually, I do think I'm currently up by two." Dave replied to a round of laughter. Gawain gave Dave a look that was a mixture of amusement and resolve as he collected Harry and they faced off on the training floor.

Dave helped Auror Graves back to his chair, collecting the Jelly Beans on the way. He returned Auror Graves two Jelly Beans to him as he had enjoyed the duel so much. But he did share one of his own Jelly Beans with Gabrielle, she accepted it happily and seemed to enjoy it. The looks on the faces of Sandra and her daughters though seemed to indicate that something significant had just happened. I was struggling to work out what it was when Gawain and Harry began their duel.

As with the earlier duel they were both very mobile and quick with their stunners. It was quickly evident however that Harry lacked the finesse with which Gawain used his Shields. This started to tell the longer the duel went on as Harry began to noticeably tire."

"When they switched to using two wands at the same time the differences were even more pronounced as I don't believe Harry had ever used two wands at once. He did however look to be a very quick learner as we saw him pickup and use several tactics that Gawain had earlier employed against him."

"The wand optional section was very telling as neither one of them gave up a wand. Both of them preferred to hold onto both of their wands. Harry did look like he was starting to really struggle now as Gawain was working him rather hard. Eventually Harry looked to be backed into a corner of the training floor. Looking around he seemed to acknowledge this situation and his face became thoughtful for a moment.

Very quickly however his face changed into one of steely resolve and he fired a rather familiar looking type stunner at Gawain. This stunner was thinner than what he had cast before and it gave the appearance of going straight through Gawain's shield and hitting him in the middle of the chest. As with Auror Graves earlier Gawain wasn't knocked out but he was disorientated for a very brief moment. When he had gathered his wits again Harry was standing directly in front on him pointing his wand straight as Gawain's nose.

"Do you surrender?" Harry asked with a ghost of a smile on his face.

"No." Gawain answered as he fired a very quick non-verbal stunner at Harry who was himself disorientated for a moment and then found himself facing Gawain who was now holding both of Harry's wands in his hands while pointing his own one at Harry.

"Always disarm your opponent before trying to take them prisoner." Gawain instructed Harry before breaking out into a rather large smile at the sheepish look on Harry's face at having made a 'rookie mistake' as he was later informed (many times).

Throughout Gawain's duel with Harry, Kingsley had been holding a whispered conversation with Ron. Once Harry left the floor Gawain called Ron up to take his place. Looking a little pale but encouraged with a kiss from Hermione, Ron met Gawain on the training floor.

Once the duel began the topic of Ron's conversation with Kingsley became very apparent. As Ron was making use of deflecting shields, he was not using them with the finesse that Gawain, Dave or Auror Graves used them. But he was definitely consciously using them. This had a significant impact on the duel as Ron was not tiring as quickly as Harry had been earlier.

I glanced over to see if Harry had noticed this and found him deep in conversation with Kingsley, Dave and Auror Graves. All three of them looked to be enjoying themselves immensely. Gabrielle also seemed to be enjoying the conversation, even though she wasn't participating as much as the boys were. She was definitely taking in the information and asking questions that the boys seemed to be happy to answer.

Gawain eventually got a stunner past Ron's shields and hit him squarely in the chest. Ron however seemed to take the blow almost in his stride and quickly retaliated straight back at a rather surprised Gawain who was forced into some very fancy defence. This caused a round of applause from the crowd and that momentary distraction of Ron's concentration was enough for Gawain to again get inside his defences and this time it was a double stunner that had a more significant effect on Ron.

Gawain was then then able to disarm and 'secure' Ron without the need to fully stun him.

Everyone was impressed with Ron's ability to take the hit from the stunner and keep on fighting. When Gawain asked him how he did that Ron's reply was simply 'Quidditch'. Seeing the confused look from Gawain he explained further.

"It wasn't really that much worse than being hit with a particularly well thrown Quaffle or even some bludgers" He remarked with a grin at Gawain.

"I see." Gawain answered, "No more going lightly then for you." He added with a chuckle.

Ted and Ivan were keen on taking a turn on the training floor next, but Chief Williams spoke up and burst their bubble.

"Shouldn't we be working on getting those nominated to be 'playing dirty' tomorrow used to doing so?" He asked with a smirk at the two of them. They looked like two small boys who had been told that they can't go into the lolly shop until their chores had been done. Their expressions caused Sandra and Kat to have a good laugh between them.

"That's actually a good idea." Gawain said hiding his own smile at the two of them, "I have to head off just now to catch Ben and Pepper before they end their shift on the stakeout. If you get everyone practising on 'playing dirty' I won't have to miss out on watching those two play, I mean duel together." He suggested with a broad smile.

"As always you are full of good suggestions Chief Roberts." Kingsley remarked also grinning broadly.

"That can be arranged." Dave offered, "In fact it might be a good time to see if we can get everyone who now has a Talisman to see if they can communicate through it." He suggested. This brought a chorus of enthusiastic replies from everyone.

"Mum, Dad do you two want to take Uncle Arthur and Aunty Molly along with Monsieur and Madame Delacour to teach them how to 'talk' to each other across their Talismans?" He asked.

"We can do that." Sandra replied happily as she quickly crossed to Arthur and Molly while Ivan paired with Maman and Papa.

"Shelly and Abby, do you want to take Ron and Hermione to help them use their Talismans? Then once they can use them show them how to 'play dirty' as a pair?" Dave asked.

They agreed and quickly collected Ron and Hermione and then selected a comfortable spot to sit and talk.

"Fireball and Izzy, you can help Harry and Ginny with their Talismans and then on 'playing dirty'." Dave suggested.

"Cassy and Olly, you can take George and Charlie and help them?" Dave suggested and Cassy seemed to be very pleased with the offer. I did notice that Charlie also had a small smile on his lips at this also.

"Goose and Guz, you two want to take Mr P and Audrey and walk them through using their Talismans?" Dave asked.

"Mick and Jono do you two want to take Kingsley along with Ted and Kat?" Dave suggested, "I know Ted and Kat can communicate across their Talismans but once you show Kingsley how they can play together learning how to be dirty." Dave explained.

"Sounds like fun." Kat remarked with a laugh at Ted.

"Auror Graves could join also if he wishes. I know he doesn't have a Talisman but you can get him to practise with Kingsley on other options in case he ends up having to disillusion him and get him off stage silently." Dave instructed.

"Rowdy, you can join me and we will assist Bill, Fleur and Gabrielle in using their Talismans." Dave suggested.

Gabrielle seemed to be very approving of this idea as she was quickly at Dave's side smiling brilliantly. Rowdy joined us displaying his own smile at the two of them.

"Looks like you're going to be stuck with me as those two might be distracted for a time." Rowdy chuckled in his quiet voice as he smiled knowingly at Dave and Gabrielle.

"Don't worry Rowdy, you won't have to use up your yearly quota of words in one day." Dave chuckled in reply, "Once they can use their Talismans you can just 'think' the instructions to them." He suggested with a large smile.

We all had a laugh at his comment before we started the lesson.

"You have now had your Talismans on since Friday evening." Dave began, "Have you noticed anything different about them in that time?" He asked us.

"I 'ave" Gabrielle replied, "Ze ozer night I was able to feel your mood when you were sitting on ze porch." She stated happily.

"Yes, that is correct you did indeed." Dave replied, "I was impressed by that actually." He said smiling and Gabrielle seemed to be very happy with that answer.

"Have any of you noticed any odd 'noise' or things of that sort since you began wearing them?" Dave asked us.

"Back at 'ome, when you were on ze phone you turned to look at your père" I told him, "Your face when blank for a few moments and zen I zought zat I could 'ear somezing like voices. Zey were just out of reach 'owever." I recalled.

"That's rather impressive." Dave said with a smile. Even Rowdy seemed to be a little surprised by this news. Bill and Gabrielle were both smiling brilliantly at me as well.

"That would have indeed been our thoughts as we talked to each other." Dave explained, "Your description of 'voices just out of reach' is actually a very apt one also."

"When you do first begin to take notice of thoughts coming across your Talisman it will indeed seem like you are listening to a conversation going on in a different room." He explained, "Physical contact will make the conversation clearer at the beginning. Touching the Talisman of the person you are trying to 'speak' to will make it stronger again."

"To begin with I will ask you to start just holding hands with each other. Rowdy will place his hands-on top of yours and act as a 'judge' of sorts to confirm if indeed a thought passed between you." Dave instructed, "When you go to send a thought to your partner start with the thought clear in your mind, make it a simple thought like a colour. Then think of sending that thought to your Talisman and from there to your partner."

"As your Talismans are both paired and linked they will be very aware of each other and will know immediately who you are thinking of." Dave explained, "When you have 'heard' the thought try to reply the same way back to your partner with the same thought."

"But try not to 'think' too loud, as that can be a bit startling if you are not used to it." Dave chuckled.

"Gabrielle and I will try the same exercise as you both." Dave said with a shy smile at Gabrielle, "As your Talisman is only linked to your parents' ones it will be more inclined to communicate to them first." Dave advised her.

"To send your thought to me, you will need to be very clear to your Talisman as to who you want the message to go to." Dave explained to Gabrielle. I found myself fighting back a large smile at this comment, as it made it clear to me that he hadn't yet noticed that he and Gabrielle had indeed linked their Talismans (albeit accidently) on the night that they made them.

Bill seemed to notice my struggles and had a questioning look on his face. At that point in time I dearly wished I could communicate my thoughts directly to him as I was itching to tell him what I had just learnt.

"Are you ready to begin?" Dave asked us.

"Oui." I replied eagerly as did Gabrielle. Bill also indicated that he was ready as well.

"Ok, let start by both of you holding each other's hand." Rowdy requested, "I will place my hand on top of both of yours. This will allow me to 'hear' what you are both saying to each other. So please behave." He added with a cheeky smile.

"Bill, we will start with you. Think of a colour and send that thought to your Talisman and then through it onto Fleur." He requested, "Fleur when you understand Bill's thought that he sent to you, send it back to him."

"I will be able to help guide you a little in this, but most of the work will be done by the two of you. Pay attention to what you 'hear' in your mind. As it will not be your ears that pick up what you are both saying to one another." He instructed.

"Do I need to close my eyes?" I asked Rowdy.

"If it helps you concentrate, by all means. But it isn't required." He replied, "Let us begin. Bill when you are ready."

With that we held hands and Rowdy placed his hand on top of ours. I looked into Bill's eyes and tried to be aware of the thoughts in my own head.

After a minute or two I could detect a faint almost 'tingle' like feeling in my Talisman. When I felt it I could almost hear a voice talking to me.

"Should my Talisman tingle when Bill sends 'is zoughts to me?" I asked Rowdy.

"That is a very common sensation to experience." He advised me, "If you are feeling that try to be a little more aware of your Talisman when you are 'listening'." He requested.

"Ok" I replied feeling my excitement grow.

This time when I began to notice the tingling feeling I tried to concentrate on it more than before. When I did so I faintly heard Bill's voice in my head. The word wasn't clear but I could hear him, like he was indeed talking in the next room.

"You heard me, didn't you?" Bill asked when he saw my expression change.

"Oui, I did." I told him smiling, "It sounded like you were talking in a different room and I was listening through the walls." I said excitedly.

This time we were both much more focused on what we were doing. Eventually it seemed to me that Bill was saying the word 'silver' repeatedly. Once I understood that my eyes widened in surprise and delight. Before I could say anything however Rowdy spoke up, "Don't say out loud what you just heard. Say it through your Talisman." He instructed us.

I focused my thoughts on the word silver and then consciously sent that thought to my Talisman with Bill in my mind as the recipient. After a few moments, Bill's eyes lit up and I could see a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"You heard her?" Rowdy asked him.

"I did indeed." Bill replied smiling.

"Ok, pick a colour that is often paired with what you heard and then send it to Fleur. She can then tell us both what you are saying." He requested.

"Ok." Bill answered and thought for a moment, before a look of concentration came across his face.

It didn't take long before it felt like Bill was whispering words in my ear. I had to stop myself from laughing at my own excitement.

"Gold!" I stated confidently and was rewarded with a brilliant smile from Bill. Rowdy also was smiling at us both.

"Excellent work you two. Very well done." He told us both, "Now let's start to complicate things shall we." He said with a playful smile.

"This time think of a colour, a person's name and a place and send that to your partner." He requested, "Who wants to go first?" He asked us.

"Moi" I said quickly before Bill could.

"Very well then. Ladies first." Rowdy replied.

I focused my mind on the items requested and sent them to Bill, via my Talisman. This time the effort was more than with just the single word but not by much. After about two minutes Bill showed signs of a smile on his face.

"You heard her?" Rowdy asked.

"I did." Bill answered with a smile that made my heart flutter a bit.

"What did she say to you?" Rowdy asked.

"Blue, Gabrielle and Paris." Bill answered.

"Was that what you sent to Bill?" Rowdy asked me.

"Oui. It was." I replied.

"Excellent, as that is indeed what I also heard. But try not to say the words so close together next time. Allow a slightly longer gap between them than if you were talking normally. At least at first anyway." He advised us.

We both nodded in understanding and then it was Bill's turn. I tried to calm the excitement in my mind and focus on both my thoughts and on my Talisman. When I had calmed my mind, I could again faintly hear Bills voice this time there were three distinct sounds that I could hear. After listening for a moment, I could make them out. My smile gave me away and Rowdy asked me to repeat what I had heard.

"White, Fleur and Burrow." I answered happily. Bill had clearly been thinking of our wedding day.

"That is very impressive. It normally takes much longer to get multiple words across like that." Rowdy proudly told us, "Ok, this time I want you to think of movements or directions. Things like, forward, backwards, left, right etc." He requested.

"When you hear the direction point your free hand to indicate what you heard. If it was correct your partner will nod and then you can swap. We will do this five times each. Ok?" He instructed. We both agreed and I got to go first this time.

I started my thinking with 'up', and it didn't take long before Bill was pointing his hand to the sky. I nodded to him and then a look of concentration came across Bills face, after a short pause I pointed to my left. Bill smiled and nodded at me. Then I thought of 'forward' for a few moments before Bill pointed at me. I couldn't help but smile in return.

We continued with these exercises for quite some time. Each round of them complicated the information that we were trying to convey to the other. When we got to the point where we had to send a complete sentence to each other, Rowdy decided to further complicate matters. He got us to stop holding hands and place our hands so that only our finger tips were touching. This time he didn't place his hands on ours but simply sat and watched us.

With our hands in this new position we were back to pointing in the direction that the other was thinking. Only this time we were to try and be as quick as we could be. Initially there were a few mistakes but they were quickly dealt with, by calming our excitement.

After several minutes of this Rowdy called a halt to the exercise. He was grinning at us both.

"What's so funny?" Bill asked him.

"Look at your hands." Rowdy instructed us.

When I looked down at our previously touching hands I saw that they were now no longer touching at all. Indeed there was a good 5cm between them.

"When did that happen?" Bill asked in surprise.

"While you were doing your exercise, I was slowly moving your hands apart." He explained, "Several of your mistakes were caused by me moving your hands. But you both recovered extremely well." He said proudly.

"This time put your hands in your own lap and tell your partner what you would like to drink." He told us both.

It didn't take long at all to hear Bill's voice saying tea in my mind. He seemed to quickly pick up my thoughts as well for we both smiled at almost the same instant.

"Tea." I said confidently. "Tea also." Bill answered just as confidently.

"Excellent. Two teas it is." Rowdy said as he directed a very quick look at Shelly who was on the porch of the Burrow waiting for this order. She smiled by way of reply and then relayed the order to those already inside.

"That seems like a good place to stop for a slightly late afternoon tea don't you think?" He asked us.

"No complaints from me." Bill answered.

"Or me." I replied as I looked over to where Dave and Gabrielle were seated.

They were facing each other and were not touching hands at all. It was also very clear that they were indeed communicating as they were holding up fingers on one hand and pointing with the other. When they noticed everyone else getting up they stopped their activities and stood up as well.

"'ow did she go?" I asked Dave.

"Like a real champ." Dave answered while Gabrielle beamed at him, "Although she does need to learn to not let her thoughts wonder too much." He added with a cheeky smile at her. Gabrielle blushed for a few moments before directing a challenging look at Dave.

"Don't worry, even I'm not silly enough to repeat what you were thinking." He chuckled as Gabrielle came over and swatted him on the arm before kissing him.

I gave Gabrielle a questioning look but she only smiled back at me and headed off to the Burrow with her arm around Dave's waist. Looking over to Bill and Rowdy I could see them both smiling at Dave and Gabrielle as they walked to the Burrow for afternoon tea.

Our afternoon tea was a great chance to discuss all of our different experiences with using our Talismans. Auror Graves felt a little left out as he didn't possess a Talisman currently. Dave got himself into a little bit of trouble by suggesting he could get one simply by marrying one of his many female cousins. Fireball, Shelly and Cassy wasted no time in 'dealing with' Dave for that comment, much to the general amusement of those in the room.

Once Dave had escaped from his sisters and cousin he discussed the next stage of the lesson.

"When we all head back out I would like you all too actually practise moving around a bit." He requested, "This time you will pair up with one person standing behind the other. The person at the back will be giving the 'orders' on where to move to and the person in front will move according to those orders."

"When we get to the point where you can both move together without tripping over, you can swap places so that you both have a chance at giving and receiving directions. Then with that completed we will play a little game of 'tag'." He explained with a grin. Dave's team and family also had smiles on their faces.

"Are we going to have a prize for the winning team?" Shelly asked him hopefully.

"That depends if you girls have left me any lollies in my cupboard." He replied with an evil smirk at her and Fireball. For their part the two girls were displaying rather sheepish looks at this comment.

"I don't think we ate all of your chocolate." Fireball answered, "But I'm fairly sure that there were a few packets of Liquorice Wands and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans still left in there." She added defensively.

"There are also still some chocolate frogs left. In that bedside table thing you have in your room, I'm sure of it." Cassy added as well. Although she blushed a bit at the look Dave directed at her.

"Do you control the supply of sweets for your team as well?" Ginny asked Dave with an impish look on her face.

"No. Not even slightly." Dave replied with an evil look at his sisters and cousin, "It's just that my 'loving' female relatives always prefer to raid my own stores before eating their own." Dave explained.

"I've tried hiding my sweets in other people's tents, disillusioning them, hiding them in secured cupboards, but the girls in my family can smell sweets better than a Thestral can smell blood." Dave bemoaned, "Trying to keep them from any sort of sweet or lollies is almost as productive as trying to hold back the tide. Especially as they are so adept at hunting in packs." He added with a small glare for his female family members.

"Jimmy ended up giving in to the girls and just left his supply in jars in his kitchen. It saved him from having to continually tidy up his cupboards after the girls had riffled through them." He remarked as the girls turned bright red.

"I going to need to check my own cupboards before I can promise prizes for our games." He added with a quick glance at his family members, "If there are sufficient supplies there will be treats for those who manage to catch their opponent." Dave offered.

Everyone was keen to try out this game so we quickly consumed our tea and some cakes and headed back out into the yard. We paired up in the same manner as before and with the same 'helpers' as well. Bill started out as the one giving the directions and I was to put them into action.

The first few attempts to move as a pair were a bit of a disaster as we came close to collapsing in a heap when we didn't have our timing correct. But we quickly worked out a solution. I repeated Bill's instruction back and then we moved together on my 'command'. This proved to be very effective, along with Harry and Ginny, and Dave and Gabrielle we were amongst the first to move together.

We then swapped our positions and I was the one directing Bill. Using our method we had worked out previously we were quickly able to move around together.

When we were able to achieve that we were split up, and I was sent to pair with Ginny while Harry and Bill were paired. Trying to communicate with Ginny was more difficult than with Bill. But it was also a great deal of fun as we both couldn't stop smiling. Eventually we were able to make our thoughts known to one another. The next challenge was to be able to move together as one. This again took some more time than with Bill but we still managed it.

Once we had been able to move successfully we took a break and I looked around at the others. Without exception, everyone was wearing broad smiles on their faces. Something about the activity was so odd that it was hilarious to us. I chanced a look over to Dave and Gabrielle only to see a look of profound puzzlement on Dave's face.

He seemed to be very confused about something so I wandered over to see what the cause of his concern was.

"Somezing wrong?" I asked Dave.

"No, not wrong. Just unexpected." Dave answered still trying to puzzle something out.

"What was unexpected?" I enquired.

"I began to give some thought about how to structure the 'game' that we will play." Dave replied, "When Gabrielle's thoughts popped up and offered some good ideas."

"What's unexpected about zat?" I said struggling to hide a smile.

"I didn't send those thoughts over my Talisman to her." Dave answered.

"Maybe she just knows and understands you better zan you zink?" I asked with a smile now showing.

The expression on Dave's face became highly suspicious of me at that point, "What do you know?" He asked as Gabrielle also turned her own questioning look to me.

"What makes you zink I know somezing zat you don't about zis?" I asked evasively.

"You're wearing that same expression that my sisters all have when they are trying to hide something they find very amusing from me." Dave countered.

"Am I?" I replied trying to sound innocent.

"Yes you are indeed and it is becoming more obvious by the minute." Dave replied with a look that was both amused and frustrated.

"What would it require for Gabrielle to 'ave been aware of zose zoughts of yours?" I asked Dave trying to prod him to the answer without telling him.

"She would have needed to be a very skilled Legilimens. Or to have used Sorcery to bring those thoughts to her attention. I'm very confident that I would have felt it, if either of those two methods were used." Dave explained, "Another possible route, would be to have Talismans that had been linked, along with their owners making a formal commitment to each other." With that comment Dave and Gabrielle exchanged shy but heartfelt looks of affection. Gabrielle going so far as to have to fight back a blush.

"But it can't have been that." Dave stated, "As it requires a very precise incantation to be cast." He explained.

"Does it always require zat?" I asked with the excitement growing in me.

"No, not always." Dave replied after a few moments of thought and I could see Gabrielle's heightened interest in this part of the conversation, "It is possible for the Souls of two people who have 'met' to take matters into their own 'hands' so to speak."

"However, that requires a deep and fundamental level of understanding between those two souls. Along with a very significant level of attraction and genuine affection from both parties." Dave continued to explain. I'm not sure how much Gabrielle understood at this point about her Talisman being linked to Dave. But she was looking more and more pleased with what Dave was saying. As well as very smug also.

"It also requires the souls involved to agree that one of them belongs to an individual who is a 'little slow' about matters of the heart…" Dave was explaining as Gabrielle attacked him enthusiastically and delivered some devastating kisses to him.

"Has Gabrielle figured it out, has she?" Asked a voice that sounded like it was struggling very hard to hold back joyous laughter. When I turned, I saw Sandra, Molly, Maman, Fireball, Shelly, Kat and Ginny all looking very amused and approving at the scene in front of them.

"Oui. I zink zat she 'as." I replied smiling, "Dave explained it to her." I chuckled.

"Let me guess, he hasn't caught on himself as yet?" Sandra chuckled.

"No, he hasn't." I told her with the amusement plain for all to hear in my voice.

"That boy can be so bloody frustratingly thick at times." Sandra remarked to the amusement of all the ladies.

"Don't worry mum." Shelly replied, "I have every confidence in Gabrielle's ability to get 'the message' through to him." She chuckled, along with the rest of us.

"I'm positive that she will have made Dave fully comprehend the situation between the two of them before we return from our trip home." She stated confidently.

"Are you sure?" Fireball asked her, "I mean this is Dave we are talking about here." She clarified.

"I'm sure." Shelly answered.

"Are you willing to bet on that?" Kat asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes. Yes, I am as a matter of fact." She replied smugly, "20 red Jelly beans." She stated to looks of surprise from Fireball, Sandra and Kat.

"You're on." Kat replied almost straight away. Fireball also indicated her willingness to bet as well.

"Yes, I do believe I will take you up on that bet also." Sandra replied with an amused expression, "But no interfering with them." She stated firmly.

"Agreed." Shelly replied.

Sandra then looked to Fireball with a direct and questioning look, "Ok, agreed." She replied a little reluctantly.

"Fleur? Apolline?" Sandra asked us, "Do you wish to join in the bet as well?"

"Non." I answered, "As I agree with Shelly. I do believe zat I 'ave never seen Gabrielle so determined before." I said with a smile as I watched the two of them.

"It doesn't matter how dense Dave is about women. Merlin himself couldn't have created a better weapon for getting through to him zan Gabrielle." I stated confidently to the group. Maman was beaming at me as she looked to be of the very same opinion.

"Very well then. It looks like we have a three on three bet and it promises to be VERY interesting to watch." Sandra chuckled and we all joined in.

"I will see that it is registered with the 'usual bookkeeper' straight away." She stated smiling as she retrieved her Mirror Phone and began tapping away on it.

"Who is the bookkeeper she is referring to?" Ginny asked still highly amused at the scene she had just witnessed.

"Grandma Webb." Shelly replied smiling confidently, "She tracks all the family bets about 'our boys' when it comes to areas such as this."

"Should we interrupt zem so we can begin ze game zat Dave mentioned?" I asked

"Yes we should." Sandra answered as she put her mirror phone away and walked over to Dave and Gabrielle. She tapped them both on the shoulder to get their attention.

"I'm not sure that is the form of non-verbal communication that we are supposed to be practising just now." Sandra remarked as Ginny nearly had a fit of hysterics for some reason.

"Everyone seems to have progressed to the point that we are ready for the game you mentioned earlier." She advised.

"Pardon?" Dave asked still not fully with the conversation.

"The game you mentioned before." Sandra repeated with a note of exasperation, "We are ready for it now."

"Oh, ok then. Let me see if there are any sweets left worthy of being prizes and I will be right with you." Dave answered. "Can you keep Fireball and Shelly here so she doesn't follow me and discover my latest hiding places?" Dave requested of Gabrielle.

"Oui. I will." She replied as she gave a cheeky look to Fireball who was busy trying to look innocent as Dave headed off to his tent.

"You know? Don't you." I asked Gabrielle once Dave was out of earshot.

"About what?" Gabrielle replied with her own look of innocence.

"About your Talismans and zeir connection." I reminded her, "Zat's partly why you were so eager to distract Dave earlier. Wasn't it. You didn't want him to figure it out." I enquired.

"Oui. I do." Gabrielle replied with a very naughty smile on her face.

"Ze question zen Gabrielle, is why you didn't want Dave to work it out also?" I asked her.

Gabrielle blushed rather brightly at this and for a while it looked like she wasn't going to answer. Maman however was having none of that and with a small cough and a raised eyebrow she 'instructed' Gabrielle to talk.

"I didn't want 'im to work it out just yet, because I'm greatly enjoying being able to 'hear' ez idle zoughts." She explained, "Along with his emotions zat 'e is feeling." She advised.

"Especially when zose zoughts and emotions are about you?" I asked with a knowing smile on my face.

"Oui." Gabrielle replied with yet another naughty smile on her face.

"What's this?" Ginny asked her eyes alight with curiosity. Kat also had a similar expression on her face.

"Dave's and Gabrielle's Talismans are actually linked. Just like yours and Harry's." I told her, "It happened the night that they were made." Ginny's eyes came alive with this news.

"When Gabrielle hugged Dave, just after he had taken his t-shirt off I must add…" I said with a knowing look at Gabrielle who blushed but didn't say anything, "Their Talismans glowed briefly like yours did when they were joined. Sandra mentioned that Dave wasn't saying the required incantation at the time and we were all rather shocked by it."

"However just now Dave explained ze circumstances under which such a connection can be made without ze incantation and it makes a lot of sense." I explained.

"We 'eard zat part." Maman said with a smile at Gabrielle, "It would seem zat Gabrielle 'ad already 'officially' caught Dave before ze events in Paris after all. No?" She remarked with a brilliant smile at her.

"What happened in Paris?" Kat asked with an intense curiosity.

"Which particular event are you referring to?" Fireball chuckled, "There are a few to choose from."

"All of them of course." Kat replied eagerly.

This prompted a very quick re-telling of Dave's adventures in Paris. Both his earlier one in March and the most recent one with Gabrielle. The retelling of the original 'Paris Incident' had Kat in tears of laughter. While the event involving Gabrielle brought tears of joy. It seemed that Kat was a romantic at heart.

Shelly on the other hand had a more practical outlook, "Well at least she didn't need to use a surf board to get her message across." She said with a laugh. Sandra, Fireball and Kat joined in that laughter as well.

"We keep on hearing about Emma's need of a surfboard." Molly said with curiosity, "Is anyone ever going to tell us what actually happened?" She asked.

"Not me." Sandra replied, "I wouldn't dream of robbing Jackie of the chance to tell that story." She chuckled. Shelly, Fireball and Kat were in agreement with her.

"But don't worry, you will find out. I'm sure she is already itching to tell Gabrielle all about it." Sandra replied.

"Does she know about moi?" Gabrielle asked curiously.

"Of course, she does my dear." Sandra answered, "Do you really think news of that magnitude would be kept quiet in this family?" She stated with a laugh.

Poor Gabrielle looked a little shocked and surprised by this news.

"Don't worry." Sandra said with a smile on her face, "ALL of Dave's sisters, cousins, aunties, grandmothers, great grandmothers, mother-in-law and sister's in law are looking forward to meeting the wonderful young lady who has managed to cast such a powerful spell on our Dave." Sandra said beaming at her.

"Given the reports they have received, they are also fully supportive and approving of you." Sandra explained, "Provided we don't hide you from them for too much longer." She added with a cheeky smile and a wink.

Gabrielle went a little white on hearing that, "I zink zat I'm coming to understand just what Dave means by 'ze 'orde'." She chuckled nervously.

"Don't be concerned by that Gabrielle." Shelly told her, "Your place amongst its ranks is assured." She told her confidently.

"Yes, after helping us deal with Dave that night when Helen broke her news, all the girls approved your membership." Fireball chuckled and we all joined in.

Gabrielle smiled at hearing this news. She also smiled more when she noticed Dave returning from his tent carrying a box.

"It looks like the cheeky bugger does have a new hiding place after all." Fireball remarked to Shelly, "As we wouldn't have missed a box of that size."

"Truly." Shelly replied, "We might have to assign the task of finding that hiding spot to our newest member." She added with a smirk at Gabrielle.

Displaying a truly evil grin of her own Gabrielle replied, "Why would I 'elp you find out where Dave is 'iding MY chocolate?" She asked with her sweetest expression before she quickly headed off to Dave.

"Oh, she is just PERFECT." Kat exclaimed in delight to Sandra and Maman.

"I couldn't have said it any better myself Kat." Sandra replied with her own brilliant smile at her and Maman. Maman was smiling brilliantly as well. She was also wiping away a few tears of joy. She would later claim that this was the moment when she believed that it would only be a matter of time before Dave and Gabrielle were married. The rest of the family never bought this story however, we all believed that it was an incident that took place not long after that cemented that thought in her mind.

"Do I get to tell that story to Jackie? Or is it your turn?" Kat asked hopefully.

"It's my turn." Sandra replied with a smile to what was obviously a long running inside joke between the two of them.

"Shall we make our way back to the training floor?" Ginny asked us, "As I want to make sure I win my share of Dave's chocolate before his sisters get their hands on it." She added with her own evil grin as Shelly and Fireball fixed her with their own.

We all quickly followed after her to join the crowd around Dave.

When we arrived back at the training floor we were again paired as we were originally. This time we were additionally given two strips of material. These were to be secured on the hips (with a light sticking charm) of the person who was in front of the pair. That person would also be blindfolded so they would be totally reliant on the person behind them who was giving the instructions.

We were then told that the 'rules' were very simple. Each round would involve two pairs starting at opposite corners of the training floor. During the game the pairs would take turns to move around the floor. Each turn would involve three movements. These could be to move three steps, move a step then turn and make a grab for their opponent's ribbon or any combination thereof. The winner of the round was the first to get the ribbon from the opponents without losing their own.

The wards around the training floor were changed to filter out all sound from the crowd outside. This was to ensure that no instructions could be passed to the teams on the floor.

I would later remember being surprised how such simple rules could lead to such a fun game. We all had a great deal of enjoyment out of both watching and participating in the game.

The first pairs were to be Harry and Ginny against Ron and Hermione. Both pairs looked to be equally nervous and excited. Harry was elected to be the one giving the instructions first, so Ginny attached the ribbons to her hips and put on the blindfold once they were in their corner. With Ron and Hermione, Ron got the job of giving the instructions and Hermione got the blindfold.

When they were in their corners and ready to begin, Chief Williams walked to the middle of the training floor.

"Are both teams ready?" He asked. When both Harry and Ron signalled that they were indeed ready Chief Williams called out, "Begin" and then he quickly walked to one corner of the floor where he could watch the proceedings.

Both Harry and Ron quickly directed their partners into the middle of the floor, as they got closer though they both tried to position their partner for a successful grab while defending their own ribbons.

Harry was the first one to order a try for a grab at Hermione's ribbons. Ginny was grinning widely as she reached out to try and grab Hermione. However, she only caught Hermione's top as she had tried to grab too high. Harry used his next move to open some space between Ginny and Hermione to try and make Ron's counter attack as difficult as possible.

Ron however appeared to be in element, and to cheers from his family he positioned Hermione with his next two moves so that it was a simple grab for her to remove a ribbon from Ginny's hip. Once that had been done Chief Williams called a halt to the ends of the round and raised the wards around the training floor. All the participants had large smiles on their faces. Ron and Hermione however were wearing the largest ones.

"That was a very good effort for a first go." Chief Williams praised them, "One thing to keep in mind however, when working like this where only one of you can see the target. If you initiate a move saying something like 'grab at Hip Height' the differences between you will be telling. As you may be thinking of your hip height, but your partner will most likely be thinking of their hip height."

"Select an agreed upon 'yard stick' to be used when giving targeting instructions." He advised, "Our Aurors learn a technique commonly called 'points and clock' to tell each other where to shoot. It takes a lot of practise but it also works very well." He explained.

"The important thing is to pick a system that you both understand and agree upon." He stressed to us all.

"I'm guessing that's what you did Harry?" He asked, "You gave Ginny a measurement using a body dimension but you hadn't agreed upon with each other what that body was to be?" He enquired.

"Correct." Harry answered a little sheepishly, "I was thinking in terms of her body, but I think she was thinking in terms of mine." He offered.

"I was actually." Ginny answered with a shy smile for Harry.

"Ok, have a few minutes to talk and agree on your targeting method and then we will swap roles and try again." Chief Williams instructed.

Both pairs had hurried whispered conversations between them for a few minutes. Then Chief Williams called them to order again, the boys put the ribbons on their hips and the blind folds. The girls placed their hands on their partners to give the required skin contact.

This time when they began Ginny used each of her turns to initiate a spiralling approach to Hermione and Ron. This maintained an angle between them that made things that much more difficult for Hermione. As they got closer the encouragement from the 'stands' became more intense even though we knew that they couldn't hear us. I looked around the crowd and it was almost as entertaining as watching the pairs on the floor.

Molly looked like she was torn in two as she didn't know who to cheer for. So she seemed to have decided to cheer for everyone. She was having a great deal of fun and entertaining Arthur, Sandra and Ivan enormously. Kat had clearly decided to cheer for her 'family' and was cheering for Harry and Ginny. George and Charlie had come out in support of Ron and Hermione. Percy appeared to be supporting Ron also, but Audrey had sided with Ginny.

Dave's team seemed to have taken Molly's approach to choosing who to support. The exception being Fireball who was clearly in the camp supporting Ginny. Dave and Gabrielle looked to have come out in support of Harry and Ginny. They were both following the match intensely.

When Ron narrowly missed grabbing the ribbon from Harry the relief was plain on their faces. After that narrow miss it was a simple matter for Ginny to turn Harry and grab the ribbon from Ron. When that occurred, Chief Williams called a halt and lifted the wards so that the participants could hear their supporters.

Once the wards had been lifted Dave walked onto the training floor with the box that he had brought out earlier. As Ron and Hermione had won the first round they had first pick of the 'treasure'. Then Harry and Ginny had their turn at choosing their prize from the box. True to her word earlier Ginny did indeed select a large block of Honeydukes chocolate from Dave's stash.

The next contestants were then selected. This time it was to be Molly and Arthur against Maman and Papa. Both pairs seemed to be in good spirits and happily walked to the middle of the training floor to collect the ribbons and blind folds from Chief Williams. Sandra and Ivan were both cheering wildly for Molly and Arthur. Bill and I were cheering for Maman and Papa. So were Gabrielle and Dave, much to the amusement of Dave's family.

As before the boys were selected to give the instructions first. They both were rather cautious in their approach to their opponents. But there were several close calls with the grabs as well. Maman almost caught the ribbon on Molly's waist on one attempt but she was just a fraction too high. Molly easily snared the one from Maman on their next turn.

After this they switched and the girls both looked very set on the task at hand. If Molly hadn't started to giggle at some obvious curse words that Arthur had let lose when he had missed a grab at Papa I think they might have won that round also. As it was though Maman and Papa were able to grab the ribbon off Arthur's hip to win the round. Once more Dave presented the victors with their prizes which they all happily accepted.

The next pair were George and Charlie against Percy and Audrey. George looked far too confident but with him you never really knew if it is an act or not. Audrey soon deflated George's confidence however as she easily out maneuvered him and Percy was able to successfully grab the ribbon from Charlie's hip. George looked a little put out by this but Audrey soon cheered him up with a hug. Then it was time to swap.

Charlie for some reason kept on smiling at Percy like he had lost his mind. This unsettled Percy enough that Charlie was able to get George to grab the ribbon from Audrey without too much difficulty at all. Everyone applauded Charlie's unique approach to the game. Chief Williams advised him it might not work against a 'real' opponent however. Charlie conceded this point with good grace and went to collect his and George's prize after Percy and Audrey had done so.

Next up was Bill and me, we were to be against Dave and Gabrielle. As Dave clearly had more experience at this than any of us he was happy to agree to be the 'passenger' for both rounds. I advised him that it would be good training for him to get used to following Gabrielle's instructions. Everyone laughed at that comment and the confused look that Dave had for a few moments before he caught on. The two of them then shared some shy smiles between them.

I volunteered to go first with giving the directions, Bill was happy to agree. As Dave was going to be the passenger for both rounds they didn't need to decide who was going first. We both went to our corners and made ready. Chief Williams soon started off our round.

Gabrielle quickly made use of Dave's much longer reach, something that I had forgotten to account for. So, she was able to easily secure the first-round victory. Bill and I had a quick chat about how to counter Dave's much longer reach. We came up with an idea but wasn't sure if it was against 'the rules' so we had a quick chat with Chief Williams who agreed with us that there was nothing in the rules against it. With that confirmed we had our plan of attack sorted.

When the second round started Bill quickly moved to position me so that I couldn't reach Dave with a straight-out grab (or him reach me). However, if I leant over with Bill holing my hand I could reach even further than Dave's long arms could. This enabled me to be just out of his reach while he was within my extended reach.

When I managed to pull the ribbon off of his hip and was able to remove my blindfold I found the look on Gabrielle's face was priceless. Bill was also grinning widely. Dave's expression was one of approval also, he did have to give Gabrielle a few kisses to 'console' her for loosing however. I really don't think either one of them minded that part one bit.

We were then able to collect our prizes and re-join the crowd who were highly supportive of 'our move'. Dave remarked, 'It's not what you have but how you use it. That really counts'. To explain his approval of the move we used.

We ended up playing several variations of that game before dinner was ready. The next round was very similar except that we were not restricted to three moves each turn. We were free to move as we wished with only a rule of 'no running' to avoid high speed collisions. In that round also the silencing wards were lowered and everyone watching was encouraged to make as much noise as possible to cause distractions for the 'players'.

Harry and Ginny proved to be real champs at this part of the game and were both able to beat Ron and Hermione in each of their rounds. They were even able to beat George and Charlie when George challenged them. This might have been why Ginny delivered her challenge to Dave and Fireball.

"Are you sure?" Dave asked her with a half-smile on his face.

"Yes, I'm very sure. Why are you frightened?" she replied smugly.

"Fireball?" Dave asked her.

"I'm in." She replied eagerly, "It gives me a chance to win more of Gabrielle's chocolate." She explained happily. Dave looked a little confused at this until Gabrielle leaned over and whispered in his ear. I'm not sure what explanation she gave Dave but it caused him to laugh and give her a few kisses as well.

With that the two pairs headed to the training floor to the thunderous sounds of the spectators. Dave and Harry were to go first with giving the directions while the girls were to be trying to grab the ribbons from each other.

Right from the start it was very clear from the way that they moved both Dave and Fireball had done this many times before as they were able to move almost seamlessly as one person. They skipped in close and out a few times to cause Harry and Ginny to lose some of their balance with wild grabs. Then after one brief stumble they darted in and got one of the ribbons from Ginny's hip.

The look on Ginny's face was rather frustrated when she removed her blind fold. However, both Dave and Fireball gave her a hug as compensation. Fireball even hugged a rather surprised Harry. When they swapped for the next round the look on Ginny's face was very focused. She clearly REALLY wanted to win.

In the next round, she was very aggressive with how she directed Harry. While it was very impressive how the two of them we able to move so quickly together they were just not able to match Dave and Fireball. With a move that looked almost like they had spun on the spot Dave and Fireball were able to reverse their direction and position and secured one of the ribbons from Harry's hip. That brought the round to an end.

"That was some very impressive work there you two." Chief Williams said with a smile, "However do not let your emotions rule your actions. As they can cause you to over react and put yourself into an undesirable position." He advised.

Ginny reluctantly acknowledged the lesson that Chief Williams was trying to impart to her. Harry also looked to have paid close attention to it as well.

"Do not be discouraged Ginny." Dave advised her, "Fireball and I have been playing this game a long time, so we have a large head start on you. Speed will come with time and practise, but it will come. You both did very well today. Remember that." Dave encouraged them both.

Smiling gratefully Ginny and Harry returned to their seats. Dave still offered them both some chocolate.

"Does everyone feel up to a round of target practise?" Dave asked with a look of enthusiasm.

"That depends on who the target is." Ron replied warily.

"Don't worry Ron." Dave grinned, "We will be using target dummies, not each other." He advised.

"Oh ok. In that case, I'm in" Ron replied happily. With that we all eagerly indicated our willingness to have a turn.

"Excellent." Dave beamed as he pointed to Chief Williams.

Chief Williams then advised that this exercise will also be in our pairs. The person giving the instructions would wear an ear piece, from which they would receive instructions on where to move (there would be numbered points on the floor). The other person would need to fling rocks from the piles provided into the moving targets. Each hit was a point, with different values depending on what they hit. 5 Points for the red bullseye, 3 points for the black spot and 1 point for hitting the target anywhere. The average of the points for the teams would be their score.

Once everything was setup Dave and Fireball went first to demonstrate how the course worked. Their display was more than a little frightening. Not only were they extremely quick in their movements both of them were spot on in hitting the target. Only one of their 20 stones missed the red bullseye on the target, and that one didn't miss by much (still hitting the black spot). This didn't stop Dave's team from ribbing him about his poor shooting though. Dave accepted this teasing with a practised ease and asked who would like to go first.

George volunteered himself and Charlie to go first. Much to the surprise of Charlie. But he got up and joined George on the floor. George's shooting was very impressive, he hit the target 10 times cleanly with 7 of them hitting the black spot on the target. 2 of them hitting the red bullseye. Charlie was also very impressive with all 10 hitting the target. He also got 5 clean hits on the black spot and one more probable. He also got 4 hits on the red bullseye as well.

They both looked rather pleased with themselves when they had completed their round. This caused the rest of us to look forward to our turn. I quickly volunteered myself and Bill to go next, just beating Harry and Ginny to it. They were to follow after us.

Bill went first with the shooting while I gave the directions. I had to actively calm myself while I waited for the first instruction to come over my earpiece. Once the instructions came however there was no time to be nervous or excited as the concentration required was significant. In the end, Bill hit the target 10 times, 4 of them on the black spot and 6 on the red bulls eye. He also had one probable on the red bulls eye as well. Though this still only counted as a hit on the Black spot. Next it was my turn to shoot. I scored 6 hits on the black spot and 4 of the red bullseye. The smug look on Bill's face was a little annoying, but lucky for him he was also rather cute when he looked like that. So, I let him get away with it, this time anyway.

Harry and Ginny were next. On his turn, Harry scored an even split. 5 on the black spot and 5 on the red bulls eye. Ginny however turned out to be the surprise of the day. She scored 2 hits on the black spot and 8 on the red bullseye. Her grin at the end was infections and she lapped up the praise from all present very happily. Especially Harry's kisses.

Ron and Hermione were next up. They scored very well also. Ron got 6 on the red bulls eye and 4 on the black spot. Hermione like Harry got an even split, but not by much as she had two hits that were so very close to the red bullseye. She was happy with her efforts for a first go however.

Percy and Audrey were next. They both scored 6 bullseyes and 4 on the black spot. They celebrated with a few kisses that caused numerous comments to be sent their way for hogging the training floor with unrelated activities.

Arthur and Molly were next up. Arthur scored an even split but like Hermione, he also had two hits that were extremely close to the red bullseye. Molly however topped him with 7 bullseyes and 3 on the black spot.

Maman and Papa put up an impressive display with Papa getting 6 bullseyes and 4 on the black spot. Maman got an even split. They seemed happy however with their total.

Ted and Kat followed them. Ted scored 9 bullseyes and 1 on the black spot. While Kat got 7 bullseyes and 3 on the black spot. They smugly proclaimed their scores to Ivan and Sandra who were both happy to smile back at them.

Dave and Gabrielle were next. Gabrielle shot first and she scored 7 bullseyes and 3 on the black spot. She was very happy with this and even happier with the kisses that she got from Dave. When she went to switch with Dave however there were some protests from his sisters saying he had already had a go and shouldn't be allowed another turn. Chief Williams ended up stepping in and saying he would have to shoot again to allow Gabrielle to practise giving instructions. Dave's sisters had to give in after this ruling. But they did their best to distract Dave by offering all sorts of 'helpful' advice for is shooting.

Dave ended up scoring 10 bullseyes on his turn. This of course prompted cries of protest from Dave's sisters over him having an unfair advantage by going twice. Dave cheekily replied that the better result must have been solely due to having a better partner. As he cheekily grinned at Fireball.

Gabrielle was more than willing to accept that explanation. But Fireball raised more than a few objections.

When the scores were totalled by Chief Williams he advised that those teams containing Aurors, active or retired would not be going through to the "tie breaker rounds" as they constituted an 'unfair advantage'. This was met by cheers from Dave's sisters. Dave and Gabrielle however seemed happy to spend the extra time snuggled together watching the proceedings. Ted and Kat took a similar approach as well.

This meant that Harry & Ginny, Percy & Audrey, and Arthur & Molly would be the three teams in the tie breaker round as they all had 42 points. They all stood up, to a collection of cheers and good natured jeers from the crowd.

Chief Williams advised that in a tie breaker round only hits on the red bullseye would count. He also told them that the target would be moving this time as they moved between the different stops. If they hit the target while it was moving, they got double points if they hit it while it was stationary they got the standard 5 points.

Also in tie breaker rounds they only got 5 shots each.

Molly and Arthur went first. The moving target proved to be a telling difference as it made a significant impact on the results. Molly scored 1 hit on the red bullseye while the target was moving. All her other hits were on the black spot. Arthur also scored a single bullseye, but he had another hit that extremely close to the bullseye as well. Still it was one hit to each of them both when the target was moving. This gave them 20 points.

Audrey and Percy were up next. Audrey scored one hit on the red bullseye while the target was moving and one while it was stationary. The rest being clearly in the black. On his turn, Percy scored 2 hits on the red bullseye, both while the target was moving. This gave them 35 points and put them in front of Arthur and Molly. Both Percy and Audrey gave them consolation hugs. Molly got a kiss on the cheek from each of Audrey and Percy and she didn't seem to mind one bit.

Harry and Ginny were up next. Harry scored 3 hits on the red bullseye. Two while it was moving and one with it stationary. This gave him 25 points. The pressure was now on Ginny to score at least 10 points for the draw. She lined up at the start with a look of fierce determination. Her first shot was into the black spot but very close. Everyone was cheering wildly for her. The exceptions being Percy and Audrey who were trying to sing some old bawdy song to try and distract her. Ginny's next shot scored a bullseye on a stationary target for 5 points, likewise her next hit was also on a stationary target. She now had the required 10 points for the draw. Her next shot however was clearly into the black and the groans from the majority of the crowd almost caused Harry to lose his concentration.

Ginny was very quick with her last shot. As soon as the move command came from Harry and the target also started to move she fired. Everyone was holding their breath as her shot raced to the target. When it hit dead centre in the target for a bullseye the crowd on the stand erupted in cheers. Harry and Ginny had an impromptu celebration on the training floor before the rest of the family and guests joined them.

They were both rewarded with a large block of Honeydukes chocolate and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. The runners up each got a smaller block of chocolate. Regardless of the outcome we had all come away with some new skills and had a great time in the process.

With the competition now done Molly advised us all that it would soon be time for dinner and that everyone should get themselves cleaned up and ready. This was greeted with enthusiasm by everyone.

Before we all broke for dinner Dave quickly informed us that after dinner those pairs who were going to be 'playing dirty' tomorrow would have a session with Mick and Jono on shooting while disillusioned. While the rest of us would have a 'skeet shooting' session, to supposedly 'polish' our shooting skills. If the smiles on the faces of Auror Graves, Ted, Ivan, Chief Williams and Kingsley were anything to go by this promised to be very interesting indeed.

As we all broke away to go and get cleaned up, Dave once more employed Gabrielle to keep an eye on his sisters. So he could again hide his (really it was hers) chocolate and lollies in his tent. Gabrielle was only too pleased to assist, much to the disappointment of Dave's sisters and cousin.

Ted, Kat and Auror Graves also quickly returned to the MACUSA Embassy to get cleaned up as well. They were all very pleased that Molly and Arthur had extended an invitation to them for dinner also.


	42. Dinner Skeets and Quidditch

A/N: Just a quick note for this chapter, I was informed by a female family member that in her view there needed to be a little bit of 'naughtiness' (as she put it) added to the story. Given that this story is primarily written for my little boys I couldn't go too 'naughty' (as they complain about the kissing as it is). But I have tried to inject a little bit of naughtiness into the story any way. It isn't much and only time will tell if it satisfies certain female relatives of mine. I hope that you all are enjoying this story and would like to thank you all for taking the time to read it and be on this journey with me.

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When I emerged from the tent after getting cleaned up for dinner it was to find the boys organising tables in the yard. Although their style of organising seemed to involve the tables jousting with each other. Sadly, my Bill looked to be the ring leader in this particular escapade. He wasn't wanting for willing 'helpers' either.

Charlie, George, Percy, Ron, Harry, Dave, Mick, Jono and sadly Arthur all seemed to have willingly and even eagerly joined him. The looks on the faces of Molly, Cassy, Audrey, Hermione, Sandra and Maman all spoke volumes about what they thought of the boys' activities. Ginny for her part only seemed disappointed that there were not enough tables available for her to join in.

Molly eventually called an end to the boys playing. The damaged tables were quickly repaired by those at fault and we began the task to getting them ready for dinner. I soon learnt that hungry Aurors make for a very efficient dinner delivery service. Molly quickly had more helpers than she was used to but she quickly put them all to work and dinner began to appear on the tables.

"We should see about keeping some of zese Aurors around." I remarked to Gabrielle, Maman and Sandra, "Zey almost put house-elves to shame with zeir dinner service." I laughed. Gabrielle blushed and Maman smiled knowingly.

"Only when they are hungry." Sandra replied with a smile.

"Aren't zey usually 'ungry?" I asked Sandra.

"Only when they are breathing." She answered and we all had a good laugh.

Ted, Kat and Auror Graves arrived just as the last of the dishes were placed on the various tables. We all then settled in to a positively wonderful dinner. The conversation mostly consisted of stories about exploits of Ted and Ivan's days as Aurors first in their own countries and then once the 'teamed up' during Ted's time in Australia. Chief Williams kept them (mostly) honest in their retelling of the stories as he was involved in some of them or had seen the official reports.

Kingsley then supplied several amusing stories of his time in the Aurors and some of the cases he had worked on. I noticed Harry paying very close attention to all of these stories. Indeed, Dave and his team were also playing very close attention as well.

Auror Graves spoke up and provided some amusing stories of his own. He then surprised and delighted Kat by informing her that he had received official word that her nephew Jack Abraham Potter had successfully closed his first major case. It involved bringing to justice a group of Scourers who made been making life difficult for a few wizarding villages. Kat was thrilled with this news and she used it to again remind Ivan that the Potter's are a force of good in the world.

Ivan, Sandra and Dave all smiled fondly at Kat. You couldn't not smile at her when she was happy as she was simply a delight.

Kat also then proudly predicted that Harry would go on and proudly live up to the reputation of 'Potter Aurors' by becoming one of the greatest in British History. This brought a rousing cheer from all at the tables. She also then teased him saying he might even be as good as her nephew. Harry was startled by this until Kat couldn't hold her smile any longer and gave the game away.

I did notice that during dinner, Kingsley, Ivan, Arthur, Ted, Chief Williams, Auror Graves and Dave had an extended conversation about the events that were planned to take place tomorrow. Slowly over the course of this conversation a fully formed plan was formulated to cover the assassination attempt that was expected.

Sandra noticed my interest in their conversation and explained to me it was very normal, especially for Ted and Ivan.

"More operations were planned by those two around the fire pit or the fireplace at home than in their offices." She explained to me, Gabrielle, Maman, Molly and Ginny, "It's just the way they work. I must say the results speak for themselves."

While the dessert course was being brought out the Aurors were all gathered around one of the tables going over a drawing of the Ministry atrium. Sandra took one look and smiled, "Old habits die hard sometimes." She remarked.

When she noticed my look, she explained further, "Dave like most of the newer generation of Aurors is very happy to plan operations on maps displayed on his Mirror Phone or other devices. Ivan and Ted however just 'love' their hand drawn paper maps." I had to laugh at this comment from her.

Once dessert was fully on the table the Aurors broke up their impromptu meeting and happily 'attacked' it. Once again conversation leaned heavily towards Auror related activity. No one really minded as it was rare for non-Aurors to hear about these sorts of details. This time the stories were about what had occurred during their time at their various Auror academies. During these stories, we learnt that Kingsley had a tendency to play pranks on his follow trainees. This apparently prompted George to proudly proclaim he would from now on vote for no one else for Minister of Magic.

Kingsley was very happy to hear this and thanked George for his support and confidence.

We further learnt that both Ted and Ivan had inadvertently injured their duelling instructors while in Auror training. This caused them to both be 'marked men' for more advanced training due to their natural skill with a wand. Ivan was also suspected of sneaking out of the Auror Academy on several occasions to go and visit Sandra. Although neither of them would confirm this story, they both had VERY guilty expressions on their faces at the time it was being told to us all.

Chief Williams was known for being able to sneak down to the kitchens at the Academy and return with all manner of food and drink for his mates in the boys' dormitories. He was also known to supply food and drink out of hours to a certain lady in the girls' dormitories as well. This being the way he apparently met his future wife (Ivan's sister).

Auror Graves claimed he never got up to any mischief while at the MACUSA Auror Academy. The expression on Ted's face cast this claim into some serious doubt. But he did impart to us several amusing tales of his time working with 'Long John'. Magical folk often face difficulties when trying to pass off as Muggles in their own countries. That issue is magnified several times over when they are 'under cover' trying to pass themselves off as Muggles from a very different country that has a completely different culture as well.

If Auror Graves was to be believed this was the main reason for many of the 'episodes' that occurred while they were working on that particular case. Whatever the reason the stories were highly entertaining.

The Aurors from Dave's team also provided several amusing stories. Mick apparently made a name for himself at the Australian Auror Academy by catching the various instructors who was assigned to follow him around on a tracking course. This proved to be very embarrassing to the instructors who were both very good at their job and very proud of their skills. They just weren't a match for Mick.

Dave's sisters both quickly made names for themselves at the academy with their fighting skills. Specifically, their marksmanship and duelling skills. Although Fireball had one incident in training where she apparently blew up the 'watch house' for the training course instead of the intended target. She never confirmed or denied that this was a mistake or a deliberate act.

Cassy excelled at Potions at the academy and was able to 'successfully' poison her examiners in her final exams before graduation. Likewise, with Goose he was able to hoodwink his examiners also. Although in his case he 'spiked' their drinks and they were roaring drunk at the end of his exam. This apparently is still a bit a legend around the Australian Auror Academy.

We also learnt that Rowdy was known as the 'go to' man for organising parties during his time at the Academy. He smiled shyly when this was mentioned but didn't offer any explanation for it. Guz apparently got lost on an obstacle course and ended up going around it twice. Although he still finished inside the allotted time. Dave's team advised us all that is why they still don't let him navigate when they are travelling.

Jono mentioned that he like Mick gave his tracking and concealment instructors a hard time. As he quickly earned a reputation as a trouble maker for finding their hiding locations on various courses and 'advertising' them to his fellow trainees. He seemed rather proud of this achievement judging by his smile.

Olly told some humorous stories about hoodwinking his instructors with 'sleight of hand' techniques. Apparently, he used to frequently replace their wands with trick ones during class. His fellow trainees greatly appreciated his efforts from all reports. But his instructors not so much.

We learnt that Izzy caused a good deal of strife at her Auror Academy with her forging skills. Her instructors frequently found it odd that she always seemed to have weekend passes when she wanted them. But she was so good in her work that they couldn't prove that they were fake. It was only when she was 'caught in the act' of changing an entry in an official document did they finally have the proof that they were after. She escaped punishment only because they were so impressed with her work. She seemed very smug about that fact.

Abby by all reports had a great time at the Academy through placing her own unique type of shields all around campus. Her 'elastic shield' was frequently found on various running tracks and provided endless entertainment to those who were not caught up in it.

When it was Dave's turn to tell a story he once again demonstrated a very skilful ability to redirect the conversation. But as before both Ginny and Gabrielle got wise to him and brought the conversation back onto the topic that they wanted to know more about.

"I'm not as entertaining as all these others." Dave tried to explain before the looks of incredibility on the faces of his family and team ended his hopes of escaping without an explanation.

"Not as entertaining?" Fireball burst out, "How about the time you got 'asked to leave' the Quidditch team because you kept on changing your size during games." She laughed.

"WHAT?" Harry and Ron almost screamed at the same time.

"He made himself 20 feet tall during one game when he was playing keeper." Fireball said with glee in her voice at the embarrassed look on Dave's face.

"At the time, there was nothing in the rules to say that I couldn't do it." Dave replied defensively, "I checked the rule book thoroughly." He explained to Gabrielle who was looking very amused.

"Did it work?" Ron asked his face alight with curiosity.

"It did actually." Dave answered with a smirk, to howls of laughter from Ron, Harry, Ginny, George, Charlie and Bill. Everyone else had looks of great amusement on their faces.

"It's because that it worked so well you now have a set of rules named after you." Shelly chimed in with, "Dave's rules. I believe that they are called, aren't they?" She asked him.

"They are a set of clauses to be precise. Not complete rules." Dave explained sheepishly.

"What else do they cover?" Ginny asked enthusiastically.

"No changing size, larger or smaller." Fireball began.

"Smaller?" Charlie asked, "Why did you make yourself smaller?"

"It made it easier to sneak past the keeper when I played chaser a few times." Dave replied with another sheepish grin. This brought more laughter from the Quidditch players in the group.

"No impersonating the opposition." Cassy supplied.

"I could see that being useful." Ginny chuckled.

"No impersonating the referee." Sandra added to a serious blush of embarrassment from Dave.

"You impersonated the referee?" Ron asked with a look of incredibility on his face, "Why?"

"I was actually playing a joke on someone at the time, only problem was that the real referee arrived on the scene when I was dressed as them. It was before the game had actually started." Dave explained to more laughter.

"No vanishing." Ivan said with a smile, "Especially if you are the one holding the Quaffle."

"That's poor form Dave." Ginny chided him. Dave had to agree with her on that one.

"Is that all?" Ron asked clearly eager to hear more.

"Isn't that enough?" Sandra remarked as she fought back some chuckles.

"So, I take it that they don't you like you playing Keeper or Chaser then? If those rules are anything to go by." Ginny enquired, "So what position do you play?"

"Beater." Dave answered with a cheeky grin.

"No rules about that position for you?" Harry asked with anticipation.

"Nope." Dave replied smugly.

"The only rule needed is 'duck' when Dave is playing beater." Fireball replied, "The little bugger is a little too accurate at times." She added.

"That's only because you are so slow." Dave replied happily to Fireball's evil glare back at him.

"I might be slow according to you, but at least I never lost my clothes during class." Fireball shot back as everyone reacted with a bit of shock before the expression on Dave's (and Gabrielle's) face caused more howls of laughter.

"Explain." Gabrielle ordered once she had regained some control.

"We were learning how to 'swap' our clothing during a class on disguises." Dave explained with a dirty look at Fireball, "However the clothes that I was supposed to be changing into appeared next to me instead of on me." He added.

"You were in your birthday suit?" Kat asked with tears of delight in her eyes.

"No, I still had my jocks on as I wasn't changing them at the time." Dave replied sheepishly.

"Jocks?" Gabrielle asked Dave.

"His undies." Sandra explained while Dave turned red at Gabrielle's very amused expression.

"You don't have a good track record with clothes now do you Dave?" Cassy asked him with wide eye innocence.

"No, he doesn't…" Fireball tried to reply before Dave cut her off.

"On that note I think we should head outside so that Mick and Jono can run Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione through shooting while they are disillusioned." Dave said rather firmly with another direct look at Fireball.

"Spoilsport." Replied a voice that again sounded a lot like Shelly's.

We all then got up from the dinner tables and quickly cleaned up the dishes. As Mick and Jono had Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione on the training floor the rest of us moved over to the orchard.

Here Goose and Guz quickly had setup two 'traps' as they called them. These would fire some clay discs they referred to as 'clay pigeons' into the air for us to fire at. The traps fired these targets in a variety of patterns. They could mirror each other for side by side shooting between two combatants or they could fire a set pattern of targets in random order for individual shooting.

To start with we were going to be doing side by side shooting. Ivan and Ted volunteered to go first to their obvious delight. They lined up on their allotted places and Chief Williams called for quiet.

When we all had calmed down he called out "Pull" and two of the clay targets shot into the air. They were not very big but they were rather quick. Ivan and Ted quickly fired small blasting hexes at them. They each hit their target. As soon as they had hit their target another one was launched, this continued until a set of five targets was hit by each of them.

"Do you see how that works?" Ivan asked us all. We all indicated that we did.

"Excellent. Each time you complete a set the degree of difficulty will go up a level. Eventually it will reach a point where you will not be able to hit all the targets." He explained, "Do not get frustrated by this, as the whole point of this exercise IS to find your limits so that we can help you improve on them."

"Sometimes your limits are due to your Wand handling technique. Sometimes they are to do with focus and targeting. Yet other times they are due to your pronunciation of the spells, either verbally or non-verbally."

"Whatever the reason this exercise will help highlight the most obvious cause. We can then show you some different techniques to help you tackle that particular limitation. Understood?" He enquired.

"Yes." We all replied.

"Marvellous." Ivan replied, "Who would like to go first?" He asked. At this point, Bill and Charlie jumped up eagerly and headed over to where Ivan and Ted were. Once they had taken their places Ivan and Ted explained to them the area in front of them where the target would be appearing. With this they moved to the side so that they could observe the two of them. Ivan nodded to Chief Williams who had moved into position behind the two of them. He again called for quiet.

"Pull" he called out and two targets raced out of the traps. Bill and Charlie quickly dispatched both of them. The next two targets were fired, again Bill and Charlie hit both targets. Only this time Bill seemed to be slightly quicker to hit his target. This was confirmed when his next clay target fired before Charlie's. Over the course of the next five targets Bill built a noticeable lead.

At the end of that set of five Ivan and Ted both asked Charlie to demonstrate he technique when he drew his wand and brought it to bare on a target. This seemed to make Charlie slightly nervous as it involved him drawing his wand on the two of them who were standing directly in front of him. After doing this a few times they seemed to have spotted what they were looking for. As the both approached Charlie with smiles on their faces.

"Don't tense your shoulders so much when you go to draw and move your wand." Ivan advised him, "You are slowing yourself down and wearing yourself out by making you work against yourself."

"Tense shoulders are giving you no advantage what so ever young Charlie." Ted explained, "Speed in drawing your wand and shooting comes not with tense muscles but with relaxed ones."

"Let me demonstrate for you." Ted offered as he directed both Charlie and Bill to stand where he and Ivan had been previously. "I'm going to shoot first as you were, but slightly exaggerated. Then I will shoot with a more relaxed technique and I want you to tell me what you see different between them." He requested. Charlie and Bill both agreed.

Ted indicated to Chief Williams that he was ready and faced the target area. His first shot looked to be much jerkier than his previous efforts. While his second just looked almost graceful.

"What did you both notice?" He asked after both shots.

"You looked very stiff with your first shot. While your second one just appeared to flow smoothly." Charlie answered.

"You have it in one young Charlie." Ted beaming with a smile, "Tell me how do your shoulders feel right now?" He asked Charlie.

"Honestly, they are a little stiff at the moment." He replied.

"I thought so." Ted said with a look over to the crowd, "Dave, do you want to come down here and let your 'magic fingers' do their work on Charlie's shoulders?" He requested.

I couldn't help myself I looked over to a now slightly embarrassed Dave and asked him "'Magic fingers?'" with an amused expression and a raised eyebrow. He had the good grace to blush under the looks he was getting from everyone but he did get up and go over to Charlie. After asking Charlie to take a seat in a chair Dave proceeded to give Charlie's shoulders a massage to loosen them up. While he was doing so the expression on Charlie's face clearly showed the effectiveness of what he was doing.

When he finished he let Charlie up and headed back to his seat. Gabrielle, Ginny, Hermione and I have to admit me were all directing enquiring looks at Dave that he had no chance of escaping. Even with all of that he still seemed to be doing all he could to avoid or ignore those looks. Gabrielle took matters into her own hands and sat herself in Dave's lap. This got his attention and she asked, "Where did you learn 'ow to do zat?"

"Emma's Physiotherapist taught me initially." Dave explained with a small blush showing on his neck and ears, "One side effect of her condition was that she would get terrible muscle cramps all over her body. The potions that were usually used to treat them made her sick."

"Eventually one of the healers she was seeing directed her to see a muggle Physiotherapist or a Physio as they are sometimes called." He said with an odd look in his eyes, "After the first visit it was very clear how effective the treatment was on her and the relief on her face was blindingly obvious."

"Given how often she had those cramps it was almost impossible to get her to the physio each time. So in the end the Physio ended up teaching Emma's parents, her brothers, sisters and me how to correctly perform muggle style massages."

"Over the years we learnt many different types and forms of them, as they were the most effective treatment she had for that particular problem." He said with an embarrassed half smile as Gabrielle gave him a hug and a kiss. The other girls also had a look of understanding on their faces also.

Even Fireball lent over and gave Dave a hug before displaying an evil smirk at him that cause Dave to adopt a wary look. "After all that effort and training he went through, it would have been a real shame if he if he lost those skills." She explained with an air of earnestness about her, "So his sisters and I have been doing our best to ensure that he has plenty of practise time." She stated with a wide grin.

We all had a laugh at this. Then Gabrielle remembered Dave's comment from earlier in the day, "You said zat Shelly or Cassy would be ze best ones to give me a massage for my sore legs." She almost accused him.

"Did he now?" Fireball remarked while Shelly also began to show an interest in the conversation. "Well I can assure you Gabrielle all three of them have worked on my legs and Dave is truly the one with the 'magic fingers'." She stated clearly happy with the blush that was now spreading over Dave's cheeks.

"Merci, Fireball." Gabrielle replied with a delighted look on her face as she regarded Dave. "So you will give me a leg massage zen?" He enquired sweetly while directing a brilliant smile at Dave.

"If you want..." Dave began to say.

"I do." Gabrielle replied quickly to several sets of laughter in the crowd. Maman and Papa included.

"Ok then. Once you have had your turn here at some skeet shooting I will give you a leg massage." Dave offered a now very happy Gabrielle. "We should have enough time for one before everyone else finishes up. As I was thinking of doing another movie night after this." He suggested.

This was greeted enthusiastically by everyone, as we were all becoming very fond of the Muggle style movies.

When this was agreed to Gabrielle quickly made sure that she was in the next group to have a go at the skeets. When told that she needed a partner for her turn she quickly roped me in after being told she couldn't use Dave. This was highly entertaining to watch just on its own.

With that now settled we turned our attention back to Bill and Charlie. Both of who had now moved through several levels and were beginning to have trouble hitting all the clay targets before they were clear of the 'scoring zone'. Eventually they encountered a set where the targets were sufficiently fast enough that they missed them all. Both of them seemed slightly disappointed in this but Ivan, and Ted both told them that they had done extremely well indeed. They were also given some 'homework' involving a few sets of drills and exercises to assist them in smoothing out their movement.

As they left the playing area Gabrielle grabbed my hand and almost dragged me from where I had been sitting. She was clearly keen to try out this activity. After the first two sets I understood why Ted and Ivan were so excited by this activity. It was a great deal of fun. There was a large amount of concentration involved along with skill required, but the fun was undeniable.

Both Ivan and Ted complimented Gabrielle and I on our movements as they said our technique was very smooth and we flowed easily between the targets. We were however 'told off' for apparently trying to be too flashy or formal with some moves. This caused us quite a few giggles. We were given several excellent suggestions on targeting and how to correctly 'lead' a moving target.

When we encountered the sets where we started to miss the targets I understood the disappointment on the faces of Bill and Charlie. There was a certain satisfaction as blasting a target out of the air and missing out on doing that came with a certain amount of disappointment.

At the end of our session we went over what had been observed as well as what we had learnt ourselves. Both Ted and Ivan had some excellent suggestions on exercises we could try to improve our targeting. These were mainly around estimating range to our target so we could lead it correctly to ensure a hit. With that we finished our session and allowed Molly and Arthur to take our places.

Gabrielle was very quick to grab Dave and not quite drag him off to his tent so that she could get her massage.

"You're not running away from our turn, are you?" Auror Graves called out to Dave as he was led away.

"I'm not going far and we should be done by the time it is our turn." He called back. This looked to be enough for Auror Graves as he sat back down with a chuckle at Dave's 'predicament'.

"What is going on with those two?" Bill asked me with his curiosity clearly showing.

"Gabrielle has managed to get Dave to agree to give her a leg massage for her 'sore' legs." I told him.

"I see." Bill replied, "Didn't he say Shelly or Cassy would have been better choices?" He asked.

"From his point of view, they might have been." Fireball replied with a chuckle as Shelly and Cassy were also smiling next to her.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Let me put it this way. I have seen him give massages to a large number of people. But the only one who made him nervous when doing so was Emma." She explained with an evil grin.

"I see." I replied with a smile creeping across my face, "Was Emma aware of that situation?" I asked.

"Completely." Sandra answered with a chuckle.

"She wouldn't have taken advantage of it in anyway would she?" Maman asked Sandra.

"Oh… Only every chance she got." Sandra replied with a laugh as her daughters joined in as well.

"Poor Dave." Maman remarked with a throaty chuckle.

"How long should we leave those two alone for? Before we need to send a rescue party in?" Shelly asked with a look of mischief on her face.

"Going from 'er expression zis morning when Dave was massaging 'er feet I don't zink she is going to let 'im off lightly." I advised them.

"We will give them an hour." Sandra decided, "That's enough time to give someone's legs a proper massage."

"Sounds fair." Fireball agreed, "I never let Dave get away with anything less than that we he does mine." She chuckled. There were some laughs at that comment and we all focused our attention back onto Molly and Arthur who were both currently doing very well.

They were just starting on the first group of harder sets. After the instruction provided by Ted and Ivan earlier it was a lot easier to notice the little things that made such a difference to someone's technique.

Molly' wand was almost an extension of her own hand. This was no doubt because she spent so much time each day using her wand around the house. Arthur was no slouch either but he simply didn't have the finesse that Molly possessed with her wand. This ended up being clearly shown when Molly outscored Arthur in the final two rounds before they both missed all of the shots.

At the end of their turn they both couldn't keep the smiles off of their faces as they got their 'homework' from Ted and Ivan. Then hand in hand they re-joined us in 'the stands' as the setting area was being called.

Maman and Papa were next. They were both very good as well. They both had a very obvious sense of style with the use of their wands. But like Gabrielle and I they were advised to 'tone down' the fanciness of their moves and keep them simpler and more focused. They ended up accepting this advice when they noticed the improvements in their scoring.

When they finished, they made way for Percy and Audrey. Who were a very interesting pairing. They had both spent a great deal of time around Dave and his team in the last year or so and it clearly showed. Percy was very crisp and precise in his movements. While Audrey could only be described as economical in hers. They were both very quick and very accurate however. They were able to get two sets past any of the others. This caused a few accusations of 'teacher's pet' to them both from Dave's team members. But they accepted the teasing in the right spirit and only smiled and waved back.

It was now that Mick and Jono brought Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione over for their turn. They from all reports had been having a great deal of fun with their disillusionment practise. But Mick and Jono decided that they couldn't let them miss out in a chance to get some coaching from Ted and Ivan.

"How are they going with it?" Sandra asked them while Harry and Ginny were getting their instructions on how the session would go.

"Very well indeed." Mick replied happily, "They all are able to produce a strong disillusionment charm as Dave guessed. It's just some fine tuning needed so that they can agree on targeting when they can't see each other for targeting references." He explained.

"We have described to them how our points and clock system operates and they are using that for inspiration. Hopefully they will not need to shoot at all tomorrow, but it is best to prepare for any situation." Jono answered with Mick nodding in agreement with him. We all agreed with that sentiment and turned our attention back to Harry and Ginny as they were just finishing their first set of targets.

It looked like the first set was little more than a warm up for them both. Ted and Ivan didn't have much to say even after the first 4 sets of targets. After the fifth set something seemed to have caught their eyes with Harry's action. At the completion of the set there was a whispered conversation with the four of them. Ted seemed to be getting Harry to perform a set of exercises almost like dance steps. After going through this for a few steps Harry almost fell over except that Ivan was on hand to catch him. This caused a few chuckles.

Ted then seemed to be saying something about Harry's feet. We couldn't make out what he was saying but both Harry and Ginny were eagerly paying attention. After this Harry repeated the exercise from before and it was clear that whatever had been explained to him had made a difference. As he was able to complete far more of the exercise before he almost fell.

Another quick chat followed and Harry and Ginny had another set of targets. They equalled the number of sets that Percy and Audrey were able to complete fully. On the following set they even scored one more hit than them. This caused some more ribbing from the crowd. Harry smiled to us all and bowed while Ginny just pulled a face at her family. It was obvious that they had greatly enjoyed the exercise.

Like all of us they were given some drills as homework to practise for next time. Ron and Hermione next made their way to the floor and Harry and Ginny came over to join us.

"What were you discussing about your feet Harry?" Arthur asked him.

"Ted noticed that I kept on standing on my heel or were flat footed a lot." Harry answered, "He gave me a drill to try and then demonstrated how I should ideally be on the balls of my feet more to get better mobility. When I tried it that drill again it was a lot more comfortable and easier to complete." He explained.

"I see." Arthur said with his curiosity on display, "Can you show me later?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes I think I can actually." Harry grinned back at him.

"How about you Ginny?" Molly asked her, "How did you go?"

"Both Ted and Ivan told me I telegraph my intentions too much." She explained, "I'm still not entirely sure what they mean by it exactly but they did promise to get something setup tomorrow afternoon to enable me to see it."

"Other than that, they want me to concentrate on relaxing my neck and shoulders more as they say I'm too stiff when I'm shooting at the targets."

"Sounds like you and Charlie share that in common." Molly chuckled, we all joined her.

Ginny's enquiring look prompted us to tell her about Charlie having tense shoulders and Dave having to give him a massage. That then reminded me that I had to go and collect Dave as he and Auror Graves were to shoot after Ron and Hermione. When Ginny found out what those two were up to she invited herself along, to go with me and collect them.

When we entered his tent, we found that he had setup a padded table in front of the now operational fireplace. The table had a hole cut out for Gabrielle to place her face in, this enabled her to lay face down on the table comfortably.

The strange thing about the view in front of us what that Dave had a few sets of towels covering Gabrielle's back as well as the leg that he wasn't working on. When he noticed us entering his tent he smiled, and replied that he would be done in a minute or two.

"What's with all the towels?" Ginny asked.

"She started to shiver a little while ago." Dave explained, "So I asked if she was getting cold laying there. She said she was so I started the fire and got her a few towels to keep her warm." He added as he continued to work away on her lower leg and foot.

We couldn't see Gabrielle's face, but the sounds she was making clearly indicated that she was enjoying Dave's attentions just now. Dave finished off her massage by massaging her foot and in between her toes also. This generated a few moans of enjoyment from Gabrielle as well as quite a few sets of laughter as well.

When he finished, Dave helped Gabrielle sit up and then he went to wash the massage oil off his hands in the bathroom.

It took me only one look at Gabrielle's face to realise that she hadn't been cold in the slightest.

"You don't look cold to me." I said with a knowing smile on my face as I looked at Gabrielle. She blushed and then smiled rather smugly before letting out a sigh of delight. It was now that Ginny caught on as to what had happened. She smiled a VERY naughty smile at Gabrielle when she understood.

"Not a word from eizer of you." Gabrielle said in a rather stern voice.

"Why?" I asked with my cheekiest smile, "Don't you want Dave to know?"

"Maybe, eventually." She replied with a naughty smile, "But not now. I also don't want Maman to know either." She added blushing.

"Why not?" I teased her and she sent a furious glare my way.

"I'll keep your secret… For now." I told her with a smirk. I'm not entirely sure that she believed me.

"If he shows Harry how to do that I'll happily keep your secret also." Ginny said with her eyes alight with mischief.

"You can ask 'im about zat yourself." Gabrielle said as she quickly rubbed her legs down with one of the many towels, "I'm not planning on letting 'im know what actually 'appened just yet. It's just a little too embarrassing right now." She explained while still smiling.

"But enjoyable zough?" I enquired. Her smile was more evidence than I needed. All three of us enjoyed a rather naughty giggle at her reaction.

We were still laughing when Dave returned from the bathroom and walked into the kitchen. The look of puzzlement on his face at the three of us laughing only set us off more.

He brought a glass of water over to Gabrielle and suggested that she drink all of it as her body will need it after the exercise it had just had. This set us off again and Dave's expression didn't help matters.

"I'll never understand women." He muttered as he headed into his room.

"He seems to be doing ok so far." I remarked to Gabrielle who managed to blush while drinking her water. When Dave returned, he had a small piece of chocolate for each of us and himself.

"Emma's physio always used to give her a piece of chocolate after a massage and it has by now become a habit." He offered as an explanation to us.

"I'm not going to argue with that." Ginny replied as she happily ate her chocolate. With that, we all headed back out to the others to find Auror Graves waiting for Dave.

"I was starting to think that the girls were going to be making you give them all massages before they let you out of there." He chuckled to Dave. When he said that the three of us burst into laughter again. This brought us some strange looks from everyone, especially Dave's sisters and Maman.

"Don't ask me." Dave said to Auror Graves, "I have absolutely no idea what they are laughing about." He said in exasperation.

"Let's shoot some skeet." He suggested.

"Agreed." Auror Graves replied.

They moved into position, drew their wands and readied themselves. Ivan, Ted and Chief Williams positioned themselves also. Then Chief Williams called, "Pull" and the first targets flew into the air.

In the wizarding world, it is just an accepted fact that Aurors stand out from the crowd. Not only because of the job that they do but because of the skills that they possess. While all Aurors are required to pass the same tests, and have the same baseline (or foundational skills) they each have their own special area of expertise.

The display that Auror Graves and Dave had just started gave us an insight into just what a 'talented' Auror could do with their wand. As well as the difference that existed between the average wizard and an Auror in marksmanship.

Both of them hit their target so quickly that there was actually a pause before the next target was fired. This was the case for the first 5 sets of targets. In the sixth set the rate of fire of the target increased enough that there was no longer a pause between a target being destroyed and a new one being launched.

After ten sets of targets had been fired Chief Williams called a halt.

"To speed things up should we just jump straight to the 'interesting' sets?" He enquired.

"I think so." Ted replied with a smile, "They both look like they have had a good warm up." He added.

"Agreed." Ivan answered. Auror Graves and Dave both indicated their agreement as well.

Everyone moved back to their positions and Chief Williams once again called out "Pull".

This time five targets were fired out in rapid succession. They would have all been in the air at the same time if Dave and Auror Graves hadn't been firing so rapidly at them.

I chanced a look around at everyone else to see what they were thinking of what we were seeing. Several of them seemed to be a little pale at the sight before them. Dave's team and family were obviously used to what they were seeing as they were calmly watching the proceedings.

Harry while he was enthralled by the sight in front of him was also a little apprehensive as well. I did notice that Kingsley was whispering in his ear through-out the display as well.

Eventually the targets were only vague blurs in the air. It was at this point that Dave missed the first of his targets. He quickly shot at it again a second time and hit it. But this didn't stop the ribbing from his team over his shooting technique.

In the next set Auror Graves also missed one target on his first shot, but he still managed to destroy it before it left the target area. The following set was the decider. In this set Dave missed two targets completely, Auror Graves missed only one however.

The look on Auror Graves face was priceless as he smirked at Dave. Dave could only smile back as it was clear he had enjoyed himself also.

Ted decided to jump in and take some of the wind out of Auror Graves sails when he remarked, "Excellent shooting, both of you." Dave and Auror Graves smiled happily at this appraisal.

"Randal, I think you might have some serious competition there, once he comes of age." Ted Chuckled.

"Pardon?" Auror Graves asked Ted.

"I said, once Dave comes of age and is able to compete in the international Auror competitions he might give you a run for your money." Ted explained.

"Comes of age?" Auror Graves sputtered as he looked at Dave, "Just how old are you?" He asked.

"I'm 15." Dave replied to Auror Graves utter astonishment, "I'll turn 16 on Halloween." He added.

"Suddenly I feel rather old." Auror Graves remarked to no one as he and Dave shared a chuckle before they too received some 'home work' from Ted & Ivan. They then returned to their seats.

Gabrielle quickly snuggled into Dave when he sat down and Auror Graves sat next to Dave on the other side of him still looking at him oddly. Dave looked over to Auror Graves and acknowledged his look of confusion. This prompted Dave to tell Auror Graves an abbreviated version of his life story. It was interesting to hear the way Dave told it as he left out many of the things that his parents had told us the day we first met them. I did notice that Gabrielle still payed close attention to what was said though.

"You have passed the Senior Auror Exams?" Auror Graves asked Dave still both surprised and impressed.

"Yes, I have." He replied.

"So why don't you hold the rank of Senior Auror then?" Auror Graves asked him puzzled.

"I'm not 'of age' as yet." Dave replied, "Internationally there is actually no minimum age at which someone can become an Auror." Dave explained.

"It is just assumed that anyone who applies to join, has finished school and that they are at least around 17 or 18. But it is not actually written down anywhere what the minimum age is."

"With being a Senior Auror it is stated that the candidate must be 'of age' to be considered for the awarding of the rank of Senior Auror." Dave said with a smile.

"I see." Auror Graves replied, "So what happens when you turn 17 then? Will they award you your rank? Or will you have to sit the exams again?" He enquired.

"No one really knows." Dave answered with a rueful grin, "Because of the amount of elapsed time between when I did the exams and when I will be 'of age' there are a large number of people who think that I should sit the exams again." Dave explained,

"Another thought is that they will look at my case history and make a judgement on what I have achieved while working as an Auror." Dave stated, "Personally I'm not fussed too much one way or another. Once you get to that sort of rank you spend more time behind a desk with non-productive paper work than actually doing what we signed up for."

"I'll agree with that." Auror Graves chuckled, "That's one reason why I haven't taken the exams as yet." Dave smiled in agreement with his decision.

"So how did you end up as the leader of this particular team then?" Auror Graves asked. This question caused several people (namely Harry and Ron) to sit up and listen more.

"Unlike just about every other Auror Service the Australasian Auror Service has its current serving (and selected retired members) vote on who is accepted into its ranks. Most other services have ministry bureaucrats making those decisions."

"Within our service the main operational teams themselves decide who join them. These teams are separated into Assault, Special Ops, Intelligence/Interrogation, Surveillance and finally Research and Development."

"To become a member of one of those teams you need to be asked by that team. You can't apply to them, they will ask you. You can state a preference for what you would like but that is about as far as it goes." Dave explained.

"So you were asked to join?" Harry asked Dave.

"Correct." Dave answered, "My cousins Joseph and Tim are both in the assault teams and they both extended an invitation to me for their team. Likewise, Torquemada asked me to join his team. But as vital as the roles of those teams are neither of them really appealed to me."

"When Jimmy asked me if I would like to work with his team I couldn't say no." Dave said with his face showing just how much he missed his older brother.

"I accepted his offer and was then interviewed by the team as a whole. They accepted my application and I was granted a training slot with them."

"When the operation here came up, Jimmy was tapped to lead it and he selected the members for our team based on what we believed we would be facing here. I was offered a position as the undercover specialist based on Shelly's recommendation." Dave said with a smile at his sister.

"Well, we all make mistakes." She chuckled as she pulled a face at him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence sis." Dave remarked to several sets of laughter.

"When Jimmy was killed, we lost our leader and we all felt like we had lost a loving big brother." Dave said and the tears could be seen standing in his eyes, "Team protocols however dictated that we had to select a new leader. I tried to get everyone to select Mick or Shelly as the new leader as they were both Jimmy's right hands."

"Little did I know that they were both campaigning to get everyone to select me." Dave chuckled, "In the end the only person who didn't vote for me, was me." He laughed and we all joined in with him. Gabrielle was giving Dave an almost glowing smile at seeing him laugh.

"I hope every day that I have justified their faith in me." Dave said looking around at his team with obvious pride and affection for them all.

"I believe that you have Dave." Izzy said with a smile as she got up to head off for her turn as shooting some skeet. "Same here." Abby added as she went off to join Izzy.

One by one the other members of Dave's team stated their agreement that they believed that Dave was indeed living up to their expectations as their leader. When it was Jono's turn he sat looking at Dave with a mischievous grin on his face. Dave merely raised an eyebrow at Jono and waited.

"I too think you are doing an 'ok' job." He said with a smirk, "If we could only teach you better taste in Quidditch teams, I think you would be an even better Team Leader." He said with a broad smile at Dave.

"Let me guess you want me to become a Macaws supporter?" Dave chuckled.

"That would be a great start as they are a much better choice than that bunch of sorry misfits that you insist on supporting and showing off." Jono replied.

Dave was about to reply when his eyes lit up. "Thanks for reminding me." He stated excitedly, "Drunkmouse gave me something to show to you." Dave said as he dug out his wallet and opened it up. He pulled out a clear case that contained a shiny circular disc in it.

Written on the disc was Macaws V's Marauders. Jono took one look at what Dave held in his hands and his eyes went wide. "Is that from this weekend?" He asked almost hungrily.

"It is indeed." Dave answered, "Hot off the press and approved by the AQL as a suitable demonstration for viewing by potential backers." Dave explained excitedly.

"What is that?" Ron asked moments before Harry could.

"It's a DVD of a Quidditch match that was played this weekend back in Melbourne." Dave answered.

"DVD?" Ron said puzzled.

"It's a video recording of the match that we can watch on my TV. From all reports, everyone involved in the recording did an excellent job and it is just like being there." Dave said with his excitement showing.

"Who is playing in it?" Harry asked with his interest growing at the mention of Quidditch.

"The Moutohora Macaws V's the Melbourne Marauders." Dave stated loud enough so that the rest of his team could hear. Several heads turned at hearing this, they all looked to be rather interested in the conversation taking place between these two.

"Marauders?" Ginny asked as Harry also showed his increased interest, "That's what was on your shirt the day we first met you. Also, the one you wore the day after. Were those shirts for that Quidditch team?" She asked.

"They were indeed." Dave said proudly.

"Trying to corrupt the locals, are you?" Jono asked with a laugh.

"No corruption needed mate." Dave shot back, "Just supporting my team." He added with a smile.

"Well they do need all the support that they can get." Jono chuckled.

"They are new to the game, but they will get the job done." Dave stated confidently, Jono just gave him an amused look.

"New to the game?" Ron asked.

"The Melbourne Marauders were created just over two years ago." Dave explained, "Previously there was a team in the AQL called the 'Melbourne Magic'. However, they were a rather poor team and lost all of their sponsors…"

"Along with all of their games." Jono laughed with a smile at Dave, "They made the Chudley Cannons look like a highly successful team."

"Oi, lay off the Cannons mate." Ron exclaimed to the amusement of his family and Jono.

"Am I wrong with my description of them?" Jono asked, "Didn't they finish on the bottom of the league ladder yet again?" Jono asked with a grin at Ron.

"They are just going through a 'bad patch' currently." Ron stated a little defensively.

"And for the previous century." Ginny chuckled, "The Harpies are a much better team." She said confidently.

"How many league championships have they won?" Ron asked Ginny a little snidely. Ginny bristled at this question and was about to fireback a response when Harry laid a comforting arm around her shoulders and gave her a kiss. This calmed her down enough that he could ask his question.

"So, what happened to the Melbourne Magic then?" Harry asked Dave.

"The AQL were going to cancel their licence unless they could prove that they were financially viable for the next season." Dave explained still grinning at Ron and Ginny, "The owners of the Melbourne Magic let it be known that they were open to being bought out after they had trouble securing enough sponsors for the next season."

"A new group of people took them up on that offer and bought out the Melbourne Magic on the condition that the AQL would agree to them re-launching the team under a new name and new colours."

"The AQL deliberated on this for 2 weeks and finally agreed to it, on the proviso that the team stay in Melbourne. The sale of the Melbourne Magic was then approved and the new owners took over control of the licence and re-launched the team as the Melbourne Marauders."

"The new owners of the Melbourne Marauders brought in a lot of ideas from the world of muggle sports and completely re-organised the structure and running of the team. The players from the old Magic were asked if they wanted to stay or take up an option to transfer. Quite a few of them transferred out and the new owners promoted the majority of the reserve team to the primary team on the understanding that they fully participate in the new way of doing things."

"Their first season of playing under the new name was last season, and they actually won two games." Dave said happily.

"Only two?" Ron asked with a look of incredibility on his face.

"That's better than the Canon's have managed in living memory." Ginny chuckled.

"It's also better than the Melbourne Magic ever achieved." Jono chuckled as well.

"That certainly correct." Dave admitted, "But the old Melbourne Magic did indeed have a core group of 'die hard' fans that were against the sale of their beloved team. Much like the Cannons have a group of dedicated fans."

"More like delusional" Ginny chimed in.

"Let's go with dedicated." Dave said trying to smooth Ron's ruffled feathers, "This 'hard core' of fans were ecstatic with these wins. As it gave them a chance to finally celebrate their home team openly."

"Going from the reports in the newspapers they caused quite a scene and the Ministry had to call out the Obliviators to modify the memories of a large group of muggles who saw these fans flying their broom sticks down the muggle shopping strip called the Bourke Street mall. As the highest scoring chaser on the team is named Bourke, they thought it a suitable act of homage." Dave chuckled, a few of the others did as well.

"This season they have already won two games and drawn another. So, there are high hopes that this will be their best season yet."

"They don't have to do much to reach that goal." Jono teased Dave, "Going by their track record that is." He added with a grin after seeing the look on Dave's face.

"How did they end up with the name of Marauders?" Ginny asked.

"The new owners chose it as Marauders are generally defined as people who do things their own way. They don't follow convention and are different." Dave explained. Harry, Ron, Ginny and George were all sharing an 'insider's smile' at this comment from Dave. At the time, I was very curious as to the reason for it. It wasn't until I was given a demonstration of Harry's special map, along with the story of the group that were behind its creation. That I understood the reason for those smiles.

"I think I can see why you like that team." Kat chuckled to Dave who smiled back while the others laughed.

"How did you get a copy of that 'DVD'?" Ron asked, "As from what you said it isn't generally available."

"Correct it isn't." Dave answered, "I got it as I know both the new owners and the CEO of the Marauders." Dave explained a little cryptically.

"As long as the press don't see it before the official unveiling they are happy for me to watch it and report back to them my thoughts on it."

"I was thinking that if you all were interested, we could watch it together and all provide some feedback on the coverage of the game." Dave explained while he looked around at us all.

"I'm in." Ron stated excitedly.

"Me too." Harry added just before Ginny also spoke up. "Me three." She said with a chuckle.

Everyone else also quickly indicated their agreement with that plan also.

"Looking for people to share your pain with when your team loses to the Mighty Macaws are you?" Jono asked Dave with mischief written all over his face.

"I have faith in them." Dave replied smiling at Jono, "They are still learning to be a team, but I do believe that they are getting better."

"Loyalty is an admirable trait mate. But there is such a thing as taking it too far." Jono further needled Dave.

Dave didn't answer he only pulled two red Jelly Beans out of a pocket and showed them to Jono.

"You game?" He asked with a grin.

"You're on." Jono answered with a large smile on his face as he made to get up from his seat. He made a playful grab for the jelly beans and Dave had to quickly snatch them away from him.

"Shouldn't we wait for Kingsley and Chief Williams to finish their turn?" Sandra asked.

"By the time we have seats in place and popcorn made they will be done." Dave added with a grin as he, Jono, Gabrielle, Harry, Ginny, and Ron all made for Dave's tent.

"Boys!" Hermione sighed with a roll of her eyes as she got up to follow them.

"It isn't just the boys." Fireball remarked, "Ginny and Gabrielle seemed quite keen also." She added as she followed after the first wave of people heading for Dave's tent.

"Both of them have motivation that is highly suspect in this case." Hermione replied cheekily.

"Oh?" Fireball remarked, "Just like your motivation then?" She asked as she glanced over to where Ron was with Harry and Dave. Hermione's only reply was a shy but rather naughty little smile.

This seemed to start a general exodus of people to Dave's tent. When Kingsley and Chief Williams eventually finished their turn they looked over to the seats to see only Sandra, Kat and me patiently waiting for them.

"Where did everyone get to?" Kingsley asked a little disappointed that not everyone had stayed to see his very impressive skeet shooting demonstration with Chief Williams.

"They have all gone to Dave's tent to get things ready to watch a Quidditch game apparently." Sandra told him.

"Watch a Quidditch game?" Kingsley asked in surprise, "How are they going to watch a Quidditch game."

"Follow us Minister, and we will show you." Ivan chuckled as he grabbed Kingsley by the arm and Ted grabbed him by the other and together they marched Kingsley off to Dave's tent.

"Do they ever grow up?" Kat asked Sandra with a grin.

"I doubt it. But then do we really want them to grow all the way up?" She chuckled and we both joined her.

When we arrived in Dave's tent we found everyone comfortably seated. It was a little bit of a squeeze and I did notice that Gabrielle had been 'forced' to sit on Dave's lap while Ginny had likewise been 'forced' to sit on Harry's. Fireball had somehow gained control of the remote control and was standing in front of the TV waiting for everyone to be comfortably seated.

"Is everyone ready?" She asked a clearly impatient crowd.

"Yes!" Came the reply from the crowd.

"Ok then." She began "This is a simulated broadcast of this weekend's game between The Moutohora Macaws and The Melbourne Marauders. The game was recorded using prototypes of the cameras being developed jointly by the technical divisions of the Australian and Korean Ministries of magic."

"There is a total of 12 cameras stationed around the ground for this game. The commentary at this point is very basic and is being done by none other than Millie Gudabi, formally of the Thundelarra Thunderers." Fireball said rather proudly.

"Let us begin." She stated happily as she pressed 'play' on the remote.

We were instantly rewarded with a view of a beautiful roofed Quidditch stadium and could see the two teams marching onto the field of play.

As the players were marching out small close up images of the players were presented on the screen along with their names. This enabled us to see the faces and names of the players. The Macaws were the first team so introduced and Jono was very enthusiastic in his greeting of 'his' team. He provided some good entertainment for us all. The other 'Kiwi' members of Dave's team tried to disown him at this point.

Then the Melbourne Marauders were introduced. Here Dave, Fireball, Shelly and Cassy started to get a little overly excited as well. Jono was quick to point this out to all concerned in case we had missed it. We hadn't.

Eli Clayton Bourke was the first player to be introduced. Dave told us he was the chaser that he told us about previously who was the inspiration for the Marauders supporters to 'buzz' the Bourke Street mall in muggle Melbourne. It wasn't named after him but that didn't stop the supporters.

Maya Gracie Anderson was the next player to be introduced. Ginny was very approving of there being a girl on the team. She also approved of her flaming red hair and that she was a chaser. The next player to be introduced was also a female and a chaser she was Harriet Robinson Taylor also known as 'HRT' which came from her initials as well as the fact that she was a rather rough player on the pitch.

The beaters were introduced next. These were Victor John Armstrong also known as 'Very' and looking at his build you could see why. His arms were enormous. The other beater was Charlie Lewis Stone and he seemed only slightly smaller than 'Very'.

Next up was the seeker. Here too Ginny approved as the seeker was a woman named Danielle Maria Hunter. At just under 6 feet tall she was also the shortest member of the team.

Lastly the Keeper (and Captain) was introduced. He was Matthew "Matt" Mason Martell. But as his name was read out all of Dave's team (the exception being Fireball) called out "Mmm… He looks like a real 'Keeper' doesn't he."

Fireball was doing her best to ignore her fellow team members and fight down a blush at the same time. Dave and the rest of his team seemed happy with this reaction as they all had large smiles on their faces as well. The keeper who had Fireball's full attention now looked to be around 6 and a half feet tall, dirty blond hair, blue eyes and with a very short stubbly style beard. When his photo on the TV smiled at the camera Fireball almost seemed to glow.

I looked over to Fireball's parents and could see them both watching her closely with knowing smiles on their faces. She was also doing her best to ignore them as well.

The referee then called the two teams to order where the Captains shook hands. Everyone went to their positions for the game kick off. The Macaws chasers quickly took possession of the Quaffle and were off to the Marauders goals very quickly. Matt or Mmm as Dave's team kept on calling him was able to block their shot on goal and quickly sent the Quaffle to his own chasers. The three chasers from the Marauders did seem to work very well together as they flew in a relatively tight formation and were very free with their passing of the Quaffle to each other.

The Marauder's beaters also now made their presence felt as they kept the Macaws busy with the many bludgers that they sent their way. As they approached the Macaws goals the chasers' broke formation in such a way to make it difficult for the keeper to know who had the Quaffle. This enabled Maya to score the first goal of the game.

Dave was ecstatic and jumped up from his seat (along with a few other members of his family), but he also managed to keep a hold of Gabrielle. She seemed to quite enjoy this energetic display from Dave actually and she happily shared in the celebratory kisses that he offered her.

Needless to say, Jono wasn't too happy with this state of affairs. He only rolled his eyes at Dave's antics and waited for his Macaws to score. He didn't have long to wait as they were able to pile on 5 quick unanswered goals in the next 20 min. Gabrielle was 'forced' to offer Dave some consolation kisses each time the Macaws scored. Fireball however was providing free entertainment to us all with her thoughts on the Macaws chasers who were able to sneak goals past 'her' keeper.

Watching the game like this on the TV was a very interesting experience I will admit. At first, I found the frequent changes between the cameras to be a little disorientating. But we all quickly adjusted to it. The best things being that the action was always relatively up close and easy to follow. So far everyone seemed to be giving the coverage of the game the thumbs up.

The Marauders were eventually able to score another three goals before the Macaws again scored. It was now 40-60 in favour of the Macaws. It was at this point that the two seekers were seen to be diving for the base of the goals at the far end of the field. The cameras quickly changed to a 'long shot' as it was called by the commentator looking directly down the ground.

The seekers could be seen getting rapidly larger on the screen when there was a flash of gold that rapidly changed direction causing the seekers to quickly dart off after it. That change seemed to cause the seekers to lose sight of the snitch however and the seekers soon returned to their searching of the stadium.

While that 'seeker battle' was going on as Harry called it the Marauders had managed to score again. This brought the score to 50-60 but still in favour of the Macaws. The next 30 min saw the Quaffle change hands and sides frequently as each team altered their tactics to try and confuse the opposing team. The Marauders scored two quick goals to put them in the front, then the Macaws evened the score at 70 all.

The Marauders then switched the positions of their Chasers and appeared to give HRT the lead position for a while. This enabled them to pile on another 3 goals to only one from the Macaws. However, the last of those goals caused a penalty for rough play by HRT as she deliberately 'charged' one of the Macaws beaters who had made some sort of comment to her. The Macaws scored on the penalty shot. It was a very impressive shot but that didn't stop Fireball and the rest of her family from being very disappointed.

The score was now 100-90 in favour of the Marauders. The comment that was directed at HRT by the Macaws Beater seemed to have unsettled her however as she wasn't flying with the same amount of focus as before. This caused the performance of the Marauders chasers to suffer and the scores reflected this. The Macaws piled on 4 unanswered goals and the Marauders were beginning to look a little shaky. A time out was called by the coach of the Marauders and this enabled the commentary team to replay some of the more exciting aspects of the game so far.

Everyone seemed to enjoy this feature of the coverage especially when the play was slowed down so that it could be more clearly seen what had occurred in each play. All of the goals and quite a few of the saves were also analysed by the commentator.

When the players returned from the timeout Maya looked to be in the lead chaser position and she looked like she had a point to prove. This became very clear by the aggressive but controlled manner in which she and her fellow chasers were flying. After a rather spectacular save by Mmm he passed the Quaffle onto Maya and they raced off to the opposite end of the pitch. They were not travelling in a straight line however as they were zig zagging all over the ground, along with continually changing altitude as well. When they got to the goals at the other end she ended up firing at the goal from almost directly underneath the Macaws keeper. This stopped him from getting a good view as to where she was going to shoot from.

That tactic paid off for her as she was able to score a goal and the overall points were now 110 – 130 in favour of the Macaws. The smile on Maya's face in the close up was plain for all to see. Her team mates including HRT seemed to be sharing in her excitement as well.

They were all almost knocked off their brooms however as the two seekers raced passed them chasing the snitch. As the cameras switched over to follow the action the snitch could clearly be seen just in front of the two seekers. The look on Harry's face was priceless. You could have been forgiven to think that he was playing in the game himself as he made to reach out and grab the snitch himself. This gave Ginny quite a few laughs as she grabbed his hands and returned them to their 'correct' place around her waist.

The snitch made a sudden change in direction and as Danielle turned to follow it the snitch became entangled in her robes. The Macaws seeker made to grab her robes himself but she very quickly and expertly swatted his hands away. This caused a few laughs both from those of us watching the game and from the commentator as well.

She eventually found the snitch underneath the collar of her robe and retrieved it to the thunderous applause of the crowd. With a very proud smile she held it up for all to see. This also caused Dave and his family to celebrate.

Dave wrapped his arms around Gabrielle and 'kissed her silly'. She didn't seem to mind this at all. In fact I think there was a remote chance that she 'might' have actually enjoyed it. I was going to ask her for her thoughts on this, but she took a while to stop smiling. She took even longer before she could fully catch her breath and talk again also.

The final score of the game was 260 – 130 in the favour of the Marauders.

Jono was still staring at the screen in disbelief. The replay of the final catch of the snitch seemed to have his full attention. Dave eventually untangled himself from Gabrielle and went over and sat in Jono's lap. This caused a few odd looks but Dave's team and family were laughing at this. He then proceeded to 'console' Jono with a cuddle over his team's loss. We soon learned this is exactly what Jono did to Dave last season after the Macaws defeated the Marauders.

"Turnabout is fair play, isn't it?" Ron chuckled to Harry who had to agree with him.

Jono eventually had enough of Dave's 'support' and got up off the couch and shook hands with Dave saying, "Well done I guess. We will just have to beat you again next time." As he handed over to Dave 2 red jelly beans.

"Good luck with that." Dave replied happily as he returned to Gabrielle's arms and shared a jelly bean with her. Once more Dave's family had an odd look on their faces at this exchange.

"So, what was everyone's thoughts on that?" Dave asked us, "Was it almost as good as being at the game?" He asked hopefully.

"It was brilliant." Ron stated enthusiastically, "Being able to see the players up close like that was great. The replays especially the slow-motion ones enabled so much more to be seen and understood." He exclaimed.

"Basically, what he said." Harry said grinning happily as well.

"Ze changes between ze cameras at ze start took a bit of getting used to. But after zat it was magnific." I told a very happy Dave.

"It certainly was ze most fun zat I 'ave ever 'ad at a Quidditch match." Gabrielle said with a chuckle at Dave. Dave's sisters and cousin just rolled their eyes at the two of them.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it." Bill said with a smile, "Much more comfortable to watch it in comfort at home than in some of the old rickety stadiums here."

"Aren't they concerned that fewer people will actually go to the games if they are able to watch it at home?" He asked Dave.

"That has been raised as a concern yes. There is still a good bit of research going on into that topic currently." Dave explained, "I think their main hope is that people who wouldn't normally go to a game or can't because of time or travel or work will watch from home. They are planning on putting advertisements into the broadcast somehow to help generate income from it that way also."

"What a strange idea." Arthur remarked, "Where did it come from?" He asked.

"The muggles actually." Dave explained, "They broadcast almost all of their sports. It enables them to reach a wider audience than they normally would."

"They have some strange ideas those muggles." Molly chuckled.

"That they do. But it doesn't necessarily mean that they are all bad ones." Dave replied.

Kingsley's Mirror Phone began to make a strange buzzing sound at this point and he was very clearly startled by it. We all had a laugh at his expression before he managed to extract it from his robe. He looked at the device is confusion for a few moments before Ivan stepped in to remind him how to bring up the message. With a sheepish grin, Kingsley tapped on the correct area of the screen.

"It's a message from Gawain." He stated happily, "He has managed to successfully make contact with and recruit all the Aurors that he mentioned earlier." He said with a very large grin.

"Gawain also says that they are VERY keen to participate now that they know about the fate of their family members." Kingsley explained, "Faye has apparently requested that I accompany her to Azkaban personally after this to secure her husband's direct release from there."

"That sounds fair." Arthur stated to Kingsley who nodded in agreement.

"They truly are very useful devices, aren't they?" Kingsley remarked happily as he regarded his Mirror Phone with approval.

"That they are indeed." Dave replied, "I will request another shipment of them tonight, so hopefully tomorrow we will have enough to equip your Aurors with them as well." Dave suggested.

"Then we can REALLY start to make life difficult for the opposition." He added with a predatory grin on his face.

"I think we can all agree to that." Kingsley said very happily.

"On that note I think we all need to head off to bed now." Ivan said as there were a few good-natured grumbles, "We have a busy day ahead tomorrow." He told his Aurors with a gentle smile.

"Some of us also have to be up early tomorrow to visit foreign heads of state." He remarked looking meaningfully at Dave, "So you will need to get your rest, so as to have your wits about you." He added with a chuckle.

"Along with your dress uniform also Dave." Sandra chimed in to a few chuckles from Dave's team at the expression on Dave's face, "You too Jasper." She added and this immediately wiped the smile from Fireball's face. But gave Dave a reason to smile.

"Don't you like your dress uniform?" Ginny chuckled at Dave, "I thought that you were quite at home in a good dress." She said with an evil grin on her face.

"It isn't that sort of dress." Dave said with an exasperated look at her, "The dress in this case means formal, as the uniform that we wear for formal occasions. And no, I'm not overly fond of it, as it is bloody uncomfortable."

"Comfort wasn't one of the leading requirements when it was designed I'm afraid Dave." Ivan tried to console his son.

"It should have been. They might be able to get more Aurors volunteer for formal duties if they had." He argued with Ivan, "When I wear it, it always seems to feel like someone is pinching my arse." He grumbled.

This caused a few naughty giggles in the room.

"Here I was thinking it was that group of female Aurors from The Netherlands who were last seen pinching your arse." Fireball stated a little too loudly, "And now you're telling me it was your uniform all along?" She chuckled as everyone turned to Dave with questioning looks on their faces.

"That was a setup, Nat and Andrea deliberately mislead them into thinking that it was the polite way to great someone for the first time in Australia." Dave said with a long suffering look on his face, "Although Guz didn't mind it, did you?" Dave asked a now suddenly shy Guz who was trying to back out of the tent without being seen.

"It was a 'special mission' so I can neither confirm nor deny that the event in question ever took place." Guz replied with a wide grin that fooled no one.

"Stop trying to change the subject you two will you." Sandra warned her children, "Molly, Apolline and Gabrielle can we rely on you three to make sure that those two are properly presented in their Dress Uniforms before they leave here tomorrow morning?" Sandra requested.

"Oui." Gabrielle quickly replied with a naughty smile at Dave.

"Oui. It will be a pleasure." Maman answered with a wink at Sandra.

"I'd be happy to help out." Molly also replied "But how will we know if they are wearing their uniforms correctly? As we have never seen what they look like before." She added with a look of wide eyed innocence that wasn't totally convincing.

"That is easily remedied." Sandra answered with an evil smirk. She reached into her hand bag and brought out a small book and removed from it a single photo and presented it to Molly.

"That's a picture of Dave in his dress uniform taken on the day he was accepted into the Australasian Auror Service." She explained as Gabrielle very quickly crossed over to where Molly was to take a look at the photo. Her face lit up in approval of what she was seeing. Maman also was expressing approval as was Molly.

When I made my way over as well I found myself in agreement with them. The uniform that Dave was wearing comprised a long dark blue coat with turned back sleeves. There was a good deal of gold embroidery on the coat as well as a set of epaulets and what looked to be badges of some sort on their shoulders. There was also some sort of coloured ribbons on his chest near where the lapels of his coat ran.

Under the coat there was a sort of waist coat that could just be seen. A white shirt with a high stiff collar was under that. Black trousers that looked to be VERY well fitted to Dave's legs could be seen also along with polished black boots.

"Ez zat what Dave is to wear tomorrow?" Gabrielle almost purred as she asked Sandra.

"Yes, that is the basic formal uniform, he has a few more decorations on his current one. But that picture should give you enough information to tell if he is wearing it correctly." She said with a knowing smile.

"Merci." Gabrielle replied, "We will all do our best to make sure he does actually wear it." She said very smugly to Sandra and with a quick glance at Dave also.

"Thank you, Gabrielle. I have full confidence in your ability to achieve that." Sandra replied smiling.

"Now that is settled dear I think we can head back to the Embassy to get some rest in preparation for tomorrows activities." She said to her still chuckling husband.

"Of course. We can escort Ted, Kat and Auror Graves back as well." Ivan replied.

With that everyone got up and exchanged handshakes and kisses and they all made their way into the house with Molly and Arthur. Dave's team also were saying their goodnights to us all and heading for their beds. Dave and Gabrielle looked to have snuck out ahead of the main group.

I did notice Fireball sneak into Dave's room with a look of mischief on her face however. I presumed that she was after his hidden chocolate.

As Bill and I left we found Dave and Gabrielle saying goodnight in front of our tent. They were not even embarrassed at being caught, they only smiled at us shared one final kiss and then said good night to each other.

"That looked a little suspect." Bill remarked as he watched the two of them depart into their own tents.

"Getting suspicious in your old age?" I asked him cheekily.

It wasn't until later when we were getting into bed that Bill's suspicions were proved to be correct. As we could hear Gabrielle laughing in her room and something that sounded faintly like Dave's voice coming from in there as well. Bill had a strange look on his face when he realised this.

"Don't look so worried, I'm sure that she is only talking on her Mirror Phone to him." I chuckled.

"This indeed proved to be the case as when Maman went into Gabrielle's room shortly after, we could hear her tell Gabrielle to turn off her phone and allow Dave to get some sleep. Maman was chuckling to herself as she headed back to her room afterwards.

"Told you so." I said to Bill in my best cheeky voice as I snuggled up to him and closed my eyes.


	43. Harry's Introduction

When Molly asked me to help with the writing of this journal I initially thought it would be a great way to 'return the favour' for the many colourful stories that both Dave and Gabrielle provided for mine and Ginny's journal. As I know Ron is planning on doing exactly that if his drafts are anything to go by.

Then I thought about the stories of the discoveries that were made through these different families meeting in the way that they did. I know the Weasley family was changed by it as was the Prewitt Family. Certainly, my own family was radically changed by it, just as the Webb family were changed. We also all gained a new appreciation of just what family was and what it means to be part of a family.

In a way, I was always jealous of Ron and Ginny and how they grew up in a large and loving family. They got to experience things that I never did and this altered how we viewed certain aspects of family life. These different viewpoints at times caused friction between us while at others they actually enhanced things in unexpected ways. I have to admit I still get a great deal of enjoyment out of hearing Ron tell the stories of my first Christmas at Hogwarts from his point of view.

Our experiences of that holiday up until then had been so totally different, that when I got the chance to experience it the way that he always had, the magic of it was so much more powerful for me. Some of my view of that magic also carried over to Ron as well. That I think was one of my first memories of what the true power of family can be like. Since then I have experienced that power in many different ways, on many different occasions. But that first one has always been just that little bit extra special to me.

The same can be said about family itself. I like Molly's description of family that she wrote at the very start of this journal.

 _"Family. It is a strange word with as many different meanings as there are people on this planet. To some it only means a group of people related by Blood or connected by Marriage. To yet others it is a group of people who will love and support each other through both the very best and worst that life has to offer._

 _To a very lucky few it is both of these."_

 _Molly Weasley_

Growing up without a family of my own, or at least without a family that included me in its circle of love, I kind of had a strange set of ideas on what family could and should be. When I first met Ron and Hermione on the train to Hogwarts I caught a glimpse of what a family could be like. I was enthralled by Ron's stories about his family life, I could have listened to him all day.

Likewise, the teachers at Hogwarts gave me a different view of what family could be. They might not have been related by blood but they were certainly bonded by their desire to teach and to grow young people into the best Witches and Wizards that they could be.

My House mates in Gryffindor and the members of the DA likewise gave me yet a different view of family. While we might not all have gotten along at times and there were certainly fights and disagreements with each other. We also had each other's back and came together when it mattered.

That sort of family I think reaches its peak in an organisation like the Aurors. My first introduction to Aurors were through Ron's many stories about them and the books he had about them. I then got to meet the likes of Mad Eye Moody, Tonks and Kingsley and as a bonus I got to know them. They taught me that good Aurors regarded each other like family. You might argue from time to time, but when it counts you will have each other's backs.

Meeting Dave and the team of Aurors that he worked with only re-enforced this idea. They all seemed to regard themselves as having two families. Those that they were connected to by blood and marriage, and those that they were connected to by blood of a different sort. The interesting thing about Aurors is that while they will fight for those that they hardly know in the course of a case. They will fight even harder for their own families. Either their 'little family' (or those they are related to) or their 'big family' (those that they work and all too often bleed with). Even the 'little' families of their fellow Aurors fall into this category.

There is a quote from one of Ginny's favourite muggle writers, I keep on forgetting his name. I think it was Shakespeare or something like that. The quote goes:

 _"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;_

 _For he today that sheds his blood with me_

 _Shall be my brother"_

In my own opinion, the term of brother is too restrictive, as I have worked with many a Female Auror over the years whom I consider a sister in my 'big family'. I have even worked with a House Elf or two that I would more than happily call my brother or sister. But the meaning is clear, coming together to work for a common goal forges a close bond. The hotter the fire in that forge the closer the bond.

When you work in that sort of forge with someone you are already connected to by a blood relationship the bond is even stronger. This is very evident in the families of the Webb's, Williams, Graves, Savage, Longbottom and the Potter's.

After being around Dave's family and his team while they were working in the UK, first to deal with the threat to Molly and then helping with the rebuilding of the British Aurors (and learning some new tricks themselves along the way I have to say) I can honestly say I have come to fully understand and appreciate that view of family.

And I have also come to understand Dave's view on the nature and power of love. As when you get right down to it, family is really only a different form or expression of love. And we all know how hard we will work/fight for those that we love, even if we don't know it ourselves (at the time).

I do hope that you enjoy my contribution to this journal and my description of these events. I can say that I will be back to write some other chapters as it has been rather fun. Especially when I saw how much I could make Dave (and Ron) blush at the retelling of certain stories. It was a wild ride at times, but there are very few parts that I would have changed, even if I had the power to do so. As all of them in one way or another led to what we all have now.

And that is something that I wouldn't want to risk.

Family.

Harry Potter.

P.S. I feel I have to add the following comments. I'm more grateful than I can say to Dave's Grandfather for the information that he collected about my family. As over the years I have managed to read through the complete set of books that he created and they brought me closer to my family than I would have thought possible before. The copies of these books that Dave's family gifted to me are among some of my most prised possessions.

Kat, Ted, Abe, Jack and the rest of the 'American Potters', what can I say. I know that you will be reading this at some point in the future (especially the way that Dave and Abe exchange letters). Thankyou also for your efforts in connecting my family tree. It might not have seemed like a lot to you at the time. But it meant the world to me, and to the others involved.

Finally, to Dave. I have to admit you are one of the most unique individuals it has ever been my pleasure to meet. I have learnt more than you can know, both from you and those that you introduced me to. I do think Fleur's comments in her introduction are indeed true. You did help me learn to work better with others, and also taught me that: "A burden shared is a burden halved."

I do feel though that the following is also true. Depending on who it is shared with it can sometimes feel like it is more than halved.

I also learned that some burdens are placed on us by others and some by ourselves. Often it is the burdens that we place on ourselves that are the hardest to share. It took me a while to learn that lesson, I'm hoping that I helped you come to learn it quicker than I did. As I know the peace that learning that lesson brought to me, I can only hope that it brought a similar amount of peace to you. As I do believe that you have earnt it.

P.P.S. I do feel the need to disagree here with my wonderful wife Ginny, and some comments that she wrote in her own introduction. In my opinion, I think she should include the colour pink in her wardrobe as I believe she looks absolutely adorable in it. Especially when it is her 'Harry Potter Pyjamas' or 'Harry Potter Nightdress'. Both of those items have been a huge hit in the family.


	44. Preparations (Harry's POV)

**18** **th** **May 1998 (Monday) - Early Morning.**

I remember waking up on this particular morning, still with the Quidditch game that we watched on the TV in Dave's tent the night before fresh in my mind. It was so unlike anything that I had witnessed before, even playing Quidditch hadn't been like that. Admittedly it is rather difficult to play Quidditch with Ginny snuggled into your lap.

The thought of that game (and Quidditch in general) gave me the energy to get out of bed and get dressed for the morning run. It still surprised me at times that I had voluntarily asked to join in on these morning exercises with Dave's team. There was a very powerful 'gut feeling' that drove me to do it. I've learnt to listen to this gut feeling more and more over the years as it is right far more than it is wrong. I remember it telling me that these sorts of exercises were going to be a large part of my future if I chose to be an Auror and to this day it has been very right. Although more often than not, it is now me making others getting out of bed when they are tired and sore to go running.

The more of the morning runs that I did the more I was finding out that I was actually coming to enjoy them. Especially when Dave and some members of his team taught me how to massage my own feet and legs to help get rid of the stiffness in them also.

The run itself woke up the body and allowed your mind to wonder free as you pounded through the country lanes around The Burrow. Having Ron join me was a bonus as was having Ginny along also. When it eventually got to the point where we could all keep up with the rest of Dave's team and we had enough breath so that we could join in their cadences that they sometimes 'sang' the runs became very enjoyable. Mick, Jono and Guz definitely had the best cadences to sing in terms of fun at the sometimes-bawdy lyrics.

That was still some time off for us however. This particular morning, I was still feeling the runs from the previous two days. So, I needed all the energy that I could muster from the thoughts of Quidditch (and Ginny sitting on my lap) to get myself dressed, wake up Ron and get myself down stairs to join everyone else. As Ron and I approached Ginny's door it opened and Ginny came out to meet us.

"Is she awake?" Ron asked hopefully.

"She is." Ginny replied with a smile, as she knew the few moments that it took Ron to go in and kiss Hermione good morning would enable us to do the same. We made good use of those few moments before Ron returned and closed the door behind him.

As we made it outside we found everyone ready except for Dave and Gabrielle.

"Did they get distracted inside Dave's tent?" Ginny asked with a cheeky grin.

"I can't speak for Gabrielle but Dave is certainly distracted." Fireball chuckled.

"In what way?" Ginny asked as her grin grew wider.

"It seems that someone re-arranged his wardrobe last night." Fireball chuckled, "It has caused him to misplace almost all of his briefs." She smirked.

"Almost all of them?" Ron asked.

"Some recent additions are about the only ones the poor bloke has left to use." Fireball replied with vast insincerity.

"How recent?" Ginny asked as she seemed to have caught into what Fireball was saying.

"About Saturday recent." Fireball replied.

"Is Gabrielle helping Dave trying to locate his missing briefs?" Ginny just HAD to know.

"I have no idea. Perhaps we should check up on them." She grinned, as we all headed off to Dave's tent.

On entering the tent, we found Gabrielle, Fleur and Bill in the kitchen almost in hysterics.

"What's so funny?" Ginny asked before any of us had a chance.

"Dave." Gabrielle replied wiping away some tears from her eyes.

"What has he done this time?" Fireball asked as Shelly entered the tent as well.

"'e ez having trouble locating some 'suitable attire'." Gabrielle explained.

"How is that funny? He loses clothes all the time." Fireball said while struggling to contain the smile that was on her face.

"Gabrielle offered to go in and help search through his drawers to see if she could locate his briefs for him." Bill explained, "The look of fright on Dave's face was hilarious. He then tried to redirect Gabrielle and us over here so that we wouldn't be tempted to aid him in his search."

"But while he was doing zat Maman came in to ask what all ze noise was about." Fleur chuckled, "When we told her she went straight into Dave's room to help him look. Dave just went white and almost flew into his room to try and stop her going through his drawers." She said laughing.

"We have been listening to ze conversation in zere, as Dave tries to convince Maman zat she doesn't have to personally search all of his underwear drawers." Gabrielle explained.

"I do zink zat she 'as found a pair for 'im and is now trying to convince 'im zat zey are perfectly fine to wear." Gabrielle chuckled happily. As she said this Apolline came out of Dave's room struggling badly to hide a rather large grin on her face.

"I was asked to leave ze room so zat 'e could get changed." She chuckled, "I offered to turn my back but 'e wouldn't 'ear of it." She got out before she broke down and laughed.

"Anyone would think that there is some sort of conspiracy going on here." I suggested as I was met with a sea of supposedly innocent looking faces. I almost believed Bill, but the girls were not even trying to contain their smiles.

"Would we really do something like that?" Fireball replied with a wide-eyed expression.

"In a heartbeat." Shelly answered from the door where she was watching with quiet amusement.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Fireball replied

Dave now emerged from his room and he looked rather annoyed and more than a little suspicious at the crowd of people in his tent.

"Lose something, did you?" Shelly asked him with a perfectly straight face.

"I didn't lose anything." Dave replied with some irritation in his voice, "Those drawers are warded and were fully stocked last night." He explained.

"It would have required a good curse breaker or someone who is trained in House-Elf magic…" He stated with a filthy look at Fireball, "for them to even be opened."

"I'll need to check the surveillance footage when we get back from our run." He stated as Fireball began to look a little worried. But she had to try and keep a straight face under Dave's gaze.

"You set wards on your underwear drawers and have surveillance cameras in your own bedroom?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"With the women that I have in my life, it's kind of a necessity." Dave replied with a rueful shake of his head as he collected Gabrielle and they walked together from the tent hand in hand. Everyone was giving Fireball supportive looks as they made to leave the tent.

"You're playing with fire if you're trying to pull that prank on him again." Shelly told Fireball as they left Dave's tent.

"Maybe." Fireball replied, "But we have been going soft on him for a while now. It's time we reminded him just how much we really do love him. Even if he is a great lump." She chuckled. Shelly smiled in support and we all left Dave's tent to meet with the others for the run.

We were paired up as before and set off on the run. The scenery around The Burrow is lovely and relaxing to look at and stroll through. On those first sets of runs though, the most wonderful sight was when the Burrow would come back into view.

On this particular run, we would have been just passing the first mile of the run when all the girls behind us started to giggle at something. Even Fireball and Cassy could be heard to laugh occasionally. I could guess what they were laughing at but I needed to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other at that point in time.

As we started to drop behind the main group of runners and the girls dropped a little way behind us their giggling and laughter became less distinct. Concentrating on the task at hand became easier also.

Seeing the Burrow come back into view gave me a brief burst of energy so I tried to lift my pace a bit. Dave spoke up and advised me to keep my pace even and steady while getting used to the morning runs. I had to acknowledge the wisdom of this as I didn't want to do myself an injury.

When we were back on the grounds of the Burrow I noticed that the members of Dave's team who had already completed their run were waiting for us. They hadn't gone to get washed and changed as they usually did. Dave and Mick dropped me and Ron off at the steps to the porch, then turned to complete their extra two miles that were required for 'having an easier run'. Dave did have a suspicious expression on his face as he took in his assembled team members.

As they left the yard and headed back out on the lane I could see several wide sets of grins on the faces of them. Shelly looked to have let them know what Fireball had been up to (with the help of Bill, Fleur and Apolline I would later find out).

I looked over to watch Dave and Mick leave the yard and could plainly see the writing from the 'special undies' that George had presented him with flashing across his backside.

"Rien à voir ici!" could still be seen through Dave's shorts flashing on his bum as he and Mick turned the corner in the lane. When they were out of sight the four girls could be seen coming along the lane also. We all waited for them to arrive and they were greeted almost like conquering heroes when they did.

Fireball looked extremely pleased with herself especially with this reception.

"Thank you, thank you." She said as she acknowledged the congratulations from her fellow team members before she and Cassy set off to do their extra two miles.

Ginny and Gabrielle looked to be in a right state having spent the last few miles not only trying to complete the run but to also hold back their laughter. Now that they were back at the Burrow they gave into their laughs. Seeing Ginny that happy brought a smile to my own face and help lessen a lot of the aches and pains I was feeling.

"You should all go and get cleaned up and dressed. Or zere will be no breakfast for any of you." Fleur advised us still trying to control her own laughter. She walked over to Gabrielle and helped her up, "Well did you enjoy Dave's undies?" She asked her with a naughty laugh.

"Non." Gabrielle answered with a large smile.

"Really?" Fleur asked her both surprised and amused by this news.

"Oui. Really." She replied, "I do not agree wiz ez un slips. As I zink zat zere is plenty to see." She explained with a very naughty laugh.

"Of course, there is plenty to see." Ginny chimed in, "Someone that large has to have a big butt, don't they?" She added with an evil grin and a wink at Gabrielle. Gabrielle pulled a face at Ginny but joined in with the laugher.

"Enough talk about my little brother's butt, please ladies." Shelly requested the still laughing girls, "I'm still hoping to be able to have some breakfast this morning." She advised them grinning.

"If we 'ave to." Gabrielle replied with a grin as she and Fleur headed off to their tent. I followed Ron and Ginny inside so that we could also clean up and get ready for breakfast. Passing through the kitchen we spotted George still with tears in his eyes from laughing so much.

"I'm assuming that you and Fireball were in on this together?" I asked him as we entered.

"Correct, along with, Fleur, Apolline and Bill." George explained happily.

"He will figure it out eventually." I advised him with a smile as we headed up the stairs.

"That's what makes it so much fun." He replied with a genuinely happy smile.

"When I returned to the yard it was to see the final preparations for breakfast in the yard being done. Dave was also surreptitiously going from person to person handing out items of clothing. When he got to me he requested that I select something from the box he was carrying and then put it on when he distracted Jono.

Looking into the box I could see that it was merchandise for the Melbourne Marauders. With a smile forming on my face I selected a t-shirt and a muggle style baseball cap. Dave then told me that once everyone was wearing their Marauders gear no mention was to be made of it at all. He just wanted to see what Jono's reaction was going to be. I quickly agreed to this and Dave moved off to recruit Ron and Ginny as they came into the yard. With that done he left in search of Jono on the pretext of needing him to sign an extra copy of the incident report from yesterday.

He signalled Fireball when he had Jono occupied (we could tell as her face went blank momentarily) and we all quickly put on our Marauders supporters gear. I was surprised to see that not only had Molly and Arthur joined in this but also Julian and Apolline as well.

When Dave and Jono returned to the table Jono's face was a delight. There was a momentary flicker of surprise and amusement across his face. Only to be very quickly followed by a look of determination not to react to this obvious provocation from Dave.

He turned to gauge Dave's expression and nearly lost his composure as Dave was suddenly decked out in what looked like every article of Marauders clothing that was available. Along with some Marauders pennants that he was also holding. He was also maintaining an air of complete ignorance and innocence as to what was happening.

The two of them joined the rest of us at the breakfast table and happily attacked their breakfasts. Then over the course of the meal Dave questioned all of his team on their roles in the upcoming operation.

When he was happy with their answers he questioned Arthur, Molly and the rest of us to make sure we understood our parts in the plan. Along with the evacuation and medical plans in case they were required.

Once satisfactory answers to all those questions had been given Dave then briefed us (no puns intended here) on some news that he had just received from his father and Kingsley.

"It has been decided between our Minister and the British Minister that any prisoners that are taken during today's operation are to be considered the 'property' of the British Ministry and handed over to Gawain and his team who will be there." Dave explained as he read some information off his mirror phone.

"We have also been requested not to openly use our port key hand cuffs today if at all possible as Kingsley would like them to be kept quiet at the moment." Dave informed us all, then seeing a question from Jono he indicated for him to speak.

"What should be use to restrain any prisoners then?" He asked.

"Good question." Dave replied as he sat back and took off his Marauders baseball cap. As he did so a set of very long blue and white hair fell out from underneath it. I could see all of Dave's team smile at this and then quickly look to Jono. Poor Jono looked to be under immense strain not to crack a smile. But he was holding up so far, if only just.

That lasted until Dave began to shake his hair from side to side which caused it to fan out. He then began to run his fingers through his clearly luxurious head of hair. Once he started doing that Jono couldn't help but smile and then eventually succumb to the laughter that wanted to escape.

"Ok. Ok." He said as he held his hands up in mute surrender, "You got me you little bugger. This time anyway." He added with a smile of genuine affection for Dave.

"Got you?" Dave asked with a look of innocence, "Got you about what?" He managed to get out before his own smile got the better of him. The two were then grinning madly at each other.

"I must say, I'm deeply saddened to see my own countrymen betray me like this." He said with mock hurt as he surveyed his fellow Kiwi members.

"Hey we told you, that we all thought you went a bit overboard that last time the Macaws beat the Marauders." Abby reminded him, "I do believe that we told you we would assist our 'fearless leader' in evening the score with you in the event of his Marauders actually managing to beat the Macaws."

"We just never expected it to actually happen." She explained to Cassy.

"Yeah it was a real shock." Izzy added with a cheeky grin at Dave. Olly looked to be in agreement with her also.

"Thanks… I think." Dave replied to the two of them as his hair returned to its usual state. The two girls were smiling back at Dave and ended up blowing some kisses his way. After which they both winked at Gabrielle.

"Getting back to your earlier question Jono. Standard cuffs or even muggle style cables ties should be sufficient to secure any prisoners." Dave suggested, "As long as the usual rules are followed." Dave added looking at me with a smile on his face.

"Let me guess." I replied, "Disarm them and properly search them for any wands?" I asked.

"Spot on Harry." Dave replied with a grin, "Follow the guidance from Gawain and his team on where we are to place any captives but I do believe it will be in the usual cells."

"The ones we kept of breaking people out of?" Guz asked grinning.

"The very same." Dave replied, "That reminds me Guz, we really should reset some of the charms on those cells today if we get a chance." Dave suggested.

"Agreed." He replied.

"Are there any other questions?" Dave asked us as he looked around everyone. When he got no further questions he continued on.

"While Fireball and I are running our errand this morning, can you Jono and Mick, along with maybe Olly and Goose give Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione, some more practise on playing dirty?" Dave requested.

"Will do skipper." Came the replies.

"Excellent, thanks." Dave answered. He then turned to Gabrielle.

"If you and your parents have a moment. I believe this might be a good time to get your dad to remove the Talisman he placed on your wrist on Thursday." Dave enquired as he looked from Gabrielle to her parents.

"Oui. We do." Monsieur Delacour answered, "What do we need to do?" He asked.

"Nothing major." Dave advised, "All we need to do is to get Gabrielle to sit in a chair with you both on either side of her. Fleur can stand behind her if she wishes." Dave explained.

"Then tell the Talisman she is wearing on her wrist to 'come off'. Once it has been removed, all we will need to know is how Gabrielle is feeling."

"If she begins to feel alone or afraid you can place it back on her. But if she doesn't then she can have it back and it will be up to her if she wishes to wear it or not." Dave instructed.

With that the Delacour's gathered around Gabrielle and her father removed the Talisman from her wrist. I think that all of us held our breaths for a few moments once he had removed it.

"How do you feel?" Dave asked her with an intense searching look in his eyes as he squatted down in front of her so he could look her directly in the eyes. Gabrielle simply smiled back at him and launched herself at him and covered his face with kisses. As she knocked him to the ground.

"She looks to be very 'appy to moi." Madame Delacour remarked with a chuckle.

"Oui, she does." Fleur agreed.

After a few moments, Dave was able to get up on his elbows, "I think I will have to agree with you both on that one." He chuckled. Bill then helped the two of them to their feet where Dave once again turned to Gabrielle with a serious expression.

"Can you please tell me how you are feeling right now?" He requested, then seeing her impish smile he quickly added, "With your words not your actions. Please, it is important." He again requested.

Gabrielle thought for a few moments and then replied, "I feel fantastic." With a smile for Dave.

"That is excellent." Dave answered also smiling, "If I ask you to cast your thoughts back to the events on Thursday, how do you feel then?" He enquired with his eyes once again searching hers. As Gabrielle thought for a few moments I could see Dave's eyes display their golden tint on a few occasions. Once they even went completely gold for a few moments.

"When I zink back to zose events I can feel fright, boz my own and zat of ozers." Gabrielle recalled, "I can also feel my fear at not knowing what was happening to me." She stated as she looked into Dave's still searching eyes.

"But more zan anyzing I can feel ze love of my family as zey came to 'elp moi." Gabrielle said with a brilliant smile at her parents, sister and then Dave. This caused a few strange smiles among those present but neither Dave nor Gabrielle were paying attention to anyone else just at that moment.

"That is terrific news." Dave replied with a smile, as he motioned for her father to give her the Talisman. "This is yours to keep. You may wear it whenever or as often as you wish to." He explained to her.

"Merci." Gabrielle replied as she pulled him into a fearsome embrace.

"You're very welcome." Dave replied as he happily returned her hug. Eventually he relaxed his arms and so did Gabrielle. After a quick kiss Dave stepped out of her arms. "I need to go and get changed for my meeting in Paris this morning, so I'd best be off now." As he made to head towards his tent.

"Do not forget Monsieur Dave, zat several of us have been tasked wiz inspecting your uniform before you leave." Apolline reminded Dave with a cheeky grin. Dave stiffed then turned to face Apolline and the others who were now grinning at him.

"I haven't forgotten, but I was rather hoping that you lot might have." He answered with an almost pleading look.

"What a shocking zing to say." Apolline chuckled, "We can't have you two making a bad impression on our French Minister, now can we?" She stated.

"With all the trouble those two have stirred up since they arrived in Europe I'd say that it is almost two years too late for that." Shelly chuckled. This caused a few laughs with the others as well.

"Well? Go on. Get." Shelly advised her brother, and with that Dave disappeared into his tent.

It wasn't a long wait until Dave and Fireball came out both wearing their dress uniforms. While we were waiting Molly and Apolline had been sharing a few chuckles at Gabrielle who was intently studying the photo of Dave in his dress uniform. Once he emerged however her full attention was on him.

"Aren't you supposed to have more ribbons zan what is in zis photo?" Gabrielle asked Dave with a questioning look.

"Yes, he does indeed." Fireball added with a grin as she waved her hand almost negligently at Dave and removed the disillusionment charm that he had cast on his ribbons and awards.

"So do you sis." Shelly stated as she did the same to Fireball.

Both Dave and Fireball had a good number of rows of ribbon on their chests. On the opposite side of the main cluster of ribbons there were three separate ribbons each with their own gold edging. The ribbons were of different colours and one of them had a small star as well. I did notice that Fireball had one extra of these ribbons and another with an extra star. They both also had braided cords of some sort on both shoulders going under their epaulettes with one end of the cord connected to the lapels of their coats.

On each of their shoulders was a badge bearing a shield and a lantern, going from the unit motto that they called out in the tent on Friday I'm guessing that this was their unit insignia. Above that was a shoulder flash that read 'Special Operations'. Below their unit insignia was another badge that showed two crossed wands over a sword. They both had all of those badges on their uniforms. Dave however had two horizontal silver bars sitting on top of his gold epaulettes while Fireball didn't.

I asked Shelly what those bars signified and she told me that the commander of the team wore them. She next told me that those bars Dave is wearing actually belonged to his brother Jimmy. As Dave still thinks of his brother as the one who is in command of this team. I nodded in understanding of Dave's position.

"What are those ribbons with the gold edges and stars on their right side?" I asked her.

"They're MUC's." She replied and seeing the confusion in my expression she explained, "Ministerial Unit Citation. They are awarded to a unit as a whole for exemplarily work in the field. They are one of the highest awards in our service and not very common as all the Ministers need to agree on it being awarded."

"The different colours indicate the country of the Minister who nominated the unit for the award." She explained "The stars on those ribbons denote a repeat of the award." She added just before I could ask.

"What is the highest award then?" I had to ask as my curiosity got the better of me.

"That would be our version of the Order of Merlin." She replied, "It has the same name as your award but the medal is slightly different and the ribbon colours are also different."

"It is also almost never successfully awarded to members of our service." She said with a strange look in her eyes.

"Why is that?" I enquired.

"As it elevates one member of the team above the others. In our service either the whole team succeeds or we all fail, attempts to change that do not go down well usually." She chuckled, "I remember Jimmy threatened to set fire to the Ministers office if he allowed the proposed nomination from the PNG Minister to be approved." She recalled with a smile.

"He threatened to do that to his own father's office?" I asked with surprise as I noticed Molly paying close attention.

"It's the standard threat." Shelly replied smiling.

"What do you mean the standard threat?" I just had to ask.

"No long after our service was formed, a Kiwi member who was known only as Ropata was nominated for the 'Order of Merlin' award. His entire team supported the nomination as he had truly gone as above and beyond in the call of duty as it was possible to go." She explained, "Ropata however was of the opinion that if his team wasn't also getting the award he didn't want it. He told the NZ Minister to cancel the nomination."

"The NZ Minister told him he couldn't cancel it as it would be an insult to his team. Ropata then asked under what circumstances it could be cancelled without insulting his team." Shelly smiled as she said this, "The Minister replied that an act of gross insubordination would be grounds for it to be cancelled. Ropata seemed happy with this and he asked for an example of a suitable act." She chuckled.

"The Minister replied jokingly that setting fire to the Ministers Office would be a suitable act. Ropata agreed and then promptly set the Ministers office on fire." She laughed, as did Molly and I.

"Some members of our service can be seen with small badges depicting a flame on their right arm. Those unofficial badges are awarded by their team after the individual did a 'Ropata' and either threatened to burn the Ministers office or actually did burn it." She chuckled.

"Did your brother Jimmy have that badge?" I asked her, "He had two." She smiled proudly as she headed over to where Dave and Fireball were.

"Do they pass inspection?" Shelly asked Molly, Apolline and Gabrielle as they were 'inspecting' both Dave and Fireball. To be fair here I have to admit that Gabrielle only gave Fireball the briefest of glances.

"They do seem to be presentable." Molly replied with a smile for both Dave and Fireball.

"Oui, zey are indeed." Apolline also agreed.

"Oui, very presentable." Gabrielle also agreed with a brilliantly glowing smile for Dave.

"Turn around you two so we can see that your seams are straight." Cassy chuckled as the rest of Dave's team turned up to witness the inspection.

Reluctantly the two of them turned around. As Dave had his back to his sisters he suddenly let out a surprised yell and jumped forward slightly. This of course had the effect of startling us all a bit.

"What on earth was that for?" He demanded of Cassy.

"What was what for?" She replied innocently.

"You pinched my bum." Dave replied a little indignantly.

"Maybe I only wanted to see if you could tell the difference between your uniform pinching you and someone actually doing it?" Cassy replied still with a look of perfect innocence on her face.

"I don't believe you." Dave replied with a very suspicious look at Cassy. Dave then turned to Fireball, "We are going to have to get moving to make our appointment Fireball." Dave suggested.

"Lead on skipper." Fireball replied with a smile playing about her face.

"Ok let's move then. Mick, can you keep this lot under control while I'm gone?" Dave requested.

"Will do, Skipper." Mick replied as he snapped to attention and saluted Dave. Dave was about to make some sort of remark to Mick when the rest of his team also snapped to attention and saluted him. This made him blush a little and roll his eyes at Mick but he did return the salute.

"Uncle Arthur, can you keep an eye on Mick as he seems to be a little too full of mischief this morning." Dave asked hopefully.

"Will do Dave." Arthur replied as he two snapped to attention and saluted. This caused several sets of laughter amongst all present as well as the rest of us also saluting Dave. This clearly embarrassed him but he did also return the salute.

After giving Gabrielle a kiss and a hug he said to Fireball, "Let's escape before Mick has everyone marching and singing at the same time." Fireball readily agreed to this and the two of them headed to the apparition point.

Once they had left Shelly turned to Gabrielle, "It wasn't Cassy that pinched Dave's bum was it." She enquired with a very amused look.

"Non. It wasn't." Gabrielle replied as she went bright red under the amused looks from her family and Dave's team. "I was only checking to make sure zat 'is bum wasn't still flashing 'Rien à voir ici' under 'is jacket." She explained with a look of earnestness.

"I don't quite believe you." Shelly replied as she smiled at Gabrielle, "But I do reserve the right to tell that story to mum later on." She chuckled, especially when Gabrielle turned first white then red.

With that we all packed away the breakfast dishes and the tables and then we split up with members of Dave's team and did some last-minute practise for our parts in the upcoming operation. I, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were paired with Mick, Jono, Goose and Olly as we fine-tuned our 'playing dirty'.

Abby, Guz and Rowdy looked like they were explaining something to do with shields to Bill, Charlie and George. Shelly and Cassy looked to be working with Arthur and Molly on something as well. But I couldn't make it out. Izzy was working with Audrey, Fleur, Gabrielle, Julian and Apolline also.

For the next 2 hours, we all practised our assigned tasks then Mick called a break for everyone to have a bit of a rest and some morning tea. I was beginning to actually enjoy the 'playing dirty' part as it was great fun. I was also looking forward to not being in the spotlight.

As we had our morning tea Arthur read aloud from a few articles in the Daily Prophet about the financial measures that had been implemented against the Lestrange family. While the reason for them hadn't been disclosed to the press that didn't stop them from guessing wildly (and inaccurately) about the perceived reason.

It was good to see that side of the plan was now in place, as it should make the contract on Molly that much more unattractive to various criminals.

Mick then read out a message from Dave saying that the French Minister had agreed with the proposal and signed the required papers. Mick then advised us that Dave and Fireball were now at the ICW in The Hague and were in the process of submitting the paper work officially. This news made Arthur smile, while Molly looked a little worried for a moment or two.

Shelly then checked something on her mirror phone that caused her to smile broadly.

"Well? What is it?" Cassy almost demanded.

"It's a message from Fireball saying that Dave was apparently requested to sign some 'special paperwork' to encourage the French Minister to sign the requested forms." She chuckled.

"What sort of 'special paperwork'?" Cassy wanted to know (along with the rest of us).

"I have no idea, but she states that she managed to secure a copy of it and that she has promised to show us all later." She replied with an evil smirk.

Once we had finished our morning tea we all relaxed until we were to head off to the ministry. Mostly this involved going over our parts in the plan. Either quizzing each other or quizzing members of Dave's team. Mick and Shelly ensured that everyone had their Bunyip fur armour on as well as both of their wands. We were all again given one of the utility belts that Dave's team used. This time in addition to the Portkey hand cuffs there were some long strips of plastic attached. Goose and Guz demonstrated to us all how these 'cable ties' as he called them were used. They were very simple and very effective, as we found out (we got to test them on each other).

Shelly again stressed the importance of staying with your assigned partner.

"If one of you is injured or fully engaged the other is to assist. If you need further assistance announce it so Audrey knows and can assign anyone who is not otherwise occupied." She reminded us, as she issued us all with the ear pieces that we would be using.

"What is the plan if we encounter some who can use sorcery?" I asked Shelly and I could see that all the others also looked to her as well.

"Good question Harry." Shelly said as she thought for a few moments, "The only real option we have at the moment would be for you all to leave as per the evacuation plan. Those members of our team who can't manipulate sorcery will be going with you also." She instructed.

"Why is that?" I asked Shelly. She then smiled at me in a way that made me very nervous.

"What can you feel right now?" She asked me.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." I replied slightly confused.

"Rowdy, can you make my 'spell' visible to Harry?" Shelly requested as she continued to grin at me.

Rowdy then waved his wand at the two of us in a rather odd pattern, when he finished there were several sets of startled gasps. Rowdy's spell had revealed that directly in front of me there was a rather large spear aimed directly at my heart.

"Is that real?" I asked her slightly nervous.

"It's real enough in the sense that it can cause a fatal injury." She replied with a serious look on her face, "That is why when two people who can manipulate sorcery are fighting you don't want to be anywhere near them if you can't detect the energy being used." She explained.

"I can see why." I replied with a nervous laugh.

"Sorcery isn't limited to weapons such as this either." She instructed, "However the most important 'rule' for want of a better term is this."

"There is no perfect weapon or perfect defence." She told me, I could see the others listening very closely also, "You need to understand that the different magical energies are just tools. Nothing more nothing less."

"Like tools they have their strong points and their weak points. But the most powerful component in the equation is the mind of the person who is wielding that energy." She said with a very focused look at me.

"Do you know why that is Harry?" She asked me as the spear disappeared.

I had to think about it for a few moments before I thought of something that Dumbledore once told me. It popped into my head and out of my mouth before I could help myself.

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" I said with a look of surprise on my face. Shelly had a similar look of surprise and possibly delight on hers also.

"Pardon, Harry?" She asked me with a half-smile that looked very familiar.

"It's something that Professor Dumbledore once told me. It kind of just popped into my head when you asked me that question just now." I explained.

"I see. It's a great nugget of wisdom Harry." Shelly replied now smiling broadly, "I have to admit I'm extremely jealous of you just now. As I would have loved to have met Professor Dumbledore. He was by all reports a most unique individual and a very interesting person as well." She admitted.

"He was definitely one of a kind." Ginny said with a smile, while Ron and the others agreed.

"Getting back to your excellent quote Harry." Shelly prodded me, "Why do you think that particular quote came to you just now?" She enquired.

"I think…" I tried to begin to explain, but my thoughts wouldn't sit still long enough for me to grasp them.

I then thought about the circumstances in which I had heard Professor Dumbledore say that to me.

"I think it came to me because Professor Dumbledore was trying to explain to me, that it is how we use our gifts and talents that defines us. Not how much power we have access to." I explained to Shelly.

"Ginny was right." Shelly said with a smile at both me and Ginny, "You are a smart one." She chuckled at me as Ginny blushed. Then she added, "For a boy that is." Before she broke out into a smile.

"You have the truth of it there Harry." She said proudly to me, "It is indeed HOW we use our gifts and abilities that defines us along with WHAT we use them for."

"I have seen many times magical folk successfully defending family and friends against foes that should have easily swept them aside. Not because they suddenly had a burst of extra power but because of HOW they used that power."

"It's not what you have, but how you use it that counts." Ron stated surprising himself and a few others at the same time, "Sorry it's just that Dave keeps on saying that and it kind of stuck with me." He explained sheepishly.

Shelly laughed at the expression on Ron's face, "Yes it was a favourite quote of Great Grandpa Vogt." She recalled, "He nearly drove Great Grandma Vogt mad with how often he would say it."

"Along with the rest of us." Cassy reminded her.

"Very true. He would especially relish bringing it out at Christmas time when we would also be dropping hints about toys that we absolutely had to have." Shelly chuckled. This got a few laughs from the rest of us as well. I could almost picture the scene in my mind.

"I guess Harry what I'm trying to say is this. Don't try to play strength on strength or power on power with anyone." She explained, "As there will always be someone more powerful than you are."

"Instead focus on HOW you use the powers and skills that you do have." She almost ordered me, "Using them in ways that are unique to you and your abilities will get you much further than just focusing on RAW power alone."

"Creating options, giving yourself choices. THAT's how you SURVIVE and WIN." She exclaimed with real passion in her voice.

"Here endeth the lesson." Mick stated with a smile, "Syd and Fireball are now at the embassy. They are getting changed and are gearing up. We should all get moving as well." He suggested.

"Yes, we should." Shelly agreed.

We all then got to our feet checked that we all had our equipment and then headed to the Ministry. Shelly and the rest of Dave's team followed us to one of the secret entrances of the Ministry where they passed us over to Gawain and Auror Ben Williamson. They then all moved off to their Embassy so that they could play their part in the upcoming operation.


	45. Official Business

I remember Tonks telling me once that according to her Auror work was 70% boredom, 20% frustration and 10% sheer terror. This has proven to be a good yard stick over the years. It is certainly the description that I use when talking to new recruits at the Academy. This operation was to prove to be no different.

The long wait while we had to remain hidden in the atrium of the Ministry would have been almost unbearable if it wasn't for the fact that I was 'required' to maintain close contact with Ginny to ensure that we could secure our best chances at silent communication. The thoughts that Ginny sent to me during this time told me that she too was enjoying this 'requirement'.

Our other main source of entertainment during this time was listening to the surprise of the British Aurors as they arrived in the Atrium and announced themselves. When they heard the replies over their ear pieces their initial reactions were rather funny to watch. They very quickly became accustomed to the ear pieces however and moved off to take up their assigned positions and roles.

Gawain, Walt and Ben were to be on the raised area near the fountain with Kingsley as the obvious protectors. They would also arrive with Kingsley. Pepper, Greg, Lilith and Faye were disguised to look like Ministry functionaries and were walking around handing out information booklets to those that requested them. When the welcoming ceremony began, they would be positioned in between the press and the raised area in front of the fountain.

Arthur, Molly, Bill and Percy were also on the raised area but were placed at the end closest to me and Ginny. George and Charlie were mingling with Ted and Kat near to where the members of the Australian Press were placed. Auror Graves had positioned himself behind the main party where he was out of the way. Once all the players had arrived, he would make his decision on where best to place himself.

Once Ivan and his delegation arrived he would be on the raised area with Chief Williams, Abby and Rowdy. Sandra was planning on being near Molly. Guz and Izzy were already mixed in with the Australian Press. While Olly, Goose, Shelly and Cassy were mixed in with the much larger contingent of British Press. They had positioned themselves close to the back so that they would be able to attack any aggressors from behind easily.

Dave and Fireball were to position themselves inside the main tunnel leading into the atrium near the first of the fireplaces. They would be on the far side of the tunnel to me and Ginny. Mick and Jono were to position themselves on the opposite side of the tunnel to Dave and Fireball. Ron and Hermione were positioned opposite Ginny and me in the atrium, but close to the tunnel. This effectively fully enclosed the press core which is where the main attack was predicted to come from.

Audrey and the Delacour family were in one of the offices that looked out over the atrium. They had a designated apparition point that they would use in the event that they needed to enter the fray. Their main purpose however was to watch the crowd. The girls to read people's emotions and Julian to try and read lips (apparently, he was very good at it).

The official visit was scheduled for 11am, but the majority of all the participants were in place 15min beforehand. 5 min before 11am Kingsley arrived with Gawain, Walt and Ben. As soon as Kingsley was in place we heard over our ear pieces that Ivan and his group had arrived outside the Ministry and were about to Apparate in to the agreed upon location.

"All is ready here?" Kingsley could be heard to ask Gawain, "That it is Minister." Gawain replied in his usual cool professional voice.

"Give him the green light." Kingsley replied to Audrey who passed the message on to Ivan.

Two faint pops could be heard as Chief Williams and Rowdy arrived first. We couldn't see them just yet but they announced themselves as they appeared. Ivan, Sandra and Abby quickly followed them. There was a pause for a few moments while members of Ivan's official delegation also arrived and then we heard Mick and Jono announce themselves and finally Dave and Fireball.

Both teams of Mick and Jono as well as Dave and Fireball quickly announced that they were in position inside the tunnel. Kingsley and Gawain could both be seen to nod in acknowledgement of this news. They couldn't reply as they were listening to one of Kingsley's delegation 'briefing him' about the Australian Minister.

As Ivan and his delegation walked forward the camera flashes from the press were almost blinding. I could never understand why they had to take 20 photos of someone just as they were walking along. From the looks on the faces of both Ivan and Sandra neither of them could either.

When Ivan reached the raised area where Kingsley was they were formally introduced and shook hands warmly. Ivan also shook hands with Arthur and a slightly surprised Chief Roberts. Chief Williams had a smile on his face at Gawain's surprise but it was quickly back to his professional mask. He was also introduced to Gawain and Arthur and then to Ben and Walt as well. They seemed equally surprised at being included in the greetings, but we later learned that Ivan and Chief Williams were both known for doing this.

Sandra and Molly were also introduced and the camera flashes increased in intensity when they embraced. I'm sure some members of the press must have picked up on the similarities in their appearances.

After the introductions were done the formal speeches of greeting got underway. Kingsley's was rather short but obviously warm and welcoming. Charlie commented across his ear piece that smart decisions like that from Kingsley would ensure his future vote for him also. Kingsley smiled at this comment and some of Gawain's Aurors could be seen to hold smiles from their own faces also.

Ivan's speech was also very short and warm. It also hinted at some 'big news' that would be presented to Kingsley shortly in the 'Official Business' part of the program once they got to his office. This caused the press in attendance to get rather excited and start to jostle each other for a better view.

As one of Kingsley's functionaries got up to make his speech we could hear Apolline state that three members of the British Press were behaving oddly. Audrey then quickly identified one of the members of the press as Rita Skeeta. She seemed to be trying to distance herself from the other two who were now pushing their way forward through the rather large crowd. There seemed to be another larger group behind the two already identified as well.

Apolline and Fleur then both called out that they could feel a great deal of anger and hate coming from the area of the British Press where those two members were located. This prior warning proved to be VERY beneficial as it enabled Gawain's Aurors to be fully ready when the first group of 'opposition' made their move.

As the first group of 7 wizards raised their wands towards the area where Ivan was standing, Gawain's Aurors opened up with a set of extremely quick and very accurate stunners. All 7 of those wizards were down without even managing to get off a single spell.

This of course caused a great deal of confusion and a small amount of panic as the press started to try to flee in every direction at once. That panic was the cue for the next set of wizards to try their attack. A group of 8 wizards broke from the pack of British press and began firing stunners and some odd-looking orange spell at the area where Molly and Sandra were standing. Their biggest mistake however was doing so insight of Greg Savage, Lilith Redwood and Faye Blackwood.

The only way it could be described is that the three of them simply mowed down that group of 8. Some of them were hit by more than one stunner at a time the rate of accurate fire was so intense. Thankfully none of the spells fired towards the raised area near the fountain found a target. Gawain's Aurors were clearly relishing this opportunity to operate freely knowing that their family members were indeed safe. Or in Faye's case that they would be safe very shortly.

Even with two sets of attackers being neutralised so quickly the opposition still seemed to have people that were willing to attack. The next group of attackers looked to be a group of ministry workers who were positioned near the British Press. But the three who pointed their wands at the stage were quickly dealt with. Pepper got one of them. The other two just collapsed as though they had been clubbed from behind by an invisible person.

"Good shooting Ron." Was heard in our ear pieces as Audrey gave us all an explanation as to what had occurred. I could hear Ron's proud chuckle in my ear also.

The next wave of attackers started off by firing Fireballs at the main party. This resulted in some serious shields being very quickly raised. The presence of these shields didn't deter the attackers though as they seemed only too happy to keep on firing away.

"They're imperialised." Sandra's voice stated very clearly in our ear pieces, "They're a distraction. The real attack hasn't happened yet." She warned us. This put everyone on high alert as the wizards and witches shooting the fireballs were dealt with by Gawain's Aurors.

As they were being secured a group of 5 people started firing Avada Kedavra curses at the main party but mainly where Molly was standing. The air was suddenly filled with flying rocks and other objects that intercepted these curses and thankfully stopped them from actually hitting anyone.

Ted, Kat, George and Charlie opened up on the group who were sending the killing curses. Their stunners however never reached their intended targets as some odd-looking shield was stopping them.

"Someone in that group is manipulating sorcery." Shelly called out, "Clear the area around them NOW." She ordered.

Very quickly Gawain's Aurors and members of Dave's team had cast some spells that pushed everyone away from that main group. Once that had been done the air began to feel alive just before a large blue bolt of something hit the tunnel roof above that group. Then a good portion of the roof of the tunnel collapsed onto that group of five.

Three of them were knocked out cold. Two of them were still standing however.

"There's the ones using sorcery." Shelly exclaimed just as Mick and Jono opened up on them with some type of magic I had never seen before. At the time, I guessed it was a form of sorcery and this later proved to be correct.

As the two sorcerers turned to try to take on a still hidden Mick and Jono, Shelly and Cassy attacked them from behind. The other members of Dave's team started to try and evacuate everyone from the Atrium. Some odd-looking shield seemed to be growing in the mouth of the tunnel as well.

Ginny and I began to move from our position to the previously agreed location where we could provide cover for those who were leaving. As we moved away from the wall we could see further into the tunnel. It was then that I saw another group of five turn to engage Shelly and Cassy from behind. I began to call out to them when Dave and Fireball opened up on the new group of 5 wizards.

Very quickly there was only one left standing and he was struggling mightily against both Dave and Fireball. He made to dive into the crowd of British Press who were slow moving off. As he did so I saw him cast a spell on himself to change his appearance.

"Where did he go?" I heard from a voice I didn't recognise.

"He's changed his appearance, he is how wearing a short black beard, glasses, green pants and dark grey top." I called out.

"I see him." Called Gawain as he turned and fired several stunners at him. The stunners were very quickly deflected however and Gawain was forced into a solid defence to deal with the intense counter attack. Ben and Walt were quickly assisting Gawain with dealing with the attacker and they began to push him back. Soon the attacker broke off and again dived into the crowd.

"General concussion spell in 3, 2, 1…" Was heard in our ears. We had all been briefed on the defence needed for this spell and very quickly we put up the required shields.

When the spell hit just about all the members of the press in the Atrium fell either to the floor or to their knees. The exception being the wizard who had previously been attacking Gawain. He was left standing as he had raised his own shield reflexively.

"Everyone DOWN." Came another call as a bolt of white light raced to the now solitary wizard. His reflexes were very good I will give him that as he managed to block Dave's attack. But it was quickly followed by another attack and then a fireball was thrown at him. The wizard was now required to focus his full attention on Dave, as he slowly advanced on his position.

"I hope there is some dirty bugger around that can take this SOB out. As I'm about to make him very busy." Dave called as he began to throw even more fireballs at a frightening rate at the wizard who was now almost at the mouth of the tunnel.

I quickly checked with Ginny and she pointed her wand at the wizards back and fired two bits of rubble at him. Both of these hit him on the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground. The silence was deafening when he fell.

Dave quickly covered the remaining distance to the now unconscious wizard while Ginny and I did the same.

"Everyone report in." Chief Williams ordered. Calls from all of Gawain's Aurors and Dave's team and family were quickly heard. Arthur and Molly were next and then the rest of her family checked in. Ted, Kat, Auror Graves, The Delacour's and Audrey quickly reported in as well.

As this was happening I assisted Dave in holding the wizard still while he was searched. In the course of this search two throwing knives were found that looked very familiar. They could have been twins to the one that injured Gabrielle from the description that I had been given. Dave quickly gave these to Shelly who cast a spell on them to secure them in the same type of clear cases that we saw at the Burrow yesterday, when Dave showed us the knife that Terrance Nott had created.

Fireball then joined us and she placed some cable ties around the wizard's wrists along with an odd-looking device that went around his little fingers tying them together also.

"I'll explain it later." She said in response to my unspoken question.

"Are all of you alright?" Molly asked us with worry clearly written on her face as she and Bill joined us. Dave and I looked up to face her just as a reporter raised his camera and took a photo with a flash. The light from the flash momentarily blinded me.

I remember hearing Dave scream out "DOWN" as I saw a blurry Dave like shape out of the corner of my eye push Molly and Ginny into Fireball. All three of them collapsed to the ground.

Dave then spun on the spot and put himself in front of me and Bill as he sent some sort of odd looking silvery blue shield racing outwards towards the area where the photographer had been.

Behind his shield were two stunners that were racing out to a person who had been standing next to the photographer. There was a green light coming from this person directly at the three of us.

Dave's odd looking shield looked to be pushing all before it. All that is except the killing curse that was heading our way. It passed through Dave's odd shield almost untouched. I next registered Dave's body crashing into me and Bill. Purely on reflex we caught Dave before he could hit the floor.

I almost didn't even have time to register my own anger at what had just happened, when there was another flash of green light and all three of us fell to the ground.

As I fell I remember hearing Auror Graves yelling 'Got him', along with a chorus of "No!" being yelled and screamed by several different voices. Then everything went black…

When I next opened my eyes, it was to see Ginny's tear streaked face looking down at me. I could also see blond hair that I took to be Fleur's over with Bill. Next, I heard a voice that was nearly hysterical in its outpouring of grief.

Above even that though there was Fireball's voice, "Let me through NOW!" She commanded and then I could see her face as she quickly surveyed the three of us.

"He's dead, isn't he?" I could hear Ron ask with barely suppressed grief in his own voice.

"I don't know." Fireball snapped back and she bent over the unmoving and limp form of Dave.

"He is still warm." She exclaimed as she started to more thoroughly examine the limp form that was Dave, "Put him on the floor and clear the area around him." She ordered.

I could feel a few sets of hands grab me and drag me away from Dave. Several others looked to be dragging Bill away also. Fireball was very quickly and intently examining Dave. For the briefest of moments, I thought that I could see a smile on her face, but it was quickly gone and she then placed her hand under Dave's top so that it rested on his chest.

"Clear." She yelled and then she sent some sort of jolt into Dave and he could be seen to briefly convulse in response. After this Fireball again leaned over Dave to examine him.

As she did so we could hear him gasp for breath and then begin to cough. These faint sounds brought expressions of such relief and joy to the faces of everyone present. I could feel the tears in my own eyes at the expressions on the faces of Ivan and Sandra as they held each other close and watched their daughter tend to their only remaining son. Molly and Arthur were right there with them also. Molly looked like she had been holding her breath and when she did remember to breathe again she buried her face into Arthur's chest and cried.

Looking around I could see Gabrielle being supported by her parents. She looked as though she was still struggling to get her emotions under control. But she was also watching Fireball working on Dave with an intensity that was almost frightening. Hope was beginning to edge its way into her expression.

"He's got a pulse and he's now breathing on his own." Fireball told us as she sat up with a look of relief on her face also.

"The little bugger REALLY owes me one now." She chuckled. This statement and her reaction to it took me completely by surprise. I couldn't help myself I began to chuckle a little as well.

Soon there were several sets of smiles in our group. It was then that I realised that just about everyone in Dave's team was holding a large collection of wands in their hands.

Shelly saw me look at her double handful of wands and explained, "After the killing curses struck Dave, and you three fell to the ground the order went out to disarm EVERYONE by any means necessary."

"As we were all rather angry, we were not all that gentle about it but we managed to secure the wands of all who were present here and not part of our plan." She stated.

"I see." I replied still rather dazed, "Did you say Dave was hit with the Killing Curse?" I asked.

"Yes, he was." She replied, "Two of them in fact." She added still in disbelief.

"Then how…" I tried to ask before Kingsley spoke over the top of me.

"We don't know and this isn't the place to discuss it." He stated, "Let's get everyone up into the Auror Office as we have a healer standing by there who might be able to give us some of the answers we all want right now." He ordered.

This galvanised everyone into action as people were either assigned to get prisoners into cells or herd everyone into the Auror Office.

Gawain and Chief Williams picked up Dave and slung his arms over their shoulders. They then helped drag/walk him to the lifts. As they were doing so a press photographer fired off another flash photo. This nearly set off Fireball, Shelly and Cassy as they moved to descend on the now very frightened photographer.

"Walt, Ben, can you two deal with that photographer for us?" Gawain asked as he and Chief Williams stuffed Dave into a lift.

"With pleasure skipper." They replied in unison with evil grins forming on their faces. They then quickly turned and apprehended the photographer and made him fully aware of the current situation.

When we got out of the lifts we followed Kingsley into the Auror office and saw him talking to a Healer Grant. Arthur, Molly and the rest of the Weasleys seemed to recognise him. As did Dave's family and his team along with Gabrielle and her family.

I was soon told that Healer Grant was one of the Healers who had helped heal Gabrielle of her injuries on Thursday at The Burrow.

Healer Grant recognised Dave as soon as he saw him. "I had hoped your family would keep you away from me." Healer Grant chuckled as Dave was brought into the room and was placed on one of the desks by Gawain and Chief Williams.

"We tried. We really did." Fireball replied with a small smile at Healer Grant.

"Oh well. Aurors do tend to be some of my most frequent customers." Healer Grant chuckled, "I think it's my nice warm hands that they must like." He added to a few small nervous smiles in the room.

"What have you done to yourself this time young Dave?" Healer Grant asked him.

"He was just hit with two killing curses." Kingsley informed Healer Grant.

"Killing curses?" Healer Grant asked obviously shocked, "Are you sure?" He asked.

"Extremely." Fireball stated in her professional voice, "They were rather powerful ones also." She added.

"How…" Healer Grant started to ask as he stared wide eyed at Dave.

"I think that's something we would all like to know." Kingsley stated and I could see Ivan and Sandra nodding in agreement with him.

"Very well Minister." Healer Grant replied, "Dave can you remove your jacket and shirt so that we can get a look at you?" He requested.

"Here?" Dave asked in a small voice as he looked around at the assembled crowd. The act of talking seemed to be painful to him.

"Yes here." Healer Grant replied firmly.

"But…" Dave started to reply.

"Strip! Auror Webb." Ivan ordered Dave in a tone that didn't encourage discussion. A clearly unhappy Dave began to try and remove his coat. It became quickly obvious that any sort of movement was rather painful for him just now. So Bill and I stepped in to help him remove his work clothes.

When we had his jacket off two burn marks could be clearly seen on his shirt. There were some gasps from the assembled crowd at this sight. Once his shirt was off, we could all see that Dave had his special vest on underneath it. Here too there were another two burn marks that aligned with the ones on his shirt.

Bill helped Dave reach across and undo the seam that went down the side of his vest. The act of reaching across his body like this caused Dave to go pale for a moment and gasp. When he had recovered himself, Bill and I helped Dave remove his vest and then his Bunyip Fur Armour that was underneath that. We handed Dave's vest over to his father.

What we saw on Dave's chest were two VERY angry looking bruises each about the size of a man's fist. One was dead centre in the middle of Dave's chest. The other was slightly off centre and lower down on Dave's left hand side. Both bruises were a deep purple and looked to be turning almost black.

Once Dave's chest was exposed Healer Grant moved in to examine him. After a few moments, he looked up to Fireball.

"What treatment did you give him after he had been hit with those curses?" He asked her.

"I checked his vitals and found that he wasn't breathing and had no pulse." She explained, "He was still warm however and that isn't normal after someone has been hit with a killing curse."

"I then took a closer look at his heart and it seemed to be in Ventricular Fibrillation." She told him, "I then asked everyone to stand back away from him and I delivered a shock to his heart to get it restarted again." She stated.

"I see." Healer Grant replied as he was again paying very close attention to Dave's chest. "Well young lady I can say that I do believe you were 100% correct in your assessment of Dave. Your choice of treatment was exactly right as well. It was the only option in the circumstances." He said smiling approvingly at her. Fireball delivered a proud but tired smile in reply.

Healer Grant then looked at Dave with a curious expression, "That only leaves the mystery of why you didn't die as a result of those rather raptly named killing curses." He asked Dave. Everyone else was very keen to hear the answer to this question also.

"I do believe that we can answer that question Healer Grant." Kingsley stated from where he, Arthur, Ivan and Ted had been examining Dave's vest, "But before we do I will need to swear everyone in this room to secrecy about it, as we do not want this information to be widely available just now." He stated as he looked around the room at all those assembled. Everyone agreed to Kingsley's request.

Dave quickly pointed to Shelly and made some sort of odd gesture with his hands that she recognised. She nodded and then whispered something to Ivan who then spoke to Kingsley, Arthur and Ted. While that was going on various members of Dave's team were casting spells around the Auror office.

Gawain's Aurors were looking strangely at Dave's team and at Kingsley. When Dave's team had finished what they were doing Shelly signalled to Kingsley.

"I can see the questions in all of your eyes at what just occurred." Kingsley explained, "The full explanation of it will have to wait for now as it is rather involved. However I can say that this team of Aurors present today with the Australian Minister are not 'ordinary' Aurors. They are members of the Australasian Auror Service and are from the Special Operations Command in that service." There were some looks of surprise at this news. Along with some nods of acknowledgement.

"They were just now deactivating the listening devices that they had planted in this office over the last 18 months that they had been operating here." Kingsley informed them with an almost embarrassed smile.

"WHAT!" Just about all of Gawain's Aurors exclaimed at the same time. Kingsley quickly called for order and then gave an abbreviated summary of the activities of Dave's team for the past 18 months was given to all present. There were more than quite a few looks of shock as well as some of relief in the room.

"Are you sure of those numbers Minister?" Greg Savage asked moments before Gawain could.

"Extremely." Ivan replied as he pulled out a very large file from his wallet, "This is a summary file listing the main details of all people Magical or Muggle that are currently in our care around the world." He explained as he handed the file to Kingsley who gratefully received it.

"What's going to happen to those people?" Ben requested.

"Those that want to will be able to return home at the earliest possible date." Ivan explained, "Unfortunately a large number of them are still extremely traumatised and are unsure about returning home."

"We are hoping that a visit to several of our safe houses by Kingsley and some other well-known and high ranking ministry officials will go a long way towards convincing them that it is safe to go home."

"A few visits to some of the safe houses by some famous 'war heroes' wouldn't go astray either." Ivan suggested with a grin at me, Ron and Hermione.

"If we could arrange for copies of some well-known newspapers to be delivered to our safe houses that would also help them see that things are getting back to normal here as well." Ivan suggested.

"They all sound like excellent suggestions." Kingsley approved, "Getting back to the topic under discussion before, about how Auror Webb was able to survive two killing curses."

"This is what enabled him to survive." Kingsley stated as Ivan held up Dave's vest with the front material covering removed. On the front of the vest there were two patches that aligned with the burn marks on the shirt and the bruises on Dave's chest. These two patches were perfectly black and the size of a man's fist. The rest of the vest was still covered in the glittering looking scales that we had seen previously when Dave explained about his vest back at the Burrow.

"What is that?" Ben asked.

"It is a vest that has been covered in Bunyip scales." Ivan explained.

"Bunyips?" Several of the Aurors scoffed just like Hermione had back at the Burrow apparently.

"You mean those Bunyips that are on your properties at home?" Ted asked Ivan with an excited look in his eyes, "The ones that have that 'Big Jim' character as their leader?" He enquired.

"The very same." Ivan answered with a smile.

"How?" Ted asked, "Those scales always died and turned black as soon as we would pick them up from the ground." He recalled.

"Indeed, they did." Ivan replied, "However Emma was shown the trick to collecting them by a member of Mick's family." Ivan explained. "She spent a good deal of time collecting enough scales to make this vest for Dave."

"The trick apparently is that you can't collect them for yourself. You also have to tell the Bunyip's who you are collecting them for." Ivan explained, "The Bunyip's then will question you about that person. If they deem them 'worthy' they will tell you which ones you can collect."

"I see. It makes a good deal of sense actually." Ted replied to Ivan.

"Is this the first one of these vests that you have made?" Ted asked Dave. To avoid speaking Dave simply nodded by way I reply. "So you were basically experimenting on yourself then?" Ted asked with a smile at Dave.

"I had to." Dave replied in a voice that clearly showed he was in a good amount of pain, "No one else will let me experiment on them." He added with a half-smile. There were some laughs at comment this from all assembled but when Dave went to join in he turned pale at the pain that it caused him. Bill and I helped him to lay down on the table and Gabrielle came over to him as well.

When Dave saw her and registered the fear and worry in her eyes his expression changed again, "I'm sorry." He said as he reached out to her and pulled her into a gentle embrace, "I didn't mean to frighten you like that." He added.

"I also didn't intend to get hit by those curses." He told her. She just smiled and kissed him a few times. She then began to run her fingers through his hair.

"I understand why you did zat." She told him, "But I do expect you to take more care in ze future." She added in a firmer voice that generated several smiles and laughs from those in the room.

"Good advice Gabrielle." Healer Grant agreed, "Now Dave let's see about getting you patched up." He suggested. Dave nodded his agreement and Healer Grant went to work on Dave.

After several moments, he advised, "I have repositioned the dislocated rib back to where it should be, and repaired the three cracked ribs on your left-hand side." He advised. "They will still be tender for a few hours however." He cautioned Dave.

"You also have a reasonably serious Myocardial Contusion that needs to be attended to." He informed Dave. Seeing the confused looked on Gabrielle's face he explained, "Dave's heart has been bruised by the impact of those killing curses hitting him."

"I can quickly heal most of the damage, but it will be a painful. A VERY painful process I should add." He explained.

"I understand Healer Grant." Dave replied, "Proceed."

"Very well then." Healer Grant advised as he mixed up some sort of potion for Dave to take.

"This is most likely going to be the foulest tasting concoction that you have ever tried." Healer Grant advised.

"I wouldn't bet on that." Fireball chuckled and Dave's family and his team joined in with her laughter. The rueful look on Dave's face told the story.

Healer Grant and the rest didn't understand that remark so Fireball was only too happy to explain the story behind it while Dave tried to drink the potion as quickly as he could. With the others now smiling at Fireball's remark Dave looked to be turning slightly green from the taste of the potion that he had just drunk.

"I think Healer Grant was correct." Dave replied shuddering as he handed back the now empty flask to Healer Grant.

"I think your opinion in this is biased." Fireball smiled back at him.

"I can mix one for you too so you can be an impartial judge if you like." Healer Grant offered Fireball with a sly smile.

"Ah… no thanks." She replied quickly.

"Ok then Dave. Let us begin, shall we?" Healer Grant suggested.

Dave took a few moments to compose himself, this seemed to mainly involve him controlling his breathing. He then nodded to Healer Grant who set to work. It didn't take long for Dave to break out in a sweat from the strain of what Healer Grant was doing.

While Healer Grant was working on Dave the conversation moved onto those that had been captured.

"All up I believe we have 35 people now in the holding cells." Gawain informed everyone.

"At least 3 of them are capable of Sorcery in some form." Shelly told Gawain, "Do you have any measures in place to keep them under control?" She asked.

"Sorcery?" A few of Gawain's Aurors openly scoffed. "It's just an outdated myth, isn't it?" Walt questioned with heavy contempt clear in his voice.

As he was talking Dave held out his empty hand to Walt. Very quickly it was filled with a wand. From the look on Walt's face it was a good bet that the wand was his. Dave then held the wand out to Walt handle first all without saying a word.

"Let me guess." Kingsley remarked with a smile, as he moved to collect the wand from Dave's hand. "Only one wand and not in a secured holster?" He enquired. Dave gave a thumbs up by way of reply.

"At least I'm not the only one guilty of that 'crime' now." Kingsley chuckled. Several of Dave's team along with Gawain were displaying smiles at that comment.

"How did he do that?" Walt asked as Kingsley returned his wand to him.

"Sorcery." Kingsley answered, "I have recently learned that one of the reasons not much is known about it here in the UK is that we currently have active laws on the books that mandate the execution of any British citizen who can do sorcery or seeks to learn it." He explained.

"I intend to correct that oversight as soon as I can." He stated, "Having seen the extra options afforded by being able to utilise sorcery and other magical energies I can say that I'm very keen to have our own Aurors learn as much as we can about each of the different types of magical energies."

"But I don't want anyone being executed because of it." He added.

"That's rather generous." Ben chuckled at Kingsley.

"Do you have any plans in place to deal with anyone who can do sorcery?" Shelly again asked Gawain.

"I'm not aware of any." Gawain replied with a look at Kingsley who also indicated that he didn't know of any either.

"Ok then. Our options would most likely be the following then." Shelly suggested, "We can add some tweaks to the wards on your holding cells to make it more difficult to reach for sorcery and other magical energies that don't require a wand." She began.

"We can leave you with some of our Port Key Hand Cuffs that will enable you to send any troublesome prisoners onto our facility in France. There we have a warded facility in place that expels all magical energies."

"Other than starting work on creating warded facilities here, and training some staff on how to use them those two options are the most practical ones to begin with." She offered.

"You have mentioned warded building previously, what exactly are they?" Kingsley asked.

"Originally, they were created in India a few thousand years ago. As a haven of sorts for those who had trouble controlling their magic." She explained, "They can come in many different varieties however. In India they are often found associated with magical hospitals and schools. Buildings with wards of different strengths can be found grouped together."

"This way the person who is having difficulties with their magic for whatever reason can move between the buildings and slowly gain controlled exposure to their magic and learn to deal with it in manageable amounts." She explained.

"The downside with them is that when you enter one for the first time, it can be extremely unsettling. As it almost feels like you have lost your arms and legs, along with your sense of balance." She explained, "There is also an extremely intense feeling of having 'lost' part of yourself as well. This is because you will no longer be able to feel your magical CORE, if the building you are in is Fully Warded against magic."

I could see an odd look on Hermione's face at this comment. Almost like she had had an experience like that in her past.

"Exposure to these types of buildings is a routine part of our Aurors training." Ivan explained, "As in our part of the world they are relatively common. Here, not so much." He told us.

"Shelly I think it would be a very good idea to leave several extra sets of our Port-Key Handcuffs with Gawain and Kingsley. Not only for their current guests but in case any new ones with troublesome abilities are encountered." Ivan suggested. Kingsley, Arthur and Gawain looked to agree as well.

"I also think that after our meeting with Lionel Thibodeaux at lunch time it would be a good idea to take Gawain and some of his Aurors to meet Roger. That way in the event of them needing to send someone there Roger and his group will know who they are and that they are authorised to meet with the prisoners." Ivan suggested to Kingsley. Kingsley readily agreed to this as well.

"Who's Roger?" Gawain asked.

"Torquemada." Dave replied as he sat up after Healer Grant had finished working on him. He did look a little uncomfortable still. But he was greatly improved on his earlier state. He also seemed to be struggling a bit to get his Bunyip Fur top back on. So I went over to offer assistance.

"Thanks mate." He said thankfully, once I had helped him into his Bunyip Fur top and a new shirt that he had retrieved from his wallet. "No worries." I replied. We then turned to the rest of the group and I realised that almost all of Gawain's Aurors were staring in surprise at both myself and Dave.

"What?" Dave asked, "What's everyone looking at?" He enquired.

"What's the story here?" Pepper asked as she scrutinised both Dave's and my face, "They look like they could be brothers." She remarked as her eyes continued to scan both of our faces.

"My brother Jimmy is dead." Dave answered in a rather flat voice that almost caused Pepper to wince at the pain in it. He did however examine my face for a few moments with a curious expression.

"I'm sorry for your loss." She replied as she looked to Gawain for an explanation.

This prompted Ivan to tell the abbreviated story of his family history and how they came to end up being in Australia. He didn't make any mention of Dave carrying his father's soul however. He hinted at Dave's rather unique abilities but he made no mention of him being 'broken'. At least not in this meeting (that was discussed at a later one).

He did mention about Dave's age however. To my great surprise all of Gawain's team took this information in their stride with no objections. I think Ivan was kind of caught off guard by this as his face clearly indicated that he was expecting some sort of argument.

Gawain had an odd looking smile on his face as he took in the expression on Ivan's. "Before I visited with this lot to recruit them and pass on the news about their families I took a moment to look up the records for the international registration of Senior Aurors." He explained to Ivan and Dave.

"On that list there was indeed a David F. G. Webb shown as having passed them, with extremely high scores I might add." Gawain said with a smile at Dave who looked slightly embarrassed, "Next to Dave's name was a comment about it being a 'special case' and referring people to the Australian Auror Office for more information."

"Also listed in those records was the name of the chief examiner who put Dave through those tests. I recognised that name." He explained, "Aaron Moody was a well-known, well liked and extremely well respected member of this Auror Office. His son Alastor was one of the best Aurors we have ever seen."

"Aaron often ran exams here both for our trainee Aurors, as well as for our full Aurors. His exams were almost legendary in the nightmares that they gave people." Gawain informed us all while looking at Dave with a half-smile, "I remember him telling me about going to Australia to carry out an assessment on a 'special case' at the request of the then Australian Minister of Magic."

"The times would roughly align as well, because this would have been back in 1994." Gawain continued, "I also remember when Aaron came back from Australia I asked him about how it went."

"He told me that he had just met one of the most remarkable Aurors he had ever seen." I asked him how this person was remarkable. He replied that the exact information on that was classified by the Australian Ministry."

"He did tell me that this particular Auror did manage to defeat Aaron and two handpicked accomplices in the final duelling exam." Gawain told us with a smile forming on his face, "He also told me, 'I wouldn't want to fight him if I had a choice in the matter'."

"Coming from Aaron that is extremely high praise. From what I have seen of you Dave and your team in the time I have been aware of you, and even when I wasn't." He chuckled with an amused look at Dave, "Aaron was fully justified in giving you that praise."

"I also let the people I was recruiting for this operation know that bit of information about you as well." He stated in his professional voice, "THAT's why no one is questioning your right or ability to be an Auror at the age of 15. Because anyone who can make that sort of impression on Aaron at the age of 12 and a half is more than welcome to fight alongside me at any time." He said as he stood to go and shake hands with Dave. The rest of Gawain's Aurors also went to shake hands with Dave and the rest of his team also.

Dave seemed to be rather uncomfortable being singled out like this. But his team were also displaying their pride in their 'skipper'.

"I thank you for your vote of confidence Chief Roberts." Dave replied warmly, "I hope to live up to it. I know that my team definitely will." He stated confidently as he looked around at his team with obvious pride in them.

"If I may I would like to re-visit the earlier conversation about the prisoners. As I have a suggestion that I would like to make." He requested.

"By all means, please suggest away." Gawain replied with a curious look.

"That last person we captured should not be kept here. Not until some suitable facilities are prepared." Dave suggested.

"Why is that Dave?" Kingsley requested.

"Unlike the others who were displaying an ability to manipulate sorcerous energy he is a fully-fledged sorcerer and a rather capable one at that." Dave explained, "Complicating matters further he also demonstrated an ability to manipulate energy that is associated with the Goblin style of magic."

"Either one of those alone would be reason enough to place him in a properly warded facility. But when combined the need for it is increased significantly." Dave stated.

"I would suggest in the strongest possible terms that he be moved immediately to our facility in France where Torquemada can place him in a fully warded cell where we can be assured he will stay." Dave said in his professional tone of voice.

"If he is still here when he regains consciousness he will be out of the holding cells in a matter of moments." Dave advised, "From what I saw when I looked at his soul he has no hesitation in deliberately causing pain and suffering in others."

This statement was greeted by a stunned silence. Before Ivan spoke up.

"Are you sure about that Dave?" Ivan asked.

"Extremely sure Minister." Dave replied, "That shield he put up at the end is one that 'Master Yoda' often uses." Dave explained.

"It requires the blending of sorcery, and goblin style magic to create. It is extremely effective against fire but is rather clunky to wield and move around. That's why when I recognised it I switched to using fireballs on him. As it effectively nailed him to that defence and that spot. He couldn't drop it to move, and moving with it up would have been very slow work, along with requiring a good amount of effort from him." Dave explained further, "Once I was sure he was pinned I called out for someone to club him from behind as his attention was fully focused on his shield."

"Good shooting by the way Ginny." Dave congratulated her. Ginny beamed at this praise from Dave.

Ivan and Kingsley quickly conferred between them. Chief Williams and Gawain joined them as well. While this was going on Ben looked over at Dave with a rather amused expression.

"Master Yoda?" He chuckled, "Is he small, green and talks funny?" He asked clearly amused.

"Not all the time." Dave replied cryptically with a half-smile. Several of Dave's team members were also displaying smiles at this comment. Ben however seemed a little confused.

"He is one of my favourite instructors from our Auror Academy back home. He is a Metamorphmagus, as well as a Sorcerer. He can also manipulate Goblin style magical energy." Dave explained, "But he is also a very serious fan of Muggle Movies, and he loves to dress up as the characters from his favourite ones. The Muggles call this 'Cosplay', I believe it is short for Costume Play."

"One year 'Master Yoda' was at a Cosplay event dressed as Master Yoda from Star Wars. He was spotted by a muggle newspaper reporter and they took his photo. Luckily for him the muggles thought that he was a really excellent puppet. But when the photo appeared in the muggle newspaper, some of his fellow Aurors saw it and recognised him. The name kind of stuck with him after that." Dave chuckled.

"His real name is Daniel Sutherland." Dave informed us.

"He's a Star Wars fan then?" Ben asked Dave.

"I'm not sure fan is a strong enough word for it, but it will do for now." Dave replied smiling.

"How about you?" Ben asked.

"He's almost as bad as Master Yoda is." Fireball chuckled. This caused several of Dave's team to start laughing also.

"It's always good to meet Wizards who have had a 'proper' education." Ben replied holding out his hand to Dave to shake it, "There's so few of us around." He remarked smiling.

"I'm doing my best to 'spread the word' in the magical world, but it is slow going." Dave replied smiling broadly at his team and the Weasley's. He then very firmly shook hands with Ben Williamson. That handshake was the start of a friendship between those two that has only gotten stronger over the years. I have lost track of the number of movie nights we have had at either one of their places. The number of trips to the muggle 'Movie Theatres' would also be rather difficult to count.

In both the British and Australian Auror Services anyone who is assigned to work with those two together are strongly advised to brush up on their muggle movies. Otherwise they will be unable to follow around half the conversation.

While Dave and Ben were 'bonding', Ivan, Kingsley, Gawain and Chief Williams re-joined us.

"It has been decided to follow your suggestion Dave." Ivan advised him, "At least until a set of Warded Cells can be constructed here that is."

"Makes sense." Dave replied, "Guz and Olly can you too go with Gawain and down to the holding cells and send the bloke in question off to France?" Dave requested.

"Will do skipper." They both replied.

"While you're at it, reset those wards we poked a few holes in as well." Dave added with a sheepish grin at Gawain. For his part I think Gawain had resigned himself to a few sets of these sorts of revelations for the short term.

"Hey I just had a thought." Dave called to the group of them just as they were about to leave the office. They all stopped and looked back at him with questioning expressions.

"Gawain, are the guests in your holding cells allowed copies of the Newspapers?" Dave asked as an evil light came into his eyes. Gawain thought for a moment before he too had an extremely evil grin on his face as well.

"If they don't I will ensure that for at least today they do." He chuckled as he left the office with Guz and Olly in tow.

Several of the others were also smiling at this comment.

"You're a bad man Dave." Kingsley grinned at him.

"I try my best." Dave replied back with a smirk on his face.

"How long does it take to setup the wards to repel magic?" Kingsley asked.

"About 30 min for an average sized set of cells." Dave replied, "However to fully achieve the effect the wards need time to 'set' for want of a better term. They get stronger the longer they have been in place."

"Typically, it takes about a month for the full effect to be achieved." He explained. "The other catch is that for obvious reasons, warded cells can't be inside a structure that is held up or reinforced structurally with magic." Dave told Kingsley.

"If you can locate a suitable place we will be more than happy to show Gawain and his team how to set them." Dave promised.

"Understood, and thank you. We will get that search underway shortly." Kingsley told him.

"Were you able to secure any more of those devices that you spoke of yesterday?" Kingsley asked Dave with a shy smile.

"Yes we did indeed." Dave replied as he pulled out his wallet and extracted 6 small boxes. These boxes held Mirror phones like the ones that Dave and his team had presented to us yesterday.

"Which one of you is Greg Savage?" Dave asked the assembled group.

"I am." Replied Greg as he stepped forward looking with great curiosity at the box that Dave held in his hands.

"Excellent, can you come over here and assist me with a demonstration?" Dave requested. Greg crossed to where Dave was and received the box from him. The others gathered around the table that Dave was still sitting on.

Dave walked Greg through how to secure the Mirror phone and then set the various phrases just like he did with us yesterday. Once the phone was configured Dave got Greg to make a call.

"Go into the contacts and touch on the one that says RS." Dave instructed. Greg followed the instructions and once he did so a familiar set of sounds came from the mirror phone before a click was heard and then a woman's face filled the screen.

"Greg?" Robin Savage called out in delight as she saw her husband's face again. For his part, Greg's face was a delight as the smile on it was truly priceless. "Robin." He said with his voice over flowing with emotion as he became fixated on the screen.

"Mrs Savage." Dave said as he tried to gain her attention, "This man here claims to know you and has expressed a desire to visit. Do we have your permission to bring him to you?" Dave requested.

"You most certainly do." Robin replied beaming back at Dave and quickly returning her attention to her husband.

"We will have him to you by lunch time." Dave told her after a quick glance at a beaming Kingsley. "Unfortunately, we need to cut this call short Mrs Savage so we can finalise a few things here. But he will be with you for lunch." Dave told her.

"I understand." She replied, "Thank you."

"You're very welcome." Dave answered as he showed a rather emotional Greg how to end the call. As he did so Greg turned on Dave and hugged him tightly. This caused Dave to make a small gasp and go slightly pale. When that happened Greg quickly released him.

"Sorry about that." He said with a sheepish look on his face.

"It's fine." Dave replied as he caught his breath.

The other members of Dave's team now stepped in and showed Gawain's Aurors how to setup their Mirror phones. When that was done, they sent their 'numbers' to Drunkmouse who again sent them the ICE contact and shared all of their contact details with each other and Dave's team. He also ensured that Kingsley, Gawain and Arthur had access to the full set of contacts as well.

When those tasks had been done, Gawain returned with Guz and Olly. Ivan presented Gawain with several sets of Port Key hand cuffs and briefed them on their use. These were shared out amongst the Aurors who were present and Gawain also secured several sets in his office.

Kingsley then briefed Gawain and the British Aurors present on his request to Ivan for Dave's team to assist with training the new recruits that Kingsley was hoping to attract shortly. As he did so Gawain raised his hand to ask a question.

"Is it only the new recruits that they will be teaching their tricks to?" He asked with a smirk on his face. Kingsley returned the smirk and looked to Dave.

"We usually teach anyone who wants to learn." Dave replied with a straight face, "Provided the home Minister agrees that is." Dave answered with a wink to Kingsley.

"I'm in." Gawain replied very quickly smiling at Dave's knowing look along with grinning at Kingsley. The rest of his Aurors quickly also indicated their willingness to participate.

"Can I join in also?" Auror Graves asked Dave with a look that was equal parts eagerness and mischief.

"Do you have a note from your boss?" Dave asked Auror Graves with a smile.

Auror Graves quickly turned to Ted with an enquiring look. "Technically I'm not your boss." He replied with a smile, "But I'll give my ok until either the Director of Magical Security or the President of MACUSA says otherwise." Ted told a now very eager Auror graves.

"We can't start on using any Sorcery or other energies until we get a ruling from MACUSA though." Dave reminded him.

"I'm fine with that." Auror graves replied happily.

"Minister do you have any objections if Auror Graves were to 'join in with the program'?" Dave asked Kingsley.

"I have no objections." Kingsley answered, "Provided he gets a note from his boss." He added with a smile at Auror Graves and Ted.

"Gawain? Any objections from you?" Kingsley asked.

"Not in the slightest." Gawain replied with a satisfied look on his face.

Dave turned to his father, "Looks like we might as well share some training manuals now then." He suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea." Ivan replied smiling. With that he opened up his wallet and extracted several sets of books that he placed on the table. Kingsley and Gawain beat all the others to the table to see what had be placed there.

"These are copies of the main manuals used by our Auror Academy along with the Academies in New Zealand, Fiji, PNG and New Caledonia." Ivan informed us, "They have consented to share their training manuals in the hope that you will share your revised training manuals with them in return." He explained. Kingsley and Gawain both indicated their agreement with this.

"The same offer I'm sure will be extended to MACUSA if they agree to reciprocate." Ivan informed Ted.

"Sounds fair." Ted replied, "I'll get a request sent off tonight and we should have an answer by the morning." He said smiling at Ivan who returned the gesture.

"In our region, it is common practise for the various Auror services to share our main training manuals with each other. The idea behind it is not to become clones of each other but to establish common training baselines and to share good ideas, procedures and approaches that actually work."

"We all think differently and we all have different challenges in our different countries. There are also a great many different cultures in our region and they all have their own unique approach to using magical energies." He explained, "But we also have a great deal in common. We try to re-enforce those commonalities along with trying to understand, appreciate and leverage the differences between us as well."

"I hope that makes some sort of sense to you." Ivan said with a questioning look at Kingsley, Arthur and Gawain.

"It does indeed actually." Kingsley replied. Gawain, Arthur and Ted also indicated their agreement as well.

"Excellent." Ivan replied, "These should give you all a solid understanding of the training our Aurors go through. I believe some of it will be very familiar to you, while other parts will be totally alien as well."

"I do request however that those Aurors to whom you give a copy of these manuals, perform a blood identification charm on them. To secure the books from any unfriendly eyes." Ivan requested.

"Agreed." Kingsley stated without a moments' thought. The others quickly voiced their agreements also.

"Thank you." Ivan replied, "That should give you all enough reading material to keep you busy while Dave and his team return home for some much-needed leave on Wednesday. When they return however, keep them busy will you, as they tend to get up to mischief when they have too much time on their hands." Ivan chuckled as he looked at Dave and his team members.

"Don't worry on that score." Kingsley answered, "There is going to be plenty to do for a while to come."

"Are we going to have to read over all of those books while doing our normal work as well?" Pepper asked with her face going slightly pale at the thought.

Before Kingsley could reply Dave spoke up, "I understand that it will be some extra work. But there are ways to 'cheat' with your day to day work and get it done quicker you know." Dave said with a smirk at Hermione.

Hermione was looking back at Dave with an expression that was rather interesting as she was obviously remembering his revealing of the Summary and Index spell to her at the Burrow.

Dave quickly gave Gawain and everyone else present a demonstration of the spell that had so delighted and infuriated Hermione at the same time. Everyone was delighted at its simplicity and usefulness and they were all eager to try it out. Which they all did for a few moments.

"Is there any way to also 'cheat' on writing reports?" Walt asked hopefully as several others laughed at his request.

"There is actually." Dave replied and this quickly ended the laughter at his question. Everyone gathered around Dave again as he summoned a piece of parchment from a nearby desk. He placed the parchment on the table and just looked at it for a moment.

Writing then began to rapidly appear on the parchment. It just flowed across the page and then switched to the next line. In less than a minute the whole page was covered in beautifully done writing that was extremely clear and easy to read. I could hear some strangling sounds and looked over to Hermione who seemed to be having a repeat of her reaction to the one she had previously at the Burrow.

"And JUST WHEN were you planning on sharing THAT one with us all?" She demanded of Dave, as Ron very prudently and quickly removed her wand from her.

"Just now." Dave bravely replied with an innocent look at Hermione. She didn't seem to be buying his innocent act this time. She pulled her covert wand from its hiding place and raised it to Dave. Ron had a sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry, I forgot about that one." He apologised to Dave.

"Not to worry Ron." Dave replied calmly with a smirk at Hermione, "It isn't pointed at me." He explained.

Ron had a look of confusion on his face at this statement and he took a closer look at Hermione's wand. Everyone else did as well. While Hermione had her arm raised and pointed at Dave, the wand she was holding was reversed in her hand and the business end of it was pointing back at her own face. This caused her a moment of fright before she lowered her arm.

"You are one of the slipperiest, most annoying and frustrating people that I have ever had the displeasure to meet." She snapped at Dave.

"Thank you." Dave happily replied. Then seeing her expression of surprise, he stated, "It is part of my job description. I'm supposed to be all of those things." He explained to a few chuckles.

"Yes, but that is to the opposition Dave. Not to those who are working with you." Shelly said with a chuckle.

"Are you sure about that?" Dave asked Shelly with an evil grin on his face. This caused a few chuckles amongst his team as well as several of the others. Fireball made here views clear by rolling her eyes and exclaiming "Men!" a little bit too theatrically I felt.

"I've been promoted." Dave chuckled to Mick, "She usually says 'Boys!'." He explained with a laugh. Mick also had a large smile on his face and joined in with Dave's laughter. Fireball however had fixed Dave with an evil glare that seemed to promise payback at a later date.

"Dave, can you teach us that spell?" Gawain asked, "Before your sister kills you that is." He added with a smirk at Fireball.

"If you think it will be of use I can." Dave replied with a wink to Gawain while he smiled at Hermione who seemed to be on the verge of another melt down. "It's another spell that is very common with Librarians and with all the time that Hermione apparently spends in the library I would have thought that she would have encountered it before now." Dave replied.

Ron now had to grab a hold of Hermione before she launched herself at Dave. Gawain and his Aurors also seemed to be getting a little impatient with him as well.

"Oh, ok then." Dave said with a mock sigh, "In traditional magic it's called the 'Scribing Charm'. The incantation is 'Notare Cogitato'. It is usually performed non-verbally especially in libraries." Dave said with a smile at Hermione, "For those of you still in school, I'm also not sure if its use is allowed in exams or not over here." He informed us with a sheepish smile.

"I take it from that comment you yourself used it in your school exams?" Kingsley asked Dave clearly amused.

"He did indeed." Ivan replied, "He caused a bit of a trouble at school with it from all reports. But they had no rules against its use back then so they couldn't say he had actually broken any rules." He explained.

"His teachers I think, eventually decided to let him get away with it, only because when writing with that spell he produced writing that was far more legible than his usual efforts." Ivan chuckled as Dave looked slightly embarrassed.

"I know that I certainly prefer his reports that are written in that manner." Chief Williams chuckled with a wink at a now very sheepish looking Dave.

We all grabbed a blank piece of parchment and in a very short period of time all present were producing very legible writing. It was certainly much quicker than writing it out by hand but it also was a little draining at first.

"The more you use it the easier it becomes." Dave explained.

"Do you use this spell all the time?" Gawain asked Dave.

"No." Dave replied to the surprise of all in the room, "I usually do it through sorcery." He explained.

"How is that different?" Gawain asked.

"Like this." Dave replied and he glanced at an empty sheet of parchment and it was instantly covered in very neat writing all at once. Seeing the look of disbelief on the faces of all present Dave explained, "Because sorcery is pure thought, if you can hold what you want to say in your mind it can be produced instantly on the page for you."

"More commonly though it is used more along the lines of my first demonstration though." He informed us. "I just wanted to see the look on Hermione's face." He said with a cheeky grin at her. She glared back at him but the corners of her mouth twitched in a small smile.

"In the end, it comes down to personal preference." He told us, "Some people prefer to use magic for a task, while others prefer sorcery. There isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' answer for a task like this. Only what works best for you."

"Hopefully those two spells will enable you to greatly speed up that wonderful paper work that we all enjoy so much and free up enough time to enable you to glance over those books." Dave said with a satisfied look on his face.

"I do think that they will indeed." Kingsley replied still looking very pleased with himself at the page of writing that he had quickly produced.

"If we are able Ministers…" Dave said indicating both Kingsley and his father, "I would like to propose that we open up those manuals to some fresh eyes." Dave suggested to them both of them as he indicated the Auror Manuals.

"Fresh eyes?" Kingsley asked.

"Yes. Fresh eyes." Dave replied, "I'm aware of two very eager potential recruits you see. They both have had a good amount of 'field work' recently and are showing a real talent for the job."

"I do believe it would be in the best interests of the Auror Office here if you do your best to corrupt them, I mean encourage them in their ambitions." Dave suggested, "As I do think that they both have the makings of great Aurors and allowing them to get a 'head start' on the theory side of things could provide unforeseen bonuses later on." He said still looking over at the two ministers.

"Besides if the British Ministry isn't interested in recruiting them I'm very sure that we will certainly try to." Dave replied very a sly grin at Kingsley which was almost a challenge.

Kingsley and Ivan shared a look between them briefly, they then each glanced at their Chief Aurors and nodded their heads ever so slightly. Gawain and Chief Williams then shared a smile between them. Chief Williams presented me and Ron with a copy of the main manual from the Australian Auror Academy. While Gawain had retrieved a few copies of the British one from his office and presented one to Ron and myself. When he went to offer one to Dave however, he politely shook his head and replied, "No thanks, I've already got a copy of it." With a half-smile at Gawain.

"Do I want to know how you got your hands on it?" Gawain asked with a look of exasperation on his face.

"I didn't swipe it from the Ministry if that's what you're suggesting." Dave replied with an innocent look on his face. Gawain didn't look to be buying this explanation so Dave continued on, "I took it off Greyback actually." Dave eventually answered.

"How did he get it?" Gawain asked very concerned.

"I have absolutely no idea. I was rather busy at the time and didn't stop to ask him. Greyback for his part was having trouble speaking as he seemed to have lost almost all of his teeth for some strange reason." Dave said with a perfectly straight face. "The next time that I catch up with that oversized furry S.O.B. I'll be sure to ask him if you like." Dave offered with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"So, you only got your hands on it recently then?" Kingsley asked Dave very intently, "Did it appear that Greyback had been reading it at all?" He asked.

"There are certainly a great many notes scribbled in it Minister and it is quite dog eared as well. However, I can't say who was responsible for those markings." Dave replied.

"I see…" Kingsley replied, "Can we do you a swap then? The battered copy you have for a new fresh one?" Kingsley offered with a smile.

"Sounds fair to me." Dave replied as he got out his wallet and dug around in it until he pulled out a very battered copy of the manual that had just been presented to me and Ron. He handed it over to Kingsley who gave him a fresh copy. Kingsley immediately opened the manual and flicked through it.

"That's Dawlish's hand writing." He said as his eyes widened in recognition. He handed the manual to Gawain for his view on it. "I'd say I would have to agree with you minister." Gawain replied with a sad expression on his face.

"Where is Dawlish?" Kingsley asked Gawain.

"I'm not sure he hasn't been seen since a few days before the Battle at Hogwarts." Gawain replied.

"I believe he is in St Mungo's." I told them both. They both quickly looked at me with surprise.

"How do you know this?" Kingsley asked me.

"Neville told me." I replied, "When we arrived at Hogwarts just before the battle, he filled us in on what had been happening. One of the things that he told us was that the Death Eaters had decided to go after his Gran as a way of trying to get him to stop his activities at school." I explained to a sea of suddenly grim faced Aurors.

"He very proudly told us that his Gran had fought off the attackers and that she had put Dawlish in St Mungo's and then gone on the run." I told them.

"This is the same Neville who you said had a Grandmother called Augusta Longbottom that had been working for us?" Dave asked with a very determined look in his eyes.

"Yes, he is." I replied.

With that Dave made to get up and tried to put on his coat and started to make for the door.

"Where do you think you're going Auror Webb?" Ivan asked him.

"St Mungo's. To have a chat with a scum bag who tried to injure one of my operatives." Dave replied as he was still trying to get his coat on.

"No, you're not." Ivan replied back, "Kingsley and Gawain can deal with him now. Besides Healer Grant hasn't yet cleared you to leave." He added with a very direct look at his son.

Dave quickly glanced over to Healer Grant who seemed surprised to be put in the spot light. "I have healed his injuries as best I can. Dave's own naturally accelerated healing should take care of the rest." He informed us. "I would strongly suggest however that he take it easy for the rest of the day to allow himself time to fully heal." He added. I only just caught the wink from Ivan to Healer Grant as Dave turned with a defeated look on his face as he regarded his now slightly smug father.

"Can you issue some orders for him to take it easy Minister?" Healer Grant requested.

"I can try." Ivan replied, "Or you can go over my head and speak directly to Gabrielle herself if you like." He added with a smile. There were several sets of laughter at this comment and Gabrielle looked to be fighting back a blush while smiling at Dave.

"I will speak wiz 'im 'ealer Grant." Gabrielle replied, "We wouldn't want 'im to undo all your good work now would we." She added with a smile at Dave as she crossed to him and gave him a squeeze. This caused him a moment of discomfort that was clear to see.

"If I can do zat to you with a simple 'ug, zen I do not zink zat you should be trying to capture Aurors just now." She told Dave with a look of steel coming into her expression.

"Ok, ok." Dave replied, "I'll let Gawain and his team collect Dawlish then." Dave said as he stepped up to Gabrielle and returned her earlier hug. Although it was a rather gentle one this time.

"She could make a career out of keeping Dave in line." Ivan remarked to Sandra. They both had a laugh at this while Gabrielle's parents smiled knowingly at their daughter. Fleur also seemed to have a mysterious little smile on her face as well. Gabrielle for her part looked to be smiling but also blushing at this remark.

When Gabrielle released Dave from her embrace he again sat on the table as before and began to flick idly through the British Auror Training manual. The expression on his face clearly indicated that he was very interested in reading it.

"Do you really need a copy of that manual?" Ron asked Dave with a questioning look. Dave looked up and regarded Ron for a moment before speaking.

"Why wouldn't I?" He replied with his own questioning look.

"You're already working as an Auror aren't you? Doesn't that mean that you already know what is in that manual?" Ron enquired with genuine interest. Dave smiled back at Ron before he answered.

"My Grandfather served as an Auror for over 40 years in an active role. Even when he retired he was still involved in the training of both new recruits and seasoned veterans." Dave told Ron, "Does that sound like someone who would be sufficiently experienced as an Auror?" He asked.

"It certainly does." Ron replied.

"Grandpa Webb was always telling us 'It doesn't matter how much experience you have under your belt. There is ALWAYS something new to learn.'" Dave explained "His other favourite statement in regard to training and learning in general was 'The day you think you know it all, that's the day you NEED to retire.'"

"If someone with that much experience and knowledge has that view on training and learning I'm certainly going to pay close attention to what he is saying. I've only been working as an active duty Auror for almost 3.5 years." Dave's stated, "But even in that short period of time I've never seen anything to contradict Grandpa's views."

"I have also watched Grandpa when he has been training new recruits at the academy as he used to let me tag along occasionally. I can vividly remember the delight on his face when one of the recruits showed him a new way of doing something." Dave recalled, "It turned out to be better than the way that Grandpa had always done the task at hand but Grandpa was only too happy to adopt the new method."

"'Never waste good ideas or talent' Grandpa loved to tell us. He didn't care where the idea came from. Only that it was judged objectively on its merits."

"I try very hard to follow that advice." Dave explained, "I can also say that I certainly understand Grandpa's enthusiasm for teaching and training."

"Because whenever you are engaged in one of those activities you usually learn a lot yourself. If you do it right that is." He added with a smile.

"Smart man your Grandfather." Gawain stated with a genuine smile at Dave.

"Don't encourage him too much please." Sandra replied with a smile as she saw Dave's face take on a distracted look for a few moments. When Dave 'came back to us' he had a smirk on his face that just couldn't be hidden.

Sandra's statement had confused Gawain and a few of the other Aurors as well. Kingsley however stepped up to Gawain and whispered something in his ear. Gawain looked a little startled by this at first. However, his expression soon changed to one of intense curiosity. It was my guess that Kingsley had just told him about Dave carrying the fragment of his Grandfathers soul.

"It is getting close to lunch." Ivan said as he checked his watch, "We have that meeting with Jean-Luc and Lionel Thibodeaux at our embassy soon." He informed Kingsley.

"We probably should begin to wrap things up here and get moving." He suggested, "But before we do. Do you want to brief your Aurors about Wednesday?" Ivan asked Kingsley.

"Yes, I do believe that I do." Kingsley replied. He then quickly briefed the six Aurors on the plan to arrest the entire Wizengamot and then ship them off to the ICW. There were a good number of smiles at this news. They expressed their full support for the idea.

"We do need you all to continue to play the part if any of the 'opposition' confronts you about your family members though." Kingsley strongly suggested.

"Faye, I'm thinking that when we remove your husband from Azkaban we should place him in one of the safe houses run by Dave's organisation. If you have no objections that is." He enquired.

"I don't have any." She replied happily.

"The safe house where Greg's family is currently being hosted has a spare 'cottage' next door to them. If they have no objections we can place him there." Dave suggested.

"Thank you." Faye replied as she hugged Dave gently under Gabrielle's watchful gaze.

"Kingsley, do you actually need to go to Azkaban to retrieve Faye's husband or can you just sign the release paper work and have it delivered?" Dave enquired.

"The paperwork will be more than sufficient." Kingsley replied as he pulled a set of already signed papers from his pocket and handed them to Faye. She gratefully received them.

"Can I suggest then that once we all escape from here to the embassy we get Faye and Greg along with Guz, Rowdy, Olly and Goose off to Azkaban to retrieve Faye's husband." Dave suggested, "Then they can get them all to the safe house and settled in. Guz, Rowdy, Olly and Goose can then get themselves some lunch in France unless they want to join us all for the meeting at the embassy?" Dave enquired.

"Lunch in France sounds like a great idea." Guz stated happily. The other three quickly agreed with this.

"Knowing how much you enjoy meetings like this I was fairly sure that would be your view on things." Dave chuckled. "We should meet up at the Burrow around 1:30pm. For the afternoon's activities." Dave suggested. There was a chorus of agreement with this plan.

"Lilith, if you are agreeable you can travel back to France with Gawain as your parents are at the same safe house as his family." Dave suggested, "Gawain will be making a short side trip to see Torquemada after lunch though. Is that ok?" Dave suggested.

"It's fine." She said happily.

"Excellent." Dave replied, "Both you Faye and you Lilith will find Mirror Phones waiting for you when you arrive at the safe houses. These are to give to your family members." Dave instructed seriously.

"Teach them how to use them." Dave almost ordered them, "Same goes for you Greg. Robin already has hers and was given a crash course on it so that she could answer your call earlier. But show her yourself. Teaching others to use them will improve your skill with them also."

"Once they know how to use them get them to send their numbers to Drunkmouse and he will send them an ICE contact just like you have. Configure it in a similar manner. He will also ensure that their contacts are distributed to all of you."

"The goal here is to improve communications not only with the team but with family members." Dave explained, "We all work best when we know our own family is safe along with the families of our team mates." Dave stated to a chorus of agreement.

"Between that and reading through those manuals that should keep you 'busy' for a time." He added with a chuckle at Gawain who was already looking through the training manual for the Australian Auror Service.

"Anything else?" Kingsley asked with an amused expression at both Dave and Gawain.

"Yes actually." Dave replied, "You might recall that I mentioned to Hermione on the day we first met that in Australia we have formalised 'liaison' officers between Ministerial offices and most branches of the Muggle Government." Dave said as Kingsley and Arthur nodded in agreement.

"I'm thinking it would be good to start a search for similar liaison officers here." Dave suggested, "Certainly between Magical Law Enforcement and the various Muggle Law Enforcement offices as a start." He advised.

"That could be tricky." Kingsley said with a thoughtful look.

"Yes I'm sure it will be." Dave replied, "But you might already have an 'inside man' or two that you don't know about." Dave said mysteriously.

"Do a check of your records. Look at all of your magical citizens who have muggle relatives or partners. Make a note of what jobs they have. I'm sure that you will find some in Muggle Government positions of some sort." Dave suggested.

"They will be your starting point and will be able to provide more information and suggestions on how better to interconnect both the Muggle and Magical governments, while still maintaining the International statue of secrecy."

"Failing that reach out directly to the Muggle Prime Minister. He should be able to set you up with a few contacts." Dave suggested with a smile. "If you can get your liaison officer in the 'special services' branch of the Muggle Government that would be the best. As it would give the muggles a way of handling any 'difficult' cases that they can't explain."

"How so?" Kingsley asked.

"Just like magical folk, Muggles like to take things that they 'can't explain' to the 'man in charge' as they say. Often these sorts of things just go around and around inside the Muggle Government until the person who initially brought it to the governments attention either gives up or dies of old age." Dave explained to a few chuckles.

"By having a liaison officer in the Muggle Government, it gives the Muggles 'an easy out' when dealing with these sorts of things. The liaison officer can bring the issue to the attention of either the Aurors, Hit Wizards, Obliviators or even the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."

"By giving the Muggles this sort of option they feel that they have 'dealt' with the problem and then they are far less likely to go digging for 'answers'. Which is when problems really start to arise." Dave stated ruefully, "Giving muggles a 'worthy excuse' or 'an out' for a problem is often the best way to explain magical events that they may have witnessed."

"It some cases it serves even better than obliviating their memories. As they then deliver that same 'story' to their fellow muggles." Dave explained.

"It does make a good deal of sense." Kingsley replied thoughtfully, "How do you get around the International Statue of Secrecy?" He asked.

"If the muggles employed as liaison officers are married to Magical folk or have Magical folk in their 'blood family' there is no issue with the International Statue of Secrecy." Dave explained, "As they will already have a 'right' to know about magic. As long as they don't reveal it to any other muggles all is good."

"The funny part is, sometimes the best excuse/story/lie to give to a muggle about magic actually comes from a muggle." Dave chuckled.

"Yeah like when you explained the 'Avada Kedavra' curse away as a 'directed energy weapon' that was discharged by accident." Ivan chuckled to Ted who smiled in response. "I thought that was a rather brilliant suggestion, when I first heard it. So, I just used it again." Ted replied smugly.

"A, what now?" Kingsley asked intrigued.

"Muggles have a fascination with these things called 'lasers'." Ivan explained, "They are basically highly concentrated beams of light. The muggles can do some truly impressive things with them. But in their folk lore and stories these lasers also feature prominently as weapons."

"When used in stories they give off a flash of light and cause some sort of damage. A lot like a spell does. As a result, they have formed the basis of many a very effective story to give to Muggles." He answered.

"I see. That's rather ingenious actually." Kingsley said thinking over what he had learned, "So you are really using their 'technology' to explain magical events to them?" He asked chuckling.

"In short, yes." Ted replied.

"I'll have to remember that one." Gawain said also smiling.

"Any other suggestions?" Kingsley asked Dave and his team.

"How about looking to establish a workplace for your intelligence team to operate from?" Izzy suggested.

"How do you mean?" Gawain asked.

"We have the almost omnipresent Drunkmouse as our main contact to the intelligence teams. They serve as a clearing house for information gathered by all the different Magical Law Enforcement divisions. They also act as our main contact when we call into the office via our phones and they also operate our trays that we access via our wallets." She explained.

Kingsley and Gawain looked at each other in surprise for a few moments before smiles could be seen to start to form on their faces. "I think I have an idea on that one." Gawain remarked to Kingsley, "Although I do need to check out a few things first." He added.

"By all means." Kingsley replied to him.

Dave raised his hand with a question plain on his face, "Yes Dave?" Kingsley asked him.

"I noticed earlier that a large number of wands were collected, what is to be done with them?" He asked.

"We will hold them for a time then return them." Kingsley replied.

"I see." Dave answered thoughtfully, "When the owners come to collect them will they need to provide identification at all?" Dave asked with a sly smile.

"If we request them to, they will." Kingsley replied as Gawain started to show his own sly grin as he caught onto Dave suggestion.

"I like what you're thinking Dave." Gawain replied, "We can not only get their identity confirmed but also weigh their wands and check what the last spells were that they cast."

"Exactly." Dave replied with his own grin on display, "Also any wand that is not claimed is most likely the property of someone who was part of the opposition today." He said a little smugly.

"He does think like you doesn't he?" Ted remarked to Ivan with a small chuckle.

"At times." Ivan replied to some general laughter, while Gawain was sending a message off to the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol who were going to be overseeing the returning of the wands.

"If no other suggestions are forth coming I think we should all get going as we don't want to keep our French friends waiting." Kingsley suggested.

Looking around the room I saw no one else was going to speak so I stood up and made myself ready to leave. Everyone else took this as a cue to do the same. I saw Dave have a quick word with Apolline and then they both approached Healer Grant.

"I would like to thank you again Healer Grant for your efforts to put me back together." Dave said with genuine warmth, "Both today and earlier on Thursday as well. In appreciation of your efforts I got a little something for both you and Healer Jones." Dave said as he pulled some very nice-looking bottles of wine from his wallet.

"Would you be able to pass Healer Jones's gift onto him for me?" Dave asked. Healer Grant looked to be taken completely by surprise at this gesture. The smile on his face indicated his genuine pleasure at the gift however.

"Thank-you. Thank you very much." Healer Grant replied, "It is completely unnecessary to do this young man. But it is also very much appreciated." He replied smiling warmly at Dave and shaking his hand.

"I'd be very happy to pass along Healer Jones's gift to him." He offered.

"Thank you." Dave replied as he looked to Apolline.

"I would also like to zank boz you and 'ealer Jones for your efforts in 'ealing our Gabrielle." She said with genuine warmth, "We would also like to present you wiz a token of our appreciation." She said as she also gave him some more bottles of wine.

"You are most welcome Madame Delacour." Healer Grant replied, "I'm just happy that we could be of help." He added as Apolline and Julian both came forward and kissed him on his cheeks. Fleur and Gabrielle also came forward and delivered some kisses to him as well.

While the Delacour family were saying their thanks to Healer Grant, Molly went over to Dave and tearfully hugged him. Although she was sure to do so in a gentler manner than usual.

"Thank you, Dave." She said with a such simple heart-warming gratitude that you couldn't help but return her smile.

"You are so very welcome, Aunty Molly." Dave replied returning her smile. "I only hope that I didn't hurt you or Ginny when I pushed you two out of the way."

"You surprised me certainly." Ginny answered as she too gave Dave a heart-felt hug as thanks, "But no I wasn't hurt." She added smiling at Dave.

"That's good to hear." Dave replied returning her smile. He then turned his gaze to Molly.

"Same here." She answered, "I was rather surprised but not hurt." She said as she regarded Dave with tears still running down her cheeks.

"Please don't cry Aunty Molly." Dave requested, "I told you we would all have your back to keep you safe." Dave said in a voice that clearly indicated that no arguments will be entered into.

"I haven't lost a protectee yet." He explained, "And I certainly don't intend to allow that to happen now. Especially when it is a family member." He explained smiling at her. Molly smiled in return and once more embraced Dave. Arthur came over and joined in as well. I looked around at all of Molly's family and the looks on their faces said all that needed to be said. When Molly and Arthur eventually let Dave up for some air the rest of the Weasley boys went to Dave to also express their thanks as well.

Once they were done Gabrielle also went to give Dave a hug. She whispered something in his ear that made him smile in return. She looked as though she had extracted some sort of promise from him. Probably asking him to be more careful in the future.

With a bit of effort, Healer Grant managed to carefully place the bottles of wine inside his thankfully magically enlarged bag. He then left the Auror Office after shaking hands with Kingsley, Gawain, Chief Williams and Ivan. As he exited the main doors of the office, we could see the mass of press that was being held back by a group that looked to be comprised of members of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol and some Hit Wizards.

"Can you make a doorway so we can avoid the press that are outside?" Ron asked Dave hopefully.

"He probably could. But I think it will raise more questions and create more problems than it will solve." Kingsley replied. Ivan, Gawain, Chief Williams and Ted looked to be in agreement with him.

"So, I'm guessing that we get to play 'animated statues' then?" Dave asked with an amused look at his father.

"Looks that way." Ivan replied before Ron asked, "Statues?" with a look of curiosity.

"We walk but we don't talk, don't acknowledge the press and most importantly don't stop for anything." Shelly explained.

"I see." Ron replied.

"Who gets to be the bulldozer?" Shelly asked her father.

"I think it time Chief Williams got to have a turn, don't you?" Ivan replied with a smile at Chief Williams. He happily returned it and then asked Gawain, "Care to join me?" he offered.

"What are we doing?" Gawain asked.

"Ploughing through members of the press with Ministerial approval." Chief Williams explained happily. Gawain quickly smiled back.

"I'll request the group holding the press back to follow us and keep the press from the lifts. That should reduce their numbers slightly. Although I'm sure that there are more of them in the atrium waiting for us." He remarked.

"I won't bet against that." Ivan answered, "Let's get this over with." He said as he made some quick gestures to his Aurors. They were quickly around him, in a formation almost like an arrow head in shape. Gawain's Aurors were quickly mixed in with that formation.

I found myself quickly placed inside the formation along with the rest of our group. Dave, Bill, Charlie and George brought up the rear. When we were all in place we headed for the door and basically forced our way through the mass of press.

The flashes from their cameras were blinding, and some of their questions were absolutely ridiculous. The urge to snap back at them was almost unbearable. Kingsley would later explain to me that their questions were most often like that on purpose. As once they got you to respond to one outrageous question, they could then get you to answer more of them.

We made it to the lifts and the Ministers and the Ambassador were the first ones into them. The rest of us managed to pile into the next set as they arrived. Kingsley's prediction of more press waiting in the Atrium proved to be accurate also. However Chief Williams and Gawain just marched directly at them, neither slowing nor altering their path. The expressions on their faces no doubt played a big part as to why the press just melted out of the way.

As we made it to the tunnel we were able to quickly Apparate away. We each held hands with someone from Ivan's delegation as they were able to Apparate directly into the Australian Magical Embassy. The relief on everyone's face when we arrived was clear.

As soon as we were inside Shelly opened a door for those going to Azkaban with Faye and Greg. This took them to where the ferry left for the prison. They were given instructions to collect Faye's husband and head straight for France. Then report in when safely there. When they left, we all moved to the dining room where lunch was to be served.

Jean-Luc was waiting there with the Head Auror from the French Auror Office. His name was Lionel Thibodeaux and he showed the scares of a long service in the Aurors. He was a thoroughly professional man but also an easy going and likeable one as well. We were all introduced to him with a minimum of fuss. I got the impression that Jean-Luc had already fully briefed him on us all.

When he was introduced to me, he congratulated me on my defeat of Tom Riddle Jnr and invited me to come and give a talk at the French Auror Academy at my convenience. I was very stunned and more than a little humbled by this offer. I was still trying to think of a suitable reply when George pipped up and asked, "Harry, how can we get tickets to your talk?" with what seemed like genuine interest.

Of course, after George had made that comment everyone else was also asking about how to get tickets. Gawain and Kingsley were indicating that they would like to attend as well. Dave then spoke up on behalf of his team and mentioned that they would also be very interested in attending if it was at all possible also. Molly eventually stepped in and got them all to pipe down and we turned our attention to lunch.

During lunch the main conversation was around Lionel, Gawain, Kingsley and Ivan. Although Chief Williams and Arthur were frequently fully engaged in it as well. Ted was also heavily involved in the conversation that was going on in that group of people. Auror Graves however was doing his best to avoid the formal conversation and was happily chatting to several members of Dave's team.

Over the course of the lunch it looked like that full ties were restored with the French Auror Office. The French promised their whole-hearted support and co-operation in the event of anyone making contact with any of their operatives in regards to the contract that had been offered on Molly. They also promised their support on the financial side of the operation as well. Lionel also presented Gawain and Kingsley with a folder containing some more information on the French assassin that had been identified earlier. A copy of this folder was also given to Ivan and Dave.

I noticed that Dave quickly made copies of the folder and distributed them to his team members that were present. He later told me that in his team ALL information was equally shared, as you never knew who would have the best idea on how to utilise it. It made a good deal of sense at the time, and it still does to this day.

After lunch, there was a small amount of time to meet and chat with Lionel and Jean-Luc before they both had to get back to Paris for work. Although Shelly did find time to ask Jean-Luc if he would be able to join her for dinner at the Burrow (she had checked with Molly first). Jean-Luc quickly agreed and this seemed to remind Lionel of something.

"I understand that congratulations are in order Mademoiselle Webb." He said smiling at her as she quickly flashed a brilliant smile at Jean-Luc before returning Lionel's smile.

"Thank you, Chief Thibodeaux." She replied.

"Ah...there is no need for such formality Mademoiselle Webb." He replied, "Especially not if you decide to come and work for us after your wedding?" He asked hopefully, with a wink to Ivan and Chief Williams who both looked a little surprised by this offer.

"I thank you for your offer Lionel." She answered, "Jean-Luc and I haven't yet worked out what we will be doing in regard to our future working arrangements." She replied.

"Besides, I have already started to try and recruit him to come and work for us." She added cheekily as she smiled back at Lionel.

"I can see that you are a devious young woman." He replied, taking her comment in the spirit that it was offered. "I can see more clearly now why you have managed to win the heart of our Jean-Luc here." He said with a smile.

"I will keep my fingers crossed and hope that it is Jean-Luc that proves to be successful in his endeavours." He remarked hopefully.

"Speaking of endeavours." He said as he looked around for Dave. Once he spotted him he called Dave over. "Jean-Luc has been telling me a great deal about your Australasian Auror Service." He informed Dave.

"I must say I find the idea truly wonderful." Lionel said smiling at Dave, "He has also mentioned the attempts from both your brother and yourself to get him interested in the idea of a similar service here in Europe as well."

"I have discussed this with the head of our Magical Law Enforcement office as well as our Minister of Magic. They are both very interested in the idea and would like to know more about how such a service would work." He explained to a now happily smiling Dave.

Before Dave could reply Ivan stepped into the conversation. "If your Minister and Director of MLE would like to know more about how our Australasian Auror Service operates I believe that I can help." He offered happily.

"The week after next there is a meeting of our service being held in Australia. If your Ministry would like to send some representatives, they would be more than welcome to attend." Ivan suggested.

Lionel broke out into a brilliant smile at this offer. "Merci Minister Webb." He replied, "I do believe that we would be very interested in attending." He replied enthusiastically.

"Who normally attends these meetings?" He enquired.

"We try to get each of the Ministers from countries who are signatories to our service to attend. Along with the Director of MLE (or equivalent department) and the Chief Auror as well." He explained. "Delegates are permitted however as our individual work schedules do not always allow us enough time to attend." He added.

"I see. It sounds like quite a high-powered group." He replied.

"It needs to be." Ivan replied, "When all the decision makers are present it is a much smoother process to get work done." He explained.

"Makes sense." Lionel replied. "How long do these meetings usually go for?" He asked.

"They usually last between 3 – 4 days." Ivan explained, "Meeting agendas are published well in advance so all know what is going to be discussed in them."

"Usually we can only get all of the Ministers together for the last day or two of the meeting when formal documents must be signed."

"This next meeting is going to be four days in length, as we will be voting on the formal application of Vanuatu to join our service." He explained, "They have been an observer member for the last two years while they learnt more about our service and evaluated, if it will be of benefit to them."

"We have enjoyed very good relations with the Vanuatuan Ministry of Magic for many years now. I'm certainly hoping that they do decide to request full membership." He said with his enthusiasm showing.

"It sounds like this will be an interesting experience." Lionel replied happily. "I almost wish that we could join your service ourselves." He chuckled.

"I certainly wouldn't have any objections if it was possible." Ivan replied to Lionel's surprise and delight. "In my own opinion, the more international co-operation on Magical Law Enforcement, the better." He stated firmly to general agreement.

"Actually Minister, it is VERY possible." Dave replied to the surprise of just about everyone.

"Really?" Chief Williams asked, "How?"

"The French Muggle Government has a good amount of territory in the South Pacific." Dave explained to the delight of Lionel. "I believe it is comprised of 'French Polynesia', 'New Caledonia' along with 'Wallis and Futuna'." Dave recalled.

"Those territories don't have a formal 'Ministry of Magic' as we and most of the countries in Europe do. But they do have a collection of 'Magical Councils' that work together on various matters." He explained.

"The 'Magical Council' of New Caledonia is also ALREADY a member of the Australasian Auror Service." Dave reminded his father and Chief Williams. "It all hinges on how the French Ministry of Magic is 'Formally' recognised by the Magical Councils of those territories." He explained to His father and Lionel.

"If I recall correctly Grandpa once told me, that the various Chiefs of those councils do not acknowledge any sort of 'overall authority' of the other Chiefs in their own territory. They DO acknowledge the overall Authority of the French Ministry of Magic though." Dave explained to a suddenly beaming Lionel and Jean-Luc. "Apparently, the French Ministry of Magic is the final arbitrator of any disputes between the various Magical Councils that they can't resolve themselves." Dave added.

"I'm not sure if this 'understanding' is written down formally anywhere however. But as I mentioned before, if it was it would form the basis of a valid membership application for the French Ministry of Magic to apply to join if they wished to do so." Dave added just as Shelly came up and carefully hugged him. She was quickly followed by Jean-Luc who gave Dave a few kisses on his cheeks along with a good squeeze as well.

This caused Dave to go pale for a few moments as he had to catch his breath. Jean-Luc seemed genuinely worried at Dave's obvious pain and discomfort. He quickly apologised for causing him this pain. Dave accepted the apology and told Jean-Luc not to be worried about it. When Jean-Luc wanted to know why Dave was hurt Ivan again stepped in.

"What I'm about to tell you Jean-Luc and you Lionel has been made classified information by both the British and Australian Ministries of Magic." He explained. "You can inform your Minister and your Director of MLE and no one else. Is that acceptable?" He enquired.

"Oui. It is." Lionel replied and Jean-Luc quickly agreed also.

"Earlier this morning during the official meeting between myself and Kingsley there was an assassination attempt made." Ivan explained to the shock and anger of both Jean-Luc and Lionel. "They did not succeed and all of the participants are now in custody." Ivan added to the relief of both Jean-Luc and Lionel.

"However, during that attempt Dave was struck by two Killing Curses." Ivan informed them. This caused a good deal of surprise to them both, as it was very clear that Dave was very much alive in front of them.

"Are you sure?" Lionel asked as he eyed Dave with intense curiosity.

"Extremely." Ivan replied as he brought out Dave's vest. "This is what saved Dave's life today." He explained as he showed them the vest and the two areas on it that had turned black. "You can clearly see where the curses struck him."

"What is zat garment?" Lionel asked eagerly.

"It's a vest that has had Bunyip scales attached to it. Bunyip's are very magical creatures and their scales do kind of have a 'life force of their own'." He explained.

"My daughter-in-law was shown the trick to successfully collecting them. Then Dave and his mother-in-law figured out how to successfully attach them to the vest. I'm sure Emma's family are going to be extremely pleased when they hear how effective the vest was today." He added as Dave blushed much to the amusement of Jean-Luc and Lionel.

"Ze black areas, those scales have died?" Lionel asked.

"Yes, they have. They will still provide protection against physical weapons, but not against magical ones." Dave explained. "I'm going to have to remove them and replace them rather soon." He added.

"Once I remove the dead scales I will need to return them to 'Big Jim'." Dave said with a strange faraway look on his face as he gazed at the vest in his father's hands.

"Big Jim?" Jean-Luc enquired.

"He is the leader of the Bunyip's that live on mum and dad's property back home." Dave explained, "Before you ask, I have no idea why he is known as 'Big Jim'. When Grandpa first bought the property many years ago, he was introduced to the Bunyip's and their leader. Even then he was known as 'Big Jim' and no one knew why." Dave chuckled.

"Why do you need to return them?" Gawain asked.

"Because he asked that they be returned, in the event of any of them dying." Dave replied seriously, "Considering it was him that gave Emma permission to collect them in the first place, I intend to honour his wishes." Dave replied.

"Understandable." Lionel replied with an understanding smile.

"I must thank you for a wonderful lunch Minister Webb." Lionel said with genuine warmth as he and Ivan shook hands, "Also thanks for your most gracious invitation to attend the meeting of your organisation as well. I do believe that we will be in touch very soon to formally accept the offer." He replied smiling.

"It would greatly please me if you did." Ivan replied, "If you do chat with any of your colleagues in Europe who also express an interest in attending, please tell them to contact the Legal Attaché at the closest Magical Embassy to them. As I will ensure that they are all notified of the possibility of such an approach." Ivan advised him.

"Merci, once more." Lionel replied as he again shook hands with Ivan and kissed Sandra on the cheeks. He then took his leave of all the others. He did spend a few more moments quickly chatting with Kingsley and Gawain before he and Jean-Luc left.

"Who is your Legal Attaché here in London?" Kingsley asked with a sly look on his face.

"That would be Auror Taylor." Ivan replied, "But he is currently not in. Why do you ask?" Ivan enquired.

"It's just that the British Ministry would be very interested in attending your meeting if we are welcome." Kingsley explained with a smile.

Very happily returning the smile Ivan remarked, "Of course you would be most welcome to attend. Your Director of MLE will be in the country anyway." Ivan chuckled to Arthur.

"Although if you are going to make him work during his holiday we might have to extend the invitation for a few more days." Ivan offered to a suddenly very enthusiastic Weasley family.

"If there are no objections that is." He added looking to Molly and the rest of the Weasley clan.

"Why would we object?" Molly answered with a smile at her sister, who also seemed pleased with the offer.

"Gabrielle would be more than welcome to stay for a few extra days as well, if her parents have no objection." Ivan offered, "We could even accommodate them for a few days as well if they would like." He offered to their delight and that of Gabrielle as well.

"Merci, Monsieur." Julian replied after a quick glance at his wife. "We would be most honoured to accept your kind invitation." He replied.

"Excellent." Ivan answered. "It looks like you're going to have to finish off those bedrooms quicker than you thought." He remarked to Dave. This comment surprised everyone.

"The only ones not finished are the one that I had intended for Jimmy to use for his visits, along with the one that I have been using myself. After I got told not to sleep in the library anymore." Dave replied with a sheepish look.

"Why were you sleeping in the library?" Hermione asked.

"For most of the past year, I've often fallen asleep reading before the fire place in the library." Dave explained. "For some reason my parents think it's not good for me to do that and they get upset when they find me in there like that in the mornings." He added.

"I see." She replied with an odd look on her face as she regarded Dave for a few moments.

"I think we should get moving." Arthur suggested. "We can leave Kingsley and Ivan to continue on with their work. While the rest of us need to secure Percy's place and George's shop and flat."

"Yes we should." Dave agreed.

"Abby and Izzy, can you two escort Gawain and Lilith to see Torquemada so that Gawain can be added to list of authorised visitors along with any other key personnel he suggests." Dave requested, "Then after that take them both back to the safe house so that they can visit with their families."

"Will do skipper." They replied together.

"Thank you." Dave replied, "Once you get to the safe house there should be a key waiting for you each. This will enable you to quickly access the main entrance to the safe house if you need it." Dave explained to Gawain and Lilith.

"When they issue you a key you will also be briefed on the security rules and supply your own pass phrase that will get you in safely." He added.

Both Gawain and Lilith were happy with these arrangements. With a final round of handshakes, they were off to France and the rest of us were making ready to head back to the Burrow.


	46. Sins of the Father

_**Authors Note:**_

 _ **Happy New Year Everyone, I know it is a little late but my New Year was fun and crazy and caused a few distractions. I hope your New Years was as full of fun and good memories as mine was.**_

 _ **Another chapter to start off the New Year. Once more thank you for reading my story, I hope that it continues to entertain you all.**_

Dave encouraged Arthur to use his key to open a door from the embassy back to the Burrow. The look of excitement on his face at doing this for the first time was a real delight to see.

He was clearly excited at this new mode of travel. It took a little while before Dave could convince him to close and lock the door as he was having so much fun with it.

Eventually, he did lock the door, and we all gathered in the kitchen. Molly was making a cup of tea for everyone while we waited for Guz, Goose, Olly, Rowdy, Izzy and Abby to return from France. The conversation had moved to discussing what Shelly, Fireball and Cassy would be teaching the girls while the rest of us went off to secure Percy's and George's homes and shop. When the doormat around The Burrow was triggered.

As soon as this occurred Dave and his Team were instantly on high alert. Dave requested Arthur to bring out his mirror phone and select the tile for the doormat and then touch it to the TV. When that was done, we could see on the TV what had triggered the alarm.

A small red dot was showing on the outer edges of the doormat. It was moving towards the Burrow with a single-minded purpose, however.

"Can any of the Cameras pick it up?" Dave asked Shelly.

"I'll check." She replied as she showed Arthur how to bring up the images from the cameras.

When the red dot was not quite halfway through the area covered by the doormat, it came to a stop for a few moments. Shelly used this time to look at the area in question closely. It seemed to contain only a tree and on that tree, was a largish black bug that appeared to be very familiar for some reason.

"That's Rita Skeeter." Hermione hissed, with the venom clear for all to hear in her voice.

"The beetle?" Shelly asked.

"Yes. Rita's an unregistered Animagus." Hermione told her.

At this news, Dave shared a genuinely evil smile with Mick. "Are any of your 'birds' free for a bit of fun?" Dave asked him.

Returning the smile, Mick replied, "I'll check and see." He then closed his eyes and lifted his face to the sky for several moments.

"Birds?" I asked as my curiosity got the better of me.

"Just watch." Dave replied still smiling, "I don't want to spoil the surprise."

"Found some." Mick answered shortly after, "They should be here shortly." He said looking very pleased with himself as he turned his attention to the TV Screen.

We were all watching the screen intently for a few moments before we saw two black birds come swooping into view and immediately begin to attack the bug on the tree. Everyone had a bit of a start at this sight. Rita Skeeter had the more significant fright because of it I'm sure though.

We saw the black bug start to madly scramble all over the tree. But the blackbirds were expert hunters and gave it no place to hide.

Eventually, Rita Skeeter had to revert to her human form to escape the two birds who were hunting her. The birds seemed happy to continue to swoop her, however. Rita eventually decided to abandon her attempt to sneak up on the Burrow, and she left, clearly very annoyed.

We all congratulated Mick on his crafty response to 'The Bug' as Hermione christened her. Mick then called the two little black birds to him somehow. The birds flew to the Burrow and happily perched themselves on the railing of the porch. He went out onto the porch and carefully placed some raspberries on the handrail for the two birds. The two blackbirds looked to be very happy with this offering, and they quickly devoured the berries.

"They missed out on the 'lovely' bug that I offered them for lunch. So, I gave them something else instead." He explained. Molly went up and hugged Mick and then brought him back into the kitchen for the cuppa that was now ready.

"You have a real way with the ladies don't you." Jono chuckled at Mick. "Feathered or otherwise." He added smiling at Molly. She happily returned his smile with a cheeky grin.

"Someone on this team has to," Mick answered with a brilliant smile at Dave who regarded him with a rueful expression.

"I zink zat 'e 'as a wonderful way wiz ze ladies," Gabrielle stated to Mick and Jono as she crossed to Dave and gave him a gentle hug and a kiss.

"I think that you might not be completely objective in that assessment," Cassy replied to general laughter.

"I'm not complaining," Dave replied grinning back at Cassy. Cassy along with Dave's sisters rolled their eyes at this response. But they also didn't pursue the matter any further.

The conversation returned to the afternoon activities that had been previously planned. Shelly, Cassy and Fireball were going to give some more training to Molly, Audrey, Apolline, Fleur, Ginny, Hermione and Gabrielle. Guz, Goose, Olly, Rowdy, Izzy and Abby will be assisting them once they returned from their 'errands' in France.

While they were engaged in their training the rest of us would visit Percy's apartment and George's shop and apartment to better secure them. It was decided to start with Percy's flat, as some security had already been added to it and it wouldn't take that long to finish the rest.

"Do you want to see if you can open a doorway to your apartment?" Dave asked Percy. This caused a bit of a stir in the Weasley family.

"Percy can open doorways?" Arthur asked his face showing pride in his son.

"Not quite yet." Percy replied, "I have been reading the manual, and I think I have gotten a handle on the theory. But I've not yet had much luck with the practical side." He explained.

"There is only one way to work on the practical side," Dave suggested with an encouraging smile. "If Uncle Arthur can unlock the door here, you will have a secured door to start from. That will help quite a bit." Dave advised.

Percy looked a little unsure for a moment, but when he saw the excitement on Arthurs' face, he decided to give it a go. "Ok, I'll try it." He said a little nervously. Arthur beamed at him and quickly crossed to the door to unlock it. He left the key in the door at Dave's request.

"I'll maintain contact so I can monitor if you like." Dave offered. The grateful look on Percy's face was all the answer that Dave needed.

Percy walked to the scullery door and placed one hand on the door handle while his other hand was placed in the middle of the door. Dave put one hand on the back of Percy's neck and closed his eyes as Percy concentrated.

"Not so much." Dave suggested, "We are not trying to tear a hole in reality, just 'bending' things a bit." He advised.

"Oh ok," Percy replied. Then after a moment, he spoke again, "I think I have it." He stated.

"Agreed." Dave replied, "Open the door and see what you have. But don't forget to check the edges." Dave cautioned.

Percy nodded and then turned the handle on the door. He was holding his breath as he pushed the door open. On the other side was an overly neat looking apartment. The look of surprise and joy on Percy's face as he recognised his own apartment was delightful. I glanced over to Audrey, and she was beaming at Percy, with pride at his achievement.

"Check the edges before you step through," Dave advised. Percy glanced at him nervously, but Dave only smiled in reply. Percy then had a good look at the frame of the doorway.

"They match." He stated proudly as he stood back up with a brilliant smile on his face. Audrey crossed to him and gave him several kisses which seemed to be well received.

"If you're finished." Dave teased him as he indicated the open doorway.

With a cheeky grin, Percy stepped through the doorway into his apartment. As Arthur moved to follow him, Molly also stepped up and delivered a kiss and a cuddle. Apolline similarly gave Julian one as well. Ginny joined in with the 'fun' and kissed and cuddled me before I went through.

Charlie was a little red-faced as he was spotted quickly cuddling and kissing Cassy before he stepped through the door as well. George was directing a highly-amused look at Charlie, while Charlie was replying with a look that almost dared him to say something. Fleur also kissed Bill and gave him a good squeeze. Naturally, Gabrielle made sure she also kissed Dave a few times before he left. Dave however also gave Fireball a quick hug before he stepped through the door.

"Thank you." Was all that he said to her. But in that simple exchange, you could clearly see the affection that the two siblings had for each other. Fireball delivered a genuine smile to her 'little' brother before she told him to get moving and gave him a push. This caused some more laughter as Dave changed into 'John Citizen' and followed us through the door.

"Ok let gets to work," Dave suggested as we split into teams based on the tasks that we had done at the Burrow and Shell cottage.

As Percy's place was an apartment and not a house, certain adjustments had to be made to the plan. We still created a booby-trapped Apparition Point, but it was established in the alley next to the building. A doormat like the one that was done at the Burrow would be triggered far too often. So, it was set up only around the perimeter of Percy's apartment with particular emphasis on the doors and Windows. Hidden cameras were rigged on the doors and windows along with one watching both the 'official' Apparition point and the booby-trapped one.

The wards on Percy's apartment were also re-enforced with some special tricks. Some Dave suggested and some that Bill suggested. Dave, Mick and Jono all seemed extremely interested in Bill's suggestions. If the grins on their faces were any guide, they looked to approve of the ideas being offered.

As Bill, Charlie, George, Mick and Jono worked on adjusting the wards Arthur, Julian, Ron, and I assisted Dave in getting a TV unit installed that would work with the camera's we had installed earlier. This task was more fun than I had initially thought. It didn't take long, and Percy was checking the Cameras on his TV and on his Mirror phone.

Once all of that was done Dave created a permanent doorway in Percy's pantry door. He tested it, and the doorway looked to work based on what we saw on the other side. Percy then removed the key from the door. Dave told him he would show him how to make a copy to give to Audrey when they got back to the Burrow.

"Do you want to try and open a doorway to George's place?" Dave asked Percy. This offer looked to cause Percy a good deal of embarrassment. "What's wrong?" Dave asked him.

"I have never been to George's shop," Percy replied a little shamefaced.

"That is no problem." Dave replied, "You can use George to guide you if you like." He suggested. George indicated that he would be more than happy to assist him.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that just yet." Percy stated, "I want to get more comfortable with doing them myself first before I involve others." He explained.

"That's perfectly fine." Dave replied with a smile of encouragement, "Knowing your own limits is an important lesson to learn." Dave advised as he regarded Percy approvingly.

"If you can unlock your doorway, I'll get George to assist me in opening a doorway to his place." Dave offered. Percy quickly agreed and unlocked the door. George then crossed to the door with Dave.

"What would be the best place to open a door in your building without it being seen from the outside?" Dave asked.

"The cupboard upstairs opposite the bathroom." George replied, "There is only towels and bedding in it, and you can't see the door of it from the outside." He explained.

"Sounds just about perfect." Dave replied, "Fix that door in your mind and put your hand on the door handle. Hold my hand in your other hand." Dave instructed as he placed his own hand in the middle of the door. He was quiet for a few moments.

"We don't want to appear inside the cupboard." Dave chuckled at George who blushed slightly. "Think of the cupboard as it looks from the hallway," Dave suggested.

"Ok. Done." George replied with a sheepish grin.

"Excellent. It looks much better to me also." Dave replied, "Open the door." He instructed.

When the door was opened, we could see a hallway and a bathroom across from it. George stepped through the door and looked around. "It's the right place." He said happily.

We all followed him through into the flat that was above his shop. Once we were inside Dave quickly turned the cupboard door into a permanent doorway, and he then got George to lock it and extract the key.

When that had been done, we followed George to the stairs that led down to the shop.

"Is that stair supposed to be booby-trapped?" Mick asked George as he pointed to a step that was a few up from the start of the stairway."

"Yes, it is." He replied with a look that was part surprise and part disappointment at Mick.

"Hoping to trick us, were you?" Mick asked George with an amused expression on his face.

"Not you specifically." George replied, "That step has been booby-trapped for a while now. Its purpose is to stop people sneaking upstairs to the apartment." He explained.

"Good thinking." Mick replied, "I can show you how to hide it more effectively if you like." He offered.

"That would be great thanks," George answered as he led everyone downstairs.

It was evident that the shop hadn't been in use for quite some time. There was a reasonably thick layer of dust on everything. Some of the shelves looked to have been disturbed, but there didn't seem to be any visible damage from looters or any vandalism. We soon found out why.

"The wards out the back look still to be in place," Jono advised as he came back into the main room. "That's good news," Dave answered while looking around the store. I noticed that his gaze lingered on the front steps of the shop.

"What wards are you talking about?" George asked Jono. With a quick glance to Dave (who nodded), Jono answered, "Between when you closed up shop and when you advertised your Owl order service we didn't know what had happened to you all." Jono said. "We had hoped that the closure was only temporary, so we placed some wards around your store to 'encourage' anyone with mischief on their minds to stay away." He explained.

"We hoped to keep your store safe so that it might encourage you to re-open it." Jono said as he looked at the empty shelves, "This shop was a bit like a gold mine to us. The number of ingenious inventions and products we found here. It was unbelievable."

"The fireworks were some of my favourites," Mick added with a smirk at Dave and Jono.

"You mean setting off the fireworks inside death eater controlled facilities were some of your favourite activities." Dave chuckled, "Other than throwing the S.O.B's into jail that is." He added.

The smile on Mick's face answered that question. Bill put his hand on Mick's shoulder and gave it a good squeeze and a smile of encouragement. Charlie also indicated his approval as well.

"Shall we get started?" Dave asked us. We all agreed that we should.

There was more to do here than there had been at Percy's. But we were by now becoming very familiar with the charms and spells required to secure a location. This had been part of Dave's plan all along I recalled.

By 4 pm the doormat was in place around the building. The cameras had been installed and connected to the TV. George was fascinated with them and what he was able to see on both the TV and his Mirror Phone. The wards had been strengthened, and Mick had shown George some 'nasty surprises' that he could add to the security on the stairs that lead to his apartment. Bill looked to be approving of these measures also.

When we were done, Bill mentioned that he would like to stop by Gringotts to speak to the Head Goblin about Ivan and Dave visiting. We all agreed with this, and we left via the front door intending to follow him down to the Bank. As Dave was still keen on not having anyone going around by themselves.

As we left the shop, I noticed Dave pause on the steps out the front with an absent-minded look on his face. "Everything all right?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Just remembering." Dave replied, "Out the front of this shop is the last place that I saw Jimmy alive." He told me. For a moment, the pain of his loss showed in his voice and on his face only for it to be covered up quickly. I didn't know what to say to that. Thankfully for me, Bill and Charlie did know, and it didn't involve words. They just put their arms around Dave's shoulders and walked with him down the street.

We had walked a short way down Diagon Alley when we went passed Ollivander's shop. The damage that had been done when he was taken prisoner had been repaired, and the store looked as though it was close to being fully stocked again. It also appeared to be open for business once more.

When Dave noticed the 'Open' sign on the door his eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas. He looked to Arthur and Bill, "Can we go in for a few moments?" He asked with undisguised eagerness.

"If you would like to go in, by all means, go." Bill answered smiling, "There is no need for all of us to go to Gringotts today." He said with a knowing smile.

"Thank you." Dave answered, "Mick, Jono and Percy. Could you three go with Bill to the bank?" He asked.

"We can." Jono and Mick replied also showing understanding smiles at Dave as they collected Percy and followed Bill down the street.

"I've always wanted to visit Ollivanders." Dave remarked as he stood looking at the store, "When I heard I was being sent here I was so excited at having the possibility to visit. But Ollivander had already gone missing by the time we arrived." Dave added sadly.

"Well let's go inside and say hello to Mr Ollivander," I said to Dave with a smile at the eagerness that quickly appeared on his face.

"Do you know Mr Ollivander?" Dave asked me hopefully.

"Yes, I do indeed." I told him, "He sold me my first wand. Ron and me along with Hermione rescued him from Malfoy Manner as well." I explained.

"Do you know Mr Ollivander?" I asked Dave.

"It's more like, I know of him." Dave replied as we walked to the front door of the shop, "My Grandfather was a serious fan of his work and admired him greatly." Dave explained.

"I think he had a copy of just about every article that he ever had published." Dave chuckled, "He would also endlessly talk about how magnificent Ollivanders wands were." He remarked as we walked through the front door of the shop.

"Who would endlessly talk about my magnificent wands?" Came a voice from the counter. I looked over at where the voice had come from to see Ollivander, standing there looking with curiosity at the group who had just entered his store. When he noticed me, his eyes became alive, and he quickly came out from behind the counter and came to me and embraced me.

"Harry, my dear boy." He said with unshed tears in his eyes, "It is so wonderful to see you again."

"I can't say how grateful I am for all that you have done. First rescuing me and then finally defeating that truly terrible Tom Riddle Jnr once and for all." He said with genuine gratitude in his eyes. "The whole wizarding world is in your debt, my dear boy." He said as he regarded me fondly.

"Thank you, Mr Ollivander," I replied feeling slightly uncomfortable and trying not to blush. One thing that I have always liked about Mr Ollivander was his understanding nature. He didn't go overboard like so many other people did when they 'thanked' me for my defeat of Tom Riddle Jnr. He made sure I understood his feelings and left it at that. He then noticed Arthur in our group and quickly greeted him, along with Ron, Charlie and George. He looked at Julian as though he was trying to place his face when Arthur spoke up.

"Mr Ollivander, I would like to introduce Monsieur Julian Delacour. Julian, this is our famous Garrick Ollivander." He said as the two men shook hands. "Garrick, Julian here is the father of Fleur, my daughter in law. I believe you met her during the Tri-Wizard tournament at Hogwarts a few years back."

Mr Ollivanders face came alive at hearing this. "Certainly, I remember her. She was a most wonderful woman and a very talented witch as well." He said as Julian smiled proudly. "I was very pleased to hear of her wedding to young Bill Weasley. Although I wished that their actual wedding hadn't been interrupted the way it was." He explained.

"Merci. Monsieur Ollivander." Julian replied, "It was a most unique day. But we all survived it. That was the important part." He added.

"Very true," Ollivander replied as he noticed Dave.

"I would also like to introduce to you my nephew, Auror David Webb of the Australasian Auror Service," Arthur said happily as he noticed the surprise and confusion on Mr Ollivanders face.

"Nephew?" Ollivander asked in surprise as he regarded Dave, who was still dressed at 'John Citizen'.

"Yes, we all learnt on Thursday last week that Dave's mother is Molly's older sister." Arthur explained to Ollivander, "It was a rather rude shock to all involved, as Dave's mother had previously been disowned by her family when they thought that she was a squib." He informed him.

"How very curious. Very curious indeed." Ollivander said as he was still shaking Dave's hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Auror Webb." He warmly said to Dave, with a spark of curiosity in his eyes.

"Likewise, Mr Ollivander," Dave replied, still sounding slightly awestruck still at actually meeting him.

"Did I hear you correctly when you first came in?" Mr Ollivander asked Dave, "You were saying someone would talk endlessly about how magnificent my wands were." He enquired eagerly.

"Yes Sir, you did," Dave replied, and we all tried to conceal smiles at this response from him. "My Grandfather was a great admirer of your work. He spent many hours telling me about your wands and also reading many of your published articles to me as well." Dave explained.

"I see." Mr Ollivander replied feeling very flattered, "Was your Grandfather a Wandmaker at all?" He asked.

"No, he wasn't. He made his living as an Auror." Dave explained, "He did make wands, however. Though it was done more as a hobby. He never sold them commercially." Dave added.

Ollivander's face became if it was possible even more curious. "Wandcraft is an extremely complicated branch of magic." Ollivander informed Dave, "It is extremely rare to learn it if you are not going to make a living from it." He remarked.

"I agree that it is certainly complicated Magic Mr Ollivander." Dave replied, "But my Grandfather had his reasons as to why he never went into the wand trade." Dave explained, "He did, however, try his best to teach me to make wands as well." Dave said as a small blush appeared on his neck.

"Did he now?" Ollivander asked, "May I see a wand you have made?" He enquired. "I'm always curious to see how they are made by different Wandmaker's around the world."

"Certainly," Dave replied, and he retrieved the wand from over his shoulder that we saw him use back at the Burrow and today at the Ministry.

As he handed this wand to Ollivander, Ollivander's eyes went wide, almost as if they recognised the wand. Mr Ollivander spent several moments closely examining the wand in his hands before he fixed Dave with a straightforward and questioning look.

"You made this wand you say?" He asked watching Dave intently.

"Yes, I did. Earlier this year in fact." Dave replied.

"Do you have an example of a wand made by your Grandfather at all?" Ollivander enquired as he returned Dave's wand to him.

"I do," Dave answered as he retrieved yet a different wand from a different hiding place. This he handed to Ollivander, who received it with a care that boarded on reverence. Once more he scrutinised the wand for several long moments before he raised his eyes to Dave and once more regarded him carefully.

"I have seen a wand very much like this one before." He told a stunned Dave. "A wand that was made in this very shop to be precise." He added.

"You have?" Dave asked cautiously, "Are you sure?" He added wrestling with his disbelief.

"Extremely," Ollivander replied. He quickly gestured to George and got him to turn the sign on the door around saying that the shop was now closed for the day. When that had been done Ollivander negligently waved his hand and locked the front door. He then caused all the blinds in the shop to close. Stopping anyone from the outside seeing in.

Ollivander then led us all to the rear of his shop where he had a small kitchen and lounge area. Here he requested us to wait for a few moments while he went to retrieve the wand in question.

When he returned to the kitchen, he was carrying a wooden box which he placed on the kitchen table. Dave was invited to sit down opposite him, and the rest of us grabbed seats where we could. As soon as the box was opened Dave's eyes locked onto the three wands that were inside. His expression was almost like what I have seen muggles wear when they encounter a troll or other magical creature for the first time.

The blood drained from his face in shock, but at the same time, his eyes became alight with an excitement that could almost be felt. He stared at the wands in the box for quite some time before he raised his eyes to meet Ollivanders own intense gaze.

"You recognise the signature of these wands. Don't you." Ollivander enquired of Dave.

"I… I'll admit that they feel extremely familiar." Dave replied, "Wands that my Grandfather made feel almost identical to those ones." Dave added as he indicated the wands in the box.

"But there is a difference between them." He explained, "It is subtle, but it is there." He said returning his gaze to the wands in the box.

"May I?" He asked indicating the wands in the box.

"Of course," Ollivander replied still watching Dave's face.

As Dave reached out hesitantly to pick up a wand his expression was a mixture of excitement and worry. When his fingers touched the wands, his eyes widened in surprise for a moment, and he began to smile. Selecting a wand, he picked it up, and just held it with his eyes closed for several moments. Eventually, silent tears could be seen in the corners of his eyes.

"There is too much about these wands that aligns so perfectly to my Grandfather for them not to be his creations." Dave eventually replied. "I can only think that he made them before he was accused of his crimes and punished the way he was," Dave explained. This comment brought Ollivander out of his contemplation of Dave's face. He seemed to take a fresh look at Dave for a moment.

"What crime was your Grandfather accused of?" He asked Dave.

"Officially he was accused of marrying a muggle woman and having a child with her," Dave replied, and the anger in his voice was evident.

Ollivander looked to have a spark of recognition at this statement. "What happened to him?" He asked Dave as he once again intently watched his face.

"He was forced to watch as his wife and child were executed before his eyes," Dave said in a flat tone of voice, while the expression on his face conveyed his thoughts. "He was then cast out of his family, magically broken and sold into slavery." He explained, his pain at recalling these events showing in his voice.

While Dave was explaining this, Ollivander was experiencing his own emotional battle. His face conveyed both sadness as well as scepticism at what he was being told. I firmly believe that Arthur had caught on to what Ollivander was looking for in his search of Dave's face. He had a strange look in his eyes as he turned to Dave.

"Dave, can you change yourself back into your natural form? So, that Mr Ollivander can see the real you." He requested.

Dave glanced at Arthur for a moment before he nodded in agreement and changed himself back to his natural appearance. Mr Ollivander was taken very much by surprise at this. He looked at Dave intently for a few moments, I noticed him look at Dave's hair quite closely during his examination of him. Ollivander then looked to each of us in the room for confirmation that this was indeed Dave's natural appearance.

When we had conveyed to him that he was indeed looking at Dave as he really was, Ollivander returned to studying Dave's face for several long moments.

"I must say, that makes a real difference." He exclaimed as he sat back in his chair while still regarding Dave with intense interest.

"You remind me very much of a young man who worked here as an apprentice with me," Ollivander said thoughtfully as he continued to closely observe Dave's face. "The resemblance is so close that I would hazard that there would have to be a family connection." He said as Dave began to watch Ollivander almost as close as he was being watched himself.

"I have a photo of the two of us together with my father." He told Dave, "Would you like to see it? It might help to work out if it was indeed you Grandfather who worked here with me." He offered.

Dave lowered his eyes and began to look slightly uncomfortable. "I'm afraid that if it is my Grandfather in that photo showing it to me would be of no use." He explained.

"Why is that?" Ollivander asked Dave.

"Because I have no idea what my Grandfather looked like," Dave said as he regarded the top of the kitchen table. His embarrassment and shame at this fact were so intense that you could almost feel it as a physical presence. "Or myself," Dave added.

"All I can usually see is a skeleton with a few bits of flesh here and there on it." He explained in a voice that while embarrassed also carried a good deal of anger and frustration in it.

The effect of this statement on Ollivander was startling, to say the least. His eyes filled with compassion and he reached out and took Dave's hands in his own and held it comfortingly. Dave looked up to see the change in Ollivanders expression and demeanour.

"I'm sorry that I had to bring that up." Ollivander apologised, as Dave's very expressive face showed his puzzlement. "I'm fully aware of what happened to my fellow apprentice you see. Along with ALL of the consequences of those actions," he explained to Dave.

"I was testing you, young Dave." Ollivander explained, "I was trying to find a way to confirm if you really were who you claimed to be."

"No one would willingly admit to having that 'condition' if it wasn't true." Ollivander told him, "Also you can't manufacture that sort of intense embarrassment over your 'condition' being discussed like this."

"I hope that you can forgive me for my need to test you." Ollivander requested, "As I needed to be sure of you before I told you what I know of what happened to your Grandfather." He explained to Dave.

"You know what happened to him?" Dave asked as hope began to make an appearance on his face.

"I know some of WHAT happened to him." Ollivander explained, "I may also have a clue or two as to the WHY of it as well. But that would be for you to judge." He advised.

"Please, tell me what you can." Dave requested eagerly. I will admit here that I too was very eager to hear what Ollivander was going to tell us. The looks on the faces of the others indicated that they too were also keen to listen to this tale as well.

"As you wish," Ollivander said with a genuine smile on his face. One that Dave happily returned.

"I will need to back up a bit before your Grandfather's arrest if you don't mind." Ollivander requested.

"Not at all," Dave replied happily.

"I remember my father Gervaise Ollivander coming to me one day and informing me that he had agreed to take on another apprentice." He recalled. "This shocked and surprised me as the secrets of Wandcraft were very closely held by my family. They were not to be shared with 'outsiders' under any circumstances." He explained.

"This news enraged me. I will admit. I confronted my father about this and asked him why he would betray our family secrets like this."

"My father responded angrily, stating that he was not betraying the family wandmaking secrets. This didn't make any sense to me, so I demanded my father to explain it to me."

"He told me that he had been approached by an old family friend about taking his youngest son on as an apprentice." Ollivander told us all, "At first my father refused this request saying that the family secrets of Wandcraft could not be shared with those who were not part of our family."

"My father then told me that his friend persuaded him to at least meet his son and see what he could already do," Ollivander said with a mysterious smile on his face. "What my father witnessed completely changed his mind." He explained.

"What did he see?" Ron asked with an enthralled expression on his face. Ollivander smiled at him and continued on with his story.

"My father told me, and I was later to witness it myself first hand. That he had witnessed a young Wandmaker the likes of which he had never seen before. This young Wandmaker created wands in such an unexpected and almost alien way that he was completely amazed by it."

"He told me that he agreed to take this young man on as an apprentice because his method of making wands was so totally different to what we did, that he was confident that the family secrets would be able to remain just that. Secret."

"Being a young man myself at the time and full of too much pride in my own abilities and knowledge, I naturally didn't believe him and scoffed at the idea," Ollivander said with a rueful smile on his face. "It wasn't until that I met this young man myself and witnessed firsthand just how he made his wands that I understood what my father was talking about."

"My father could teach his new apprentice all he knew about Wandlore. But the process of actually making the wands that we each used were so totally different to one another, that there was no risk of our family secrets being inadvertently disclosed."

"The apprentice that my father took on, however, was only too happy to explain to us what he was doing and how he was doing it," Ollivander explained with a smile. "We had no hope of being able to replicate what he was doing as we could not manipulate magic the way he did." He explained.

"Because of these totally different approaches to making wands that we each utilised, we were all very comfortable talking about Wandlore in general. As well as the specific areas that fascinated us."

"I do recall that my fellow apprentice was willing to experiment with almost any type of wood and just about any type of Core to try and find the best combinations of each that were possible." He said smiling. "I will admit that some of his ideas were very different to my own understanding and beliefs. But that is part of what made working with him so enjoyable." He chuckled.

Ollivander paused here for a few moments as he was lost in his memories.

"Excuse me Mr Ollivander." Dave interrupted, "Do you recall who the 'family friend' was that approached your father to take his son on as an apprentice?" Dave asked hopefully.

"No sorry I do not," Ollivander replied. "I can't seem to recall his name, although I can vaguely recall his face. Likewise, I can't remember the 'proper' name of my fellow apprentice. I believe that it is because of his being cast out by his own family." He explained.

"What name comes to mind when you do think of your fellow apprentice?" Dave asked.

"The name Douglas comes to mind," Ollivander replied. I could feel Dave's excitement jump several levels at this piece of information. "However, it doesn't feel like it is his correct name somehow." He added thoughtfully.

"Douglas is the name my Grandfather used for himself." Dave told Ollivander, "He would often say that it 'never felt right' when we would ask him if it was his birth name. This is why he never let dad name any of his sons after him." He explained.

Ollivander looked to be intrigued by this piece of information. He then had a faraway look for a moment as though he had recalled something.

"I've just remembered something," Ollivander said as his eyes came alive with delight. "Remove the wands from that box young Dave and then lift out the lining of the box as well." He instructed.

Dave quickly did as was requested. Once he had done so, he turned the box upside down, and several pieces of old parchment fell out. Some old newspaper clippings also fell out onto the table as well, along with what looked to be some old photos. Dave's excitement was evident to all in the room. His hands were actually trembling slightly as he reached out to pick up the pieces of paper.

As Dave was slowly unfolding the parchment, Ollivander again spoke. "When your Grandfather was arrested, the people who came to take him away seised all documents that related to him along with any samples of his work that they could find," Ollivander explained. "The day that they arrived I remember my father and mother arguing vehemently with them out the front of our shop."

"I did my best to listen to what was being said. When I understood, what it was that they were after, I did what I could to hide a selection of items in the time that I had." He recalled with sadness. "I knew that I couldn't hide everything, as that would just encourage them to tear down the entire building to get at what they were after."

"But I hid the items that I hoped would be most beneficial to 'Douglas' both regarding keeping him safe, as well as in sentimental terms."

As Dave unfolded the first piece of parchment, it became clear that it was an employment contract which was signed by Ollivanders father. Along with 'Douglas' and his own father. The signature of Ollivanders father was still clear to read. However, the signature of the father of Douglas was completely obscured. While the signature for Douglas only showed a single D in the middle of it.

The next document that Dave unfolded was a more detailed document that looked to contain many specifics about 'Douglas'. On this document, the full name of Douglas was neatly written out. However, both the first and last names were obscured.

"It looks like Douglas was actually your Grandfathers middle name Dave," Arthur exclaimed happily. "It would certainly explain why your father told us that he would say that 'Douglas' never felt 'completely right'," Arthur said happily as Dave agreed with him while still looking intently at the document.

"The date of birth matches with my Grandfather." Dave pointed out. "As does the place of his birth. Although this lists the name of the village, he was born in. It looks to be 'Godric's Hollow' in the West Country." Dave read out to us. There were quite a few startled glances at this bit of news, as we all tried to decide how significant this piece of information was.

"There is a home address listed here." Dave suddenly exclaimed, and we all jumped slightly at his enthusiasm. We all looked at the address he pointed out. The address was in Diagon Alley.

"I know that address," George told us confidently. "That's the building where Sugarplum's Sweets Shop is located. I know that there are apartments above that shop as Verity stayed in them for a time." He explained.

"Your Grandfather would often bring samples of various sweets from that shop into work," Ollivander recalled fondly. "He was very fond of sweets and very generous with them also."

"I do remember him as having a well-defined 'sweet tooth'," Dave recalled smiling before he found something else of interest in the document.

"Grandpa's first wife is listed here." Dave said in a voice that was thick with emotion as he pointed to the name of 'Fanny' that was listed in the box labelled Spouse. Her family name was also blurred out. But the date of their marriage had been dutifully recorded.

"Did you know my Grandfather's wife at all?" Dave asked Ollivander in a voice that was struggling with some powerful emotions.

"Yes." He replied, "She would often drop off his lunch during the day. Or pick him up at the end of the workday so that they could go shopping or out for dinner or even just a walk." He recalled with a smile.

"She was a delightful woman. Never had an unkind word for anyone and her smile could light up a room."

"When their child was born, she was a picture of the perfectly devoted mother that anyone could have wished for." He said as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"The love both of them had for their child was a sight to see." He recalled, "If I remember correctly the child's details are on the next page of that document." He informed Dave.

Dave quickly turned to the next page of parchment and there we could see written out was the name of Henry William. But as with his parents, the family name was blurred out. Dave reached out and almost caressed the name on the parchment. I could tell that his emotions were beginning to get the better of him as he looked at that entry. Arthur must have noticed this as well as he stepped in to distract Dave from his thoughts.

"That looks like a Gringotts account number." Arthur pointed out to Dave. "If Bill can arrange a meeting for tomorrow with the Head Goblin you might be able to find your Grandfathers vault." He said excitedly.

"Does your Grandfather still have his vault key?" Ollivander asked Dave hopefully. "My father helped me sneak it to him as he was led away after being sold." He explained.

"You gave him that key?" Dave asked surprised.

"Yes." Ollivander answered, "It was one of the things that I hid for him. The others being those wands and those papers on the table."

"I hoped that if he managed to escape, he would at least have access to whatever funds were in his vault."

"A magical slave contract doesn't give that sort of option." Dave explained, "However my Grandfather had the enormous good fortune to come into contact with one Mr Septimus Weasley who worked in the Wizengamot. He engineered my Grandfather's slave papers in such a way so that it was possible for him to be freed without the approval of the British Ministry of Magic." Dave told Mr Ollivander.

Hearing this Ollivander looked with excitement to Arthur. "Yes, he was my father," Arthur said proudly.

"I've always rather liked your father." Ollivander remarked, "Now I find myself liking him even more." He said very happily. Arthur positively beamed with pride at this statement.

"Do you recall anything else about my Grandfather's family Mr Ollivander?" Dave asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry, young Dave." Ollivander answered, "Most of my memories of him are affected by his being cast out of his family." He then paused for a few moments deep in thought.

"Although, I do recall an incident that leads me to believe that your Grandfather wasn't a member of any family that ended up being listed in the Sacred 28." He said as we all leaned in to listen.

"While the 'official' list of what became known as the Sacred 28 wasn't published until the 30's there were plenty of unofficial ones floating around." He explained, "One of them even ended up being published in the Daily Prophet," He said as he indicated a newspaper article that was included in the small pile of papers on the table.

Dave retrieved the article and opened it to reveal a story about the work that was being done to comprise a list of the most notable wizarding families. In this article, there was a list of 30 potential family names that were being considered. The names on the list looked to be the ones on the well-known Sacred 28, but there were two additional family names. One was McGonagall the other was McLaggen.

Written on the page in red ink was 'It looks like your family failed to make the cut yet again'. Written underneath that statement, in what looked like a hasty response was 'Thank Merlin'. The final hand-written comment was 'Your muggle loving family will come to a bad end, one day very soon. If you don't start to show proper respect.'

We all read the article, and the written comments then looked to Ollivander for an explanation.

"That article and the first comment was hand delivered here addressed to your Grandfather." He explained. "I remember your Grandfather reading that article smiling and then writing that second line before asking the messenger to take it back to the sender."

"I asked him why he was so happy about his family no longer appearing on that list." Ollivander recalled, "His answer was simply that he had been told, that his family's belief in equal rights for Muggles and Muggle-Borns was the reason that they were kicked off."

"To him and the rest of his family, this was considered to be a 'badge of honour' in their eyes." Ollivander chuckled at the memory. "Not long after the article was returned by the same messenger with the third line written in. Your Grandfather read it and then turned to the messenger and said, 'Please tell your master from me that I believe he will be better served by going and insulting a Hippogriff. As they will give him more attention than he will be getting from me on this matter.'" He recalled with a smile.

"Who was the messenger?" I asked Ollivander. As the phrase seemed a little odd to me.

"It was a house elf." He replied, "One I believe that you knew well."

This surprised me for a moment until I put it together. "It was Dobby?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, it was." He answered.

"That would mean that the person who sent that message would have been from the Malfoy family," I stated.

"You are correct Harry. Indeed, the message was sent by the then head of the house. Brutus Malfoy." He told us. "There was no 'love loss' between Brutus Malfoy and your Grandfather," Ollivander advised Dave.

"The complete indifference of your Grandfather's family to the idea of sacred wizarding families, I believe drove Brutus from dislike into active hatred." Ollivander explained, "Of course the fact that your Grandfather punched him in the face which broke his nose along with knocking out several of his teeth the following day also didn't help matters." He chuckled.

All of us in the room were also trying not to laugh at this as well. "It must be a proud and noble family that your Grandfather came from Dave. For that is a truly epic response, as well as a wonderful image." Ron congratulated Dave. Dave couldn't contain the smile on his face at this compliment from Ron. He smiled brilliantly back at him by way of thanks.

"Mr Ollivander, do you know why my Grandfather was arrested?" Dave asked with an intense look of longing on his face. "Were the Malfoy's involved in it?"

Mr Ollivander regarded Dave intently for a few moments before answering. "I never bought the official explanation as to why your Grandfather was arrested." He answered. "At the time marrying a muggle was not that unusual. Having the muggle live with you in Diagon Alley, that was more unusual, but I never heard of anyone actually complaining about it to the authorities. Fanny was adored by all who knew her. Magical or muggle." He explained.

"I believe that your Grandfather was arrested because of those three wands that sit on the table before you." He stated firmly. Dave turned his attention to the wands and picked one of them up to scrutinise it once more. While he examined the wand, Ollivander explained further. "On the day of your Grandfather's arrest, our shop was searched. The people doing the search were extremely interested in any wands that he had made. Along with any materials that he used in the creation of his wands."

"They went through our workshop very thoroughly looking for anything that your Grandfather had ever used in making wands. They were also extremely interested in his notebooks."

"Thankfully they were not here. I had thought that your Grandfather had left the Notebooks at home, but I overheard them say that they had not been located there either."

"Who searched your shop?" Dave asked, "Were they Aurors?"

"That is the strange thing." Ollivander replied, "They were not Aurors, nor were they from any division of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at all." He explained.

"They did, however, have representatives from the Ministers Office who were actively supporting them in an OFFICIAL capacity." He added this caused Arthur to look very concerned.

"Who were they then?" Dave asked focusing all of his attention on Ollivander.

"They were members of the Lestrange and Prewitt families." He replied.

"Prewitt?" Arthur asked as he went pale and I could almost feel his pain from where I sat. "Are you sure?" He asked in the tone of voice where he knew the answer would be not to his liking.

"Very sure." He replied, "They were Nathanyell and Muriel Prewitt." He said confidently.

At the mention of Muriel's name, Dave's whole-body language changed to that of someone readying for battle. The look he directed to Arthur almost caused my heart to skip a beat at the hunger in it. "Is that the same Muriel who is my mum's 'Great Aunt'?" he asked calmly.

"It is," Arthur replied as Dave's eyes flashed with what I can only describe as a cold blue flame. This momentarily started Arthur, before he quickly composed himself and calmly looked into Dave's face.

"I can practically feel your pain from here David." He said simply and calmly, "But your father made it EXTREMELY clear back at the Burrow when we learnt about Muriel being involved in your brother's death, that she was to be caught FULLY within the law." He informed Dave in a clear, calm but also commanding voice. He calmly held Dave's gaze with his own, but at the same time, he gave the sense of someone who was prepared to wait an extended period of time for the answer he wanted.

While this was going on, I was sure that Dave's eyes switched from their usual blue to a deep brown colour for a brief moment. After that happened, some of the fire in Dave's own blue eyes seemed to be under control. It was still there, but it was tightly controlled against the time he would need to make use of it.

"Am I making myself clear?" Arthur asked Dave when he sensed that Dave had gotten himself back under a degree of control.

"You are," Dave replied with a grateful look at Arthur.

"Thank you, Dave," Arthur said as he sat back with a look of relief on his face as he regarded Dave kindly.

"Please forgive that momentary loss of control Mr Ollivander." Dave requested, "The name of Muriel Prewitt has come up recently in connection with events around my older brother's betrayal and murder." He explained.

"It has also long been known that she was the driving force behind the Prewitt family disowning my mother and throwing her out on the street." He added with the bitterness plain in his voice.

"Given the circumstances Dave I think you demonstrated a good deal of control," Ollivander replied kindly.

"Thank you," Dave answered. "Do you know who the members of the Lestrange family were that participated in searching your shop?" He asked.

"I cannot recall their names." He replied, "But I do believe it was the Grandfather of Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. Along with his brother."

"I see." Dave replied in a controlled manner, "If they were not searching your shop on behalf of M.L.E. who were they doing it for?" He enquired.

"They never mentioned directly who it was that sent them." Ollivander recalled, "But they did make several mentions of an organisation that they seemed to claim allegiance to."

"Do you recall what they called it?" Dave asked.

"The referred to it simply as 'The council'," Ollivander told Dave.

"The Council?" Dave asked puzzled, "That's all?"

"Yes. It was mentioned that if the ones doing the searching, returned empty-handed to 'The Council' that they would be severally punished." He stated.

Dave looked around at all of us in the room to see if that name of this mysterious 'Council' had any meaning to us. Sadly, it didn't as none of us had heard of it before.

"Did they give any clues as to other members of this council?" He asked Ollivander.

"I heard mention of the Nott, Rosier, Selwyn, Carrow and Burke families." He said thoughtfully, "But I can't say if they were a part of this Council or simply working for it." He explained.

"They are certainly all members of the Sacred 28 list of families," Arthur added.

"As well as supplying multiple family members who served as Death Eaters in both wizarding wars," Charlie stated in his calm voice that usually indicated that he was angry about something.

Dave seemed almost as though he was taking formal mental notes of all of this information the way he was following the conversation. He then turned his attention back to Ollivander.

"Was there anything specifically that they said which lead you to believe that they were after these wands in particular?" He enquired.

"They said that they were after some 'special' wands that had been made here by your Grandfather." Ollivander replied, "They never mentioned why the wands in question were 'special', but they were very insistent that the wands had only been created recently."

"I also heard one of them say that they couldn't get the death penalty applied to your Grandfather unless they found the wands that they were after, as physical proof of his crimes."

"Death penalty?" Dave asked shocked.

"Yes," Ollivander confirmed. "They aimed to secure enough evidence to have your Grandfather executed."

"What crimes did they want to accuse him of?" Dave asked.

"That was never mentioned," Ollivander said. "But the crime was clearly tied to the existence of those wands." He stated confidently.

"Those wands were among the last that your Grandfather ever made here." He explained, "I also recall him saying that these particular wands were 'very different' from anything that he had made before."

"Your Grandfather thought that those wands had the potential to bring about 'great change' in the wizarding world." He said with a look of curiosity and wonder on his face as he looked at the wands again. "Sadly, he never had the chance to tell us why he thought that these wands, in particular, were so different or would bring about such change."

"I have studied these wands on and off many times over the years." Ollivander told Dave, "Yet I have never been able to perform a single feat of magic with them." He explained.

"There is definitely something magical about them. But I do not believe that they were intended for use by witches and wizards." He said with a direct look at Dave.

"Who do you believe that he made the wands for then?" Dave asked.

"I cannot say. As I have absolutely no idea." Ollivander replied to Dave.

"Mr Ollivander…" Dave began, "could I buy those wands from you?" Dave asked hopefully.

"I would like to be able to study them if I can." He told him. "I hope that if I can find out what those wands were designed for, it will give me a clue as to why my Grandfather was really arrested." He explained.

"I cannot sell those wands," Ollivander replied as the hope on Dave's face died. "As they are not mine to sell." He added smiling at Dave.

"I'm merely holding them in safe keeping for my fellow apprentice." He explained to Dave. "It would be an honour and a privilege to return them to the family of my fellow apprentice." He said smiling happily at Dave. Ollivander's smile was very happily returned by Dave as he got up to hug Mr Ollivander by way of thanks. This startled Mr Ollivander for a few moments, but he soon was returning Dave's hug warmly.

"Despite my initial feelings towards him, when my father first informed me about him. I became very fond of your Grandfather." Ollivander explained, "I would like to think that we were friends." He said smiling at Dave.

"I only wished that I could have done more for him in his time of need," Ollivander said sadly as he regarded Dave. "Your Grandfather never deserved what was done to him. In my opinion, he was a very fine wizard and a very good man as well." He stated confidently.

Dave had a distracted look on his face for a few moments after Ollivander had finished speaking. Once it was clear that his attention had returned to those of us in the room his face had a determined but also slightly hesitant look about it.

Ollivander was looking at Dave with open curiosity over what had just happened. Dave returned his look and smiled at him. He also quickly retrieved his chair from the other side of the table and sat down next to Mr Ollivander. I was very sure what was to follow next.

"Mr Ollivander, you mentioned before that you were fully aware of what was done to my Grandfather and the full implications of those events." Dave enquired.

"I am," Ollivander replied.

"Do you know what happened to my Grandfather's soul?" Dave asked watching Ollivander intently.

"I know that the majority of it was removed from him." He replied, "What happened to it after its removal I sadly do not know." He added.

Dave nodded at this news. "My grandfather passed away almost two years ago," Dave informed Ollivander. Mr Ollivander went slightly pale at this news, as I'm sure he would know the implications of someone dying with an incomplete soul.

"Please do not be alarmed Mr Ollivander." Dave said calmly, "My Grandfather's soul is not lost. It is being cared for." He explained.

"How?" Ollivander asked.

"Before my Grandfather died both myself and my older brother Jimmy offered ourselves freely to host the remnants of his soul," Dave explained to Ollivanders disbelief. "It involved us each giving up a portion of our own life force to sustain his soul."

"My Grandfather was initially very much against this idea. Yet Jimmy and I talked him around." Dave recalled, "When my Grandfather died, and the required magic was performed, the shock and the stress of it caused both Jimmy and me to be bedridden for a week and a half. Yet the magic was successful." Dave said happily.

"We were both able to secure my Grandfathers soul and nurture it. As time went on and we became more accustomed to this added burden the strain of it became less."

"Yet when Jimmy was betrayed and murdered I was left to support Grandpa's soul on my own." He explained.

"It took a period of adjustment, but eventually I was able to successfully carry that load on my own."

"The unexpected consequence of this is the fact that I can not only 'talk' to my Grandfather, but that I can now allow him to talk to others through me. I can also let him see using my own eyes." Dave explained.

Ollivanders face was a study in the expression of amazement at this news. He did seem willing to accept this news. Indeed he appeared almost hopeful about it.

"Mr Ollivander, my Grandfather is expressing an intense desire to talk to you. If you wish to talk to him that is." Dave asked tentatively.

"I do." Mr Ollivander answered, "I do very much indeed wish to talk to my fellow apprentice." He said happily.

"Excellent," Dave answered smiling. "Please give me a moment, and I will swap places with my Grandfather." Dave requested as he sat back in the chair and closed his eyes.

As before when Dave swapped with his Grandfather in his tent back at the Burrow when he next opened his eyes, they were not his own brilliant shade of blue. They were instead a deep brown colour.

Mr Ollivander looked into those eyes, and I could see his recognition written plainly on his face as he intently studied the eyes before him.

"Oh, my…" He said as he struggled to find the words. Both Ollivander and Douglas's eyes studied each other intently for several long moments. A few times one of them would try to speak only to fail to find the words.

While they were studying each other, I looked over at George, Ron and Julian as none of them had been present when Dave and his Grandfather had previously swapped places back at the Burrow. George's, and Ron's faces showed wonder and surprise, and they couldn't keep from staring at Dave's face. Julian, on the other hand, looked to be equally amazed, but I got the feeling that Fleur had already informed him of what had occurred in the tent at the Burrow. As he didn't display the level of surprise that George and Ron were. Charlie was still showing a great deal of curiosity at the scene he was witnessing, even though he had previously seen it in Dave's tent.

I looked back to Ollivander, and I noticed that a small smile seemed to be playing at the corners of his mouth. Likewise, the expression Douglas was presenting on Dave's face looked to be showing minor signs of amusement as well.

"Didn't you ever learn how to comb your hair?" Ollivander eventually asked Douglas.

"Says the pot calling the kettle black." Douglas quickly replied. This caused an expression of surprise and delight on his face. He seemed to pause for a few moments before he asked himself, "Where did that come from?"

Ollivander looked to have recognised the phrase however as his face broke out into a brilliant smile. "It's really you in there, isn't it?" He asked, once more searching the eyes in Dave's face. "That's the reply you always gave me when I had a shot at you about your hair." He answered smiling.

"I'm in here, but I'm not sure who I really am," Douglas replied with his disappointment evident in his voice.

"I can answer that for you." Ollivander replied confidently, "You were one of the finest men I've ever known."

"You were also a great friend, who I have dearly missed." He said as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"From what I have heard today, you also were a great friend to me." Douglas said warmly with a smile, "I only wish that I could remember more about you. All I have are fragments, so disjointed that they are basically meaningless." He bemoaned.

"Were you truly the one, who gave me back my key?" He asked Ollivander.

"Yes, I was." He replied, "They were taking you from the Wizengamot chambers to the guest exit of the Ministry where your new owners were waiting."

"My father and I had managed to sneak into the crowd, and when you passed by us, my father caused a disturbance while I darted in and placed that key around your neck on a simple piece of string."

"I hid it under that set of rags that they gave you to wear as a top so that no one would see it. I also told you that this key was extremely important to you and to guard it with your life."

"When I did this, you didn't recognise me at all. But I think that you did recognise that key." He explained.

"Thank you," Douglas answered simply, with genuine warmth and his heart was in his eyes as he regarded Ollivander fondly.

"Do you recall who it was that made the accusations against me that lead to my arrest?" He asked Ollivander, "Was it indeed the Potter's as stated in my records?" This question sent a chill down my spine the likes of which I had only previously experienced when facing Tom Riddle Jnr.

I too wanted to know the answer to that question. As much as I wanted that answer, I was also fearful of it.

"No. I do not believe so." Ollivander answered. The relief that I felt at this answer was far more than I had thought possible. "The only time I recall the Potter's actually being actively involved, was that day in court when they both stood up and denounced you." He explained.

"Then after your punishment had been carried out they were supposedly sent down to the holding cells where you were." He recalled.

"They were sent?" Douglas asked, showing his surprise at this new information. "Are you sure of that?"

"As sure as I can be without having been there myself." He replied, "The young man who told me this, was a member of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. He had been given orders to make sure that the Potters were taken to the holding cell where you were. They were then to be left there with you for a period of time and then removed." He explained.

"That makes it sound like they were not there by choice." Douglas mused.

"It does indeed." Arthur agreed with a small smile directed at me. I returned the smile, as this was a little piece of evidence that backed up Dave's previously stated growing suspicions about my family's involvement in this.

"Did the person from M.L.E.P. recall who gave him that order?" Doug asked.

"No, sadly he didn't. All he could remember was that it didn't come through the normal 'chain of command' as he put it." Mr Ollivander told us.

"I believe that when those who came to search our shop failed to find those wands, another reason for your arrest had to be conjured up." He stated, "There was a lot of talk at the time about how extreme and unjust the punishments were which had been handed out to you."

"There was quite a large public backlash against the Ministry over its handling of the whole incident. The Ministry actively did everything it could to hush the matter up and sweep it under the carpet." He explained, "Whenever the subject was brought up with the Potter's after the event they both showed extreme discomfort and did all that they could to change the subject."

"The Potter's championed a few laws enshrining the right of magical folk to marry muggles if they wished." He explained. "They also did their best to retreat from public life for quite a while." He added.

"It almost sounds as though they were trying to atone for something." Douglas mused with a thoughtful look and a quick glance at me.

"You mentioned before that the name of my first wife was Fanny, and that you knew her?" He asked.

"Yes, it was and yes I did," Ollivander answered happily.

"Do you recall how we met?" He asked hopefully.

Ollivander smiled at Douglas, "You met at a muggle cricket match." He replied.

"A cricket match?" Douglas answered as his eyes widened in surprise. "Was it the Surrey Cricket Team we were watching?" he asked as though struggling with an old memory.

"Yes, I do believe it was. As I recall you making some sort of remark about a relative of this particular young lady was playing for that team at the time. He was her Uncle if I recall." He chuckled at Douglas's amused expression. "Despite playing well, they apparently lost the match, which made her and by extension you a little 'out of sorts'," Ollivander recalled with a smile.

"Your temperament was improved however when you told me more about the young lady in question. Apparently, she was also a devoted fan of the game, and you both had a lot to talk about."

"In fact, from the summer of 1925 onwards, you were very frequently talking about this particular young lady." Ollivander chuckled. "Even when you married her you didn't stop." He added as he looked through the newspaper clippings and unfolded one of them.

"That is taken from a Muggle newspaper." He explained as he showed the article to Douglas. Douglas could only stare longingly at the article and tears began to run unashamedly down his cheeks.

I got up to get a better look at the article, and it was a photo of a bride and a groom on their wedding day. The flower girl looked to be sitting on the grass in front of the happy couple, while what seemed to be the maid of honour was standing on the left of the bride slightly behind her. There was someone who I took to be the best man on the right of the groom and slightly behind him as well. However, his face was blurred just like Douglas's family name.

The article looked to have been a notice of congratulations from the bride's family. It listed the names of the happy couple also. The groom's name was blurred out except for the D. Likewise, the name of the best man was also blurred out. While the bride's name was shown as Fanny S with the family name blurred out. After the blurred family name, there was another bit of text that read (nee Hobbs). It also listed her maid of Honour as Mary M Hobbs and her flower girl as Daniella M Hobbs. These must have been her sisters.

"Fanny…" Douglas said in a voice that was very thick with emotion. "Thank you," Douglas said struggling to control his voice. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Thank you for saving these for me." He said once more regarding Ollivander with open affection. "Were you able to save a picture of my son at all?" He asked hopefully.

Wordlessly Ollivander sorted through the items that were on the table. He located a photograph and held it up for us all to see.

"This was taken when your son was around 4 months old," Ollivander told him.

The photo was a very formal looking one of Fanny holding her son on her lap while Douglas stood proudly behind them. Everyone was smiling, and the little boy seemed to be trying to wave at the photographer also. When Douglas looked at the photo, he actually began to cry openly.

"I can see him." He said in a broken voice as his head began to fall forward. Dave's hands quickly flew up to grab his head as Douglas looked to have lost control of it for a moment. Looking at Dave's face, I noticed that for a few moments there was one blue eye and one brown eye showing. Dave, it appeared was offering support of some kind to his Grandfather while he dealt with this new information.

Arthur and Julian were also displaying very sympathetic looks at Douglas. As only a parent can honestly comprehend the pain of losing a child. I can only imagine how much pain losing a child, and not know what they looked like would be.

Eventually, Douglas got himself back under control, and both eyes were again his deep brown.

"I can see him." He said smiling as he lifted his face to regard Ollivander. "I can actually see him." He said again as he looked at all of us in wonder and delight. Arthur smiled brilliantly at the awe in Douglas's voice.

"I've never been able to see the face of one of my sons before," Douglas said as his eyes continued to scan the photo before him.

While Douglas was looking intently at the image of his son, I examined his own image in the photo. It was so strikingly familiar to me. Even in the very formal setting of the photographer's studio, his hair was showing its contempt for gravity and order. Even little Henry had hair that looked as though it was going to follow in the footsteps of his fathers and become a 'monument to disorder and chaos'. To borrow Kat's description.

The face in the photo was only missing a set of glasses, to make him appear as though he could have been my father's brother. Looking at this image was when I first consciously admitted to myself that I was starting to align my thinking with Kat's.

I looked at the photo and caught Charlie, Arthur, George and Ron staring at me and then down at the photo that Ollivander was holding. They all had strange little looks on their faces, but I could see the faint beginnings of a smile playing at the corners of their mouths as well.

"Did you manage to save any others?" Douglas eventually asked Ollivander.

"Sadly, I didn't." He replied, "That photo was on your workbench along with the newspaper article I showed you earlier. They were the only photos of your wife and family that you kept here at work. I know that your apartment had a large number of photos on display in it, however." He explained.

"I understand." Douglas replied, "I can't thank you enough for what you have done for me today. As well as what you did for me when I was arrested." He said warmly.

"I have something for you also." He said cryptically, "If you will permit me a few moments to retrieve it." He requested. Douglas then swapped over with Dave. This allowed Dave to get his wallet out and retrieve from it an ornate looking box. He placed it on the table and indicated to Ollivander not to touch it just yet as he sat back in the chair to allow his Grandfather to once more 'get in the driver's seat'.

"As Dave mentioned to you earlier I continued to make wands during my life in Australia. However, I never did it commercially only ever for personal reasons." He explained, "Partly that was because it never felt right to me somehow to charge for my wands. Partly because I wanted to continue to explore and try new materials and test their properties."

"With what I have learned here today, I believe my reluctance to charge for my wands was because I knew deep within myself that I had never finished my apprenticeship."

"As I recall it, an apprentice wishing to complete his apprenticeship is required to submit to his master or guild an example of his finest work as proof of his skills." He said smiling at Ollivander, "With your father no longer being with us, I would like to present you with my masterpiece for judging." He said proudly.

"In my view, you are a more than worthy successor to your father, and I also believe that your skill has surpassed his," Douglas stated confidently. He then indicated that Ollivander should retrieve the box and open it.

When Mr Ollivander opened it and looked at its contents, his eyes were wide with wonder. He withdrew from the box a wand that seemed to be 11 and a half inches long. The wood was a deep reddish-brown colour with mesmerising veins of black running through it as well.

The Handle on the wand was beautifully carved and decorated. The decoration reached its peak at the back of the handle. As here there was calved into the wand a phoenix so life like that it appeared ready to take flight.

Ollivander studied the wand in amazement before looking to Douglas with a question in his eyes. "What is the Core of this wand?" He asked, "I have never felt anything like it before today."

Douglas smiled, "The core of that wand is Bunyip Hair." He answered. "It was given to me by 'Big Jim' himself."

"Bunyip Hair?" Ollivander remarked in surprise, "I thought Newt was playing tricks on me when he mentioned them to me all those years ago." He chuckled.

"Newt?" Ron asked, "That's a strange name."

"You most likely know him as Mr Scamander." Ollivander told him, "The author of 'Fantastic Beasts and where to find them'." He said smiling.

"He definitely knows about Bunyips." Douglas advised, "He is a semi-frequent visitor to our place when he has the time. As he is genuinely fascinated by the Bunyips on our properties. I'm positive that they are just as fascinated with him as well." Douglas chuckled.

"I'll have to tell him that the next time I see him." Ollivander also chuckled.

"What sort of wood is it? As it is a new one to me." He remarked.

"The wood is River Red Gum." Douglas explained, "It is a native Australian wood. Part of the Eucalypt family of trees. The natural properties of the timber are its remarkable strength and durability. Regarding Wandcraft though, wands made from River Red Gum are happiest when in the hands of those strong of heart. Who will stand up and do what is right, not what is easy." He said confidently as Ollivander looked at him in amazement.

"This wand is also slightly different from traditional wands," Douglas said with a small smile. Those of us in the room knew what he was talking about and were looking forward to seeing Ollivanders reaction to it.

"How is it different? Apart from the materials used?" Ollivander asked.

"Place the wand on your wrist and tell it to hide," Douglas instructed. Ollivander did as requested and was very surprised by what happened. The wand had transformed itself into a finely carved bracelet. Ollivander looked to Douglas in amazement.

Douglas explained to Ollivander about 'covert wands' and how their sale was restricted to Aurors because of their ability to be hidden and not show up on scans of any sort. Ollivander acknowledged and agreed to this restriction. Ollivander asked how such a wand was made.

"To make a 'covert wand' you need to 'align the threads and fibres, with the pattern' that was used," Douglas said staring intently into Ollivanders eyes for several moments. Ollivander seemed to digest this information before the light of comprehension made itself known on his face.

"That's a different approach." He replied to Douglas with a smile. He then told the wand to come off, and he again held the wand in its original form in his hand.

Douglas then proceeded to tell Ollivander about the other property of his wands. Them being 'aware' of their owners and how to make them more so. When he heard this Ollivander became visibly excited.

"I remember you trying to do that with your wands before you were arrested." He exclaimed happily. "You have actually gotten it to work? Was it the way that you tried to do it before you were arrested?" He asked eagerly.

"Indeed, he has," Arthur replied.

"You have seen it work," Ollivander asked with his face alight with joy.

"I have not only seen it but tested it." Arthur explained, "However the wand I was using was made by Dave, not Douglas." He informed Ollivander.

"Your Grandson can make wands like this one?" Ollivander enquired of Douglas.

"Yes, he can." Douglas answered, "Dave doesn't detail his wands as much as I did. But yes, he can make this style of wand." He confirmed.

"To not only acquire mastery of the skills in Wandcraft of this type but to successfully pass them onto your own apprentice. That is the mark of a true master craftsman." Ollivander stated happily as he gave Douglas's wand a flick and produced a set of golden sparks.

"I would judge you not only as have successfully completed your apprenticeship, Douglas. But achieving the rank of Master Craftsman as well." He stated confidently while smiling at Douglas.

Douglas was now smiling broadly at Ollivander. There were differences between the ways that Dave and his Grandfather smiled while in control of Dave's face, but the emotions that they expressed were clear and distinct. We got to see Douglas try to control Dave's hand so that he could shake the hand of his fellow apprentice. It was still a very awkward operation to watch. But they did seem to have improved on their earlier attempts at the Burrow that we witnessed on Friday. Ron looked to be fascinated with what he was watching, but at the same time I could see the smile on his face and almost read his thoughts as to what he was thinking.

Ollivander made to give Douglas back the wand that he had presented to him. But Douglas refused it saying, "Please take it as a gift and as a thank you for all of your efforts to try and help me in my time of need." He insisted.

"Study how it works and once you can replicate its abilities I'm sure young Arthur here will place an order with you for the Aurors in MLE. As I'm very sure that they will be able to make good use of them." He suggested.

"I don't know what to say," Ollivander said looking a little overwhelmed. "Thank you. It is a princely gift indeed."

"You're more than welcome my friend," Douglas said with tears showing in his eyes, especially when he saw the gratitude that showed on Ollivander's face at those words.

"To answer your earlier question about making the wands more 'aware' of their owners." Douglas replied with a thoughtful look, "Simply 'talk' to them as you are making them." He explained cryptically. "As it helps to 'wake them up' if you take my meaning." He added while closely watching Ollivander's face.

Ollivander thought on this point for several moments before he began to smile broadly at Douglas with the light of comprehension in his eyes.

"I have something that your Grandson may appreciate having if you agree," Ollivander remarked as he stood up to retrieve a box from the shelf that was furthest from his shop counter. "A few months after you had been taken away I began work on a very special type of wand myself," Ollivander informed Douglas as he placed a box on the table.

"Some of your 'crazier' ideas stuck with me." He chuckled as he looked into Douglas's eyes. Douglas for his part was full of curiosity and was listening with great interest. Ollivander opened the box and extracted a wand that was almost pure black with lighter veins of a deep brown running through it. The wand was also highly polished.

"I made this wand thinking about your idea of placing multiple Cores into a Wand," Ollivander explained as Douglas's eyes widened in surprise. There was also several remarks of surprise from the rest of us. Wands with multiple Cores were unheard of.

"What Cores are in it?" Douglas asked.

"I used Unicorn Hair, Dragon Heartstring and a Phoenix Feather," Ollivander told us.

"A formidable combination," Douglas remarked while closely looking at the wand. "Yet if they can co-exist happily in the wand they will balance each other's capabilities." He mused.

"My thoughts exactly," Ollivander replied.

"What is the wood?" Douglas asked. "Ebony?"

"Correct." Ollivander answered, "It came to me when I was thinking of you." He chuckled.

"As you well know, Ebony suits people with the courage to be themselves. They are frequently non-conformist, highly individual and very comfortable with the status of outsider." He again chuckled, "It just seemed like a natural fit for you." He explained.

"Thanks," Douglas replied with a slightly amused look. "I think." He added with a chuckle also.

"It also sounds like it would be a good match for Dave." Ron chuckled, "As just about everything about him is 'highly individual'." He laughed as Dave tried to simulate a bow with his hands. This startled Douglas for a few moments, but he was soon back under control again.

"Young Ron could be right." Douglas said with a smile, "Ebony is also suited to combative magic as well as transfiguration if I recall correctly. Both areas that Dave gets a lot of exposure to." He remarked.

"Indeed, most Aurors do," Ollivander replied seriously. "I have tried to use this wand several times over the years. Each time I tried to use it I found it to be extremely unstable in my hands."

"However, someone with a different type of magical connection or connections would maybe find it more suitable." He said with a serious note to his voice.

"Agreed," Douglas replied. "If Dave is able to wield that wand safely he has my blessing to use it." He stated.

"I will need to swap over with him before he can try." Douglas told Ollivander, "So I will need to take my leave of you now my friend." He said with reluctance.

"Once more, thank you for all you have done. Both the assistance you gave me, as well as for the records and personal items you managed to protect for me."

"You have my eternal thanks." He stated sincerely with a last smile at Ollivander.

"You are more than welcome my friend," Ollivander replied warmly as he watched Douglas sit back in his chair and close his eyes. When they next opened after a few moments, it was Dave's bright blue eyes that once again looked out on the world.

Dave quickly locked his eyes on the wand that Ollivander had in his hands. His excitement could almost be felt physically. There were several sets of smiles in the room directed at him from all of us.

"Did you really make that wand based on my Grandfather's ideas?" Dave asked with a sense of wonder.

"I did indeed." Ollivander replied, "Would you like to try it out?" He enquired.

"Very much," Dave answered.

Ollivander passed the wand to Dave, handle first. The moment that Dave touched the wand it looked like it started to glow in his hands.

"It feels friendly," Dave told us smiling. He gave the wand a flick, and it produced, golden, silver and what looked like bronze coloured stars as well. The delight on Dave's face was infectious.

"It seems to work for you," Ollivander replied happily.

"It does indeed," Dave replied while still grinning in delight at the wand in his hand. "Mr Ollivander…" Dave started to say before he faulted under the gaze of Ollivander himself.

"Mr Ollivander, I can't thank you enough for this wand," Dave said with unshed tears in his eyes. "My Grandfather was always going on about how much he admired your work and what you were able to do with wands," Dave stated.

"To have a wand created by you, that is based on one of my Grandfather's design ideas…" Dave tried to explain to Ollivander as he struggled to put his thoughts into words. "It's like a dream come true." He said finally as he smiled at Ollivander.

"It was my pleasure young Dave," Ollivander said beaming back at Dave. "Seeing the wand accept you and work for you is a true joy all on its own. Knowing that it validated your Grandfather's ideas is a further bonus."

"I do have one question that I would like to ask if I may." Ollivander requested.

"Certainly." Dave replied, "Ask away."

"How was your Grandfather able to manipulate magic the way that he did to create his wands?" Ollivander enquired.

"It wasn't just magic that he used," Dave answered. Seeing the confused look on Ollivanders face, Dave explained to Ollivander what he referred to as the 'Spectrum explanation'. When he was done Ollivander looked like his world had been shaken to its core as his understanding of magical energies was redefined. He also looked as though he had enjoyed the experience.

"So, the different magical energies are really connected, but they just have different properties?" He asked Dave.

"You have it in one," Dave replied happily. "Not many people pick up that point so quickly." He said approvingly.

"Could you show me something with one of the other magical energies?" He asked hopefully. "If it isn't too much trouble that is." He quickly added.

Dave smiled almost as though he had expected this request. He sat and thought for a moment and then he looked down at the kitchen table that we were all seated at. As he did so, you could see his eyes come alive as he made a decision.

"Could we clear off the table?" Dave requested Ollivander.

"Certainly, you can." He replied. Dave then carefully replaced the pieces of parchment and newspaper clippings back into the box that they came from. The lining of the box was put back and then finally the wands themselves. Dave then asked Arthur if he could hold the box for him. Arthur seemed almost a little overcome by this as he knew how genuinely precious Dave considered the contents of that box to be.

While the wands were being put away the rest of us had removed the few other items that were on the table, leaving it now empty. The table itself looked to be a sturdy but unremarkable table, Dave, however, seemed to be looking at it as though it was a blank canvas.

While he was looking at it deciding on what it was he was going to do, he had extracted his wallet and retrieved six small pieces of wood from it. These he placed on the table then he stepped back from it and once again regarded it. The next thing that could be felt was a tremendous amount of energy radiating from Dave. It made the hairs on my arms stand up, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Dave released the energy slowly into the table. The different pieces of wood that he had placed on the table before seemed to just melt into the surface of the table. Once they had melted into the table, they ran through the table as though they were being woven. It was then that I realised that's exactly what was happening, as Dave was weaving the different types of wood into the table. It was utterly fascinating to watch.

When he was finished, the table was transformed from a sturdy but everyday object to one that could only be described as a work of art. The table looked to be so highly polished that you could be excused to think that a layer of glass was on top of it. Ollivander looked at Dave in sheer astonishment, but there was also a question in that look.

"That was a demonstration of sorcery," Dave explained smiling happily as he took a moment to recover from the exertion required. "It is probably my favourite magical energy to use, especially when you can use it for a purpose like this." He said as he indicated the table with a broad but tired grin.

"The woods that I used are River Red Gum and Iron Bark from my tree and Emma's." Dave began to explain, "I also used Stringybark and Spotted Gum from Mum and Dad's trees. The final two kinds of wood are Snow Gum and Silvertop Ash. They are from Grandpa and Grandma's trees." Dave informed Ollivander.

"Hopefully this will serve as a pleasant reminder of the new family that you helped to make possible through what you did for my Grandfather," Dave explained to a slightly overwhelmed Ollivander.

"It looks so wonderful, I'm afraid to use it for fear of damaging it," Ollivander remarked once he was able to get himself under a degree of control again.

"That's not something that you need to worry about." Dave chuckled, as he retrieved a chisel and a hammer from Ollivanders nearby workbench. He handed these to Ollivander.

"Hit it with your best shot." He requested.

"Are you sure?" Ollivander asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Dave replied with a chuckle.

Still looking unsure Ollivander placed the chisel on the table and tried to push it into the wood. When that didn't work, he gave it an experimental hit with the hammer. This also produced no mark on the wood.

He looked to Dave who was regarding him with amusement as he watched his attempts. Seeing this Ollivander hammered the chisel into the table with all of his strength. The only thing this seemed to do was to bend the chisel.

"As I said, you don't need to worry about damaging it." He remarked as he retrieved the chisel from Ollivander. He held it up so that they could both see the end of it. Then before our eyes, the chisel was straightened. Next, it shimmered for a moment before Dave handed it back to Ollivander.

"It will never get blunt," Dave explained. He then looked over at the other tools on Ollivanders workbench, and they too seemed to shimmer for a moment. "Neither will they." He chuckled as he turned back to Ollivander.

"That was done with energies generally associated with Goblins," Dave explained to Ollivander.

"Thank you," Ollivander said still staring at the chisel in his hands and at his kitchen table. "Thank-you." He said warmly as he took Dave's hand in both of his own.

"No. Thank you." Dave said smiling as he returned Ollivanders handshake and then embraced him again.

"If I may, I have one last favour I would like to ask." Dave requested of Ollivander.

"Ask away," Ollivander replied with a look of curiosity.

"The photo you mentioned earlier of you and my Grandfather together. Could I have a copy of it?" Dave asked, "I would like to show it to both my mother and Grandmother as I'm sure that they will recognise him in it. Even if Grandpa, Dad and I cannot." Dave explained.

"Certainly you can have a copy of it," Ollivander answered happily. He crossed to his workbench and brought out a flat tin box that had been hidden behind some books. From this, he extracted two photos, made copies of them and brought them over to Dave.

"Here is the one that I mentioned of my father, your Grandfather and me together." Ollivander explained, "This one is of your Grandfather, his Father and older brother." He added.

Looking at the photos, I once more saw a very familiar looking face in the picture with Ollivander and his father. In the other photo, Dave's Grandfather could be clearly seen while the faces of the other two were completely obscured. The only clue to who they were was a very ornate pocket watch that was visible on the older looking of the two obscured men.

"Older Brother?" Dave asked excitedly.

"Yes. I'm sure of it." Ollivander told him confidently.

"We suspected that Grandpa had brothers and/or a sister. But we never knew for sure, until now." Dave remarked happily. "Once again Mr Ollivander, thank you for everything that you have done," Dave said smiling warmly at him.

"You're very welcome young Dave." He replied. "I only wish that I could have done more."

"Please do not be a stranger Dave. You will always be welcome in my shop." Ollivander said as we all stood and began to head for the door.

We all took our leave of Mr Ollivander as we left his shop. I did notice that Dave once more shook his hands very warmly before exiting the shop.

"Well, that was a fascinating visit if ever there was one." Arthur chuckled to us all, once we were all back in the street. "Do you want to go and show your father what you have just been given and tell him what you have learned?" He asked Dave.

"I do indeed." Dave answered, "But first I need to track him down." He said as he pulled out his Mirror Phone.


	47. Family Conversations (Molly's POV)

We had spent the afternoon working with various members of Dave's team and family. Refining existing skills and learning several new tricks along the way. Abby had shown us all some straightforward and practical techniques to make our shields much more effective against a whole range of attacks. She had also taught us some variations on the more common shields that we hadn't been aware of before. It had been a lot of hard work, but I personally thought that it had also been great fun as well.

As dinner approached, we ended our session, and we all went to get washed up. When I returned to the kitchen, I noticed that several of Dave's team had begun to start getting the tables for dinner setup. Gabrielle, Hermione and Ginny were assisting them with these preparations. As I watched them, I noticed that while everyone was in good spirits, Gabrielle seemed to be particularly happy about something. She had a glorious smile on her face, and she looked to be almost in a world of her own.

I was brought out of my contemplation of Gabrielle by the appearance of my sister and her husband, as Shelly escorted them from her tent to the house. The sight of my older sister still sent a thrill down my spine and brought a smile to my face. I quickly went out into the yard to greet them.

"I hope you don't mind us dropping by like this," Sandra asked.

"Nonsense." I told her, "Family is always welcome here." I reminded her with a smile as I drew her into a hug. She had a smile on her face as we separated.

"Thank you." She said with slightly moist eyes. I got the feeling that my simple statement had meant a great deal to her. Ivan was also smiling warmly at the two of us.

"We thought we would drop by and update everyone on what was discussed with Kingsley today," Ivan said as I pulled him into a hug as well. "Are Dave and the others back as yet?" He asked.

"I'm sure everyone will be interested in what was worked out between you two," I told him. "As for Dave and the other boys, they are not back as yet."

"Are you sure?" Sandra asked as she watched Gabrielle while she worked with the others getting the dinner table ready. "The way Gabrielle is behaving I kind of expect Dave to be close by." She chuckled.

"I agree." Came an amused voice from behind us. We turned to see Fleur approaching from the tent she shared with her family. "She has been like zat since about 4 pm." She remarked looking at her sister thoughtfully.

"Has she really?" Sandra asked looking amused while she watched Gabrielle closely.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Ivan asked her.

"I'm just wondering how strong her connection with Dave actually is." Sandra replied thoughtfully, "She mentioned to us on Sunday that she is aware of her Talisman being linked to Dave's. She also indicated that she could 'hear' his idle unguarded thoughts." She explained.

"I'm just wondering if she is also able to pick up on his emotions as well." She mused.

"What would zat mean?" Fleur asked her.

"It would mean that their connection is getting stronger," Sandra explained with a smile. "If that is the case I'm not at all surprised that she would be the first one to show signs of being aware of the emotions of the other. As Veela are far more perceptive about things like that."

"There's also the whole issue of the fact that the other person, in this case, is Dave," Shelly remarked with an evil grin. "He isn't too bad about picking up on the emotions of others. It's just that certain emotions when directed at him, they tend to not make much of an impact." She explained. As Fleur, Sandra and I struggled not to laugh at her statement.

"Be nice to your 'little' brother." Sandra chided her. The fact that she was smiling broadly showed her true feelings, however.

"I'm always 'nice' to that lump that is my brother," Shelly answered with an evil light in her eyes. "Maybe we should just ask her what has got her in such a good mood." She suggested.

"That's a good idea," Sandra answered as we all walked over to where Gabrielle was happily chatting to Ginny, Hermione, Cassy and Fireball.

We were spotted by Hermione as we were heading over and she alerted the rest of the group. A quick round of happy greetings was exchanged before Sandra once more demonstrated her 'frontal assault' style of questioning.

"You seem to be in a VERY happy mood this afternoon Gabrielle," Sandra observed while the rest of us tried to hide our grins. "Can you let us in on your secret?" She asked.

Gabrielle seemed to be trying to suppress the blush that was wanting to make an appearance. "We were just asking her that ourselves," Ginny advised with a sly smile at Gabrielle.

"Were you now?" Sandra asked the group of young ladies. "So, Gabrielle can you tell us what has put you in this very happy mood this afternoon?" Sandra asked again.

"Or who," Fleur said with a knowing smile as Gabrielle displayed her own brilliant smile.

"I'm not entirely sure 'ow to explain it." Gabrielle advised us, "But since ze mid-afternoon, I 'ave been feeling an intense excitement coming from my Talisman." She explained to a suddenly very interested group of people.

"Do you think that Dave is the cause of these feelings?" Sandra asked her while observing her face carefully.

"Oui. I do." She answered.

"Can you make a guess as to why Dave is the cause of these feelings?" Sandra asked her. Gabrielle closed her eyes for a few moments and concentrated. When she opened them, there was a light in her eyes that wasn't there before.

"I believe zat it is because zere 'as been a discovery of some sort." She stated confidently. "It has made Dave very excited." She added.

"What sort of discovery?" Sandra asked.

"Zat is less clear." Gabrielle answered, "But if I 'ad to guess I would say eet was to do wiz 'is famille."

This statement got a strong reaction from Dave's family. There were some hopeful looks exchanged between them. Before anyone could speak however Ivan's mirror phone rang.

"Dave?" Ivan asked as he answered the phone and placed it on speaker.

"Yeah, it's me." He answered, "Where are you?" He asked.

"I'm at the Burrow with your mother, the rest of your team, Aunty Molly and the girls." He said smiling at Gabrielle, Hermione and Ginny. "Why?" He asked.

"We have found something that we need to show you right away," Dave said with the excitement clear in his voice. "Aunty Molly, can you make sure that mum & dad don't leave?" He requested.

"I certainly can," I told him.

"Thank you." Dave replied, "I'm going to message Bill and the others and tell them to get their butts back to the Burrow as they are all going to want to hear about this." He said confidently.

"See you all very soon." He said as he ended the call.

"It looks as though Gabrielle was right," Sandra remarked with a knowing smile as she regarded Gabrielle approvingly. Gabrielle looked to be very pleased with this news and with Sandra's apparent approval.

Before we were even able to get the kettle boiled, there was a rapid series of pops at the Apparition point, as the boys all returned close together.

They all looked to be very excited and were soon over at the tables with us. Julian collected Apolline from the tent where Apolline was still getting herself ready for dinner. As Dave got to the table, he instructed his parents, sisters and cousin to sit at the table. He then sat down opposite them with Arthur on one side of him and Harry on the other.

"So, are you going to tell us what's got you so excited?" Ivan asked him.

"Yes, I am," Dave replied with a broad grin as Gabrielle came and sat in his lap and delivered a few kisses.

"We finished securing Percy's flat and then we went on to George's shop and were able to secure that also." He explained, "After that was done Bill told us he wanted to visit Gringotts to try and organise a meeting for tomorrow." He said as he looked across at Bill.

"Yes, I went and spoke to the Head Goblin. He has agreed to meet with you both mid-morning tomorrow." Bill advised Ivan happily.

"Thank you, Bill," Ivan answered warmly. "That is great news." He added as he returned his attention to Dave.

"So, as we were walking down Diagon Alley to Gringotts we went past Ollivanders Shop," Dave said grinning ear to ear.

"Oh Dave, I hope you didn't talk that poor man's ears off," Sandra remarked with a little exasperation in her voice.

"Actually, it was Ollivander who did most of the talking," Arthur advised her. This brought a look of surprise to her face. It also brought her curiosity along with Ivan's to the surface.

"Did he?" She asked. "Are you going to enlighten us with what he said?" She requested.

"Better," Dave said almost unable to contain his excitement. "I can show you." He said as he pulled out a long box and extracted a photo from it. This he passed over to his parents, while his sisters and cousin crowded around.

Sandra's eyes immediately widened in surprise, but they also showed the light of recognition in them. When her daughters and her niece looked up, they had almost identical looks as well. Ivan, however, had a look on his face that was mixed with sadness.

"That would have to be my father on the left in that photo." He said, "As I can't see his face." He sighed. Sandra looked at her husband with an expression of such tenderness and understanding that it warmed the heart.

"Yes, it is indeed your father." She confirmed for him. "Who are the others in the photo?" She asked Dave.

"They are Mr Ollivander and his father," Dave told us. "Grandpa worked with them as an apprentice Wandmaker." He explained.

The effect this simple statement had on Dave's family was significant. Ivan's eyes became alive like I hadn't seen before and he fixed Dave with a focus that anyone else would have been terrified by. I'm not sure if it was because Dave couldn't see his father's face, or if he was merely used to this degree of focus.

"Yes, Dad," Dave replied to his father's unspoken question. "He really worked there as an apprentice Wandmaker." He explained. Dave then relayed to his family and his team what Ollivander had told him earlier.

"Well, that is a fascinating tale," Ivan remarked at the end of the first part of the story. "Are you certain about Douglas being Dad's middle name?" He asked.

"Yes, I am." Dave replied, "Mr Ollivander showed us a document that showed it along with the name of Grandpa's first wife." Dave said with a small amount of apprehension.

"It also lists the name of his son," Dave added while looking at his mother with an odd sort of pleading expression. Sandra must have caught Dave's meaning as she quickly put her arms around her husband and made ready for what Dave was to show next.

Dave brought out the newspaper clipping showing a bride and groom. I was watching Ivan's eyes very closely as Dave laid them on the table, his eyes quickly glanced at his father's face. They didn't linger on it; however, it was almost like they flinched away from it and instead focused on the face of his dad's bride. Ivan's eyes looked to be drinking in every detail on her face as well as the face of her maid of honour and the flower girl.

"She would have been my step-mother," Ivan said to no one as he took in all the details in the newspaper article. "From the blurred face of the best man, I would guess that he was dad's brother?" Ivan asked Dave.

"I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't bet against that guess," Dave replied while he got out the photo of Douglas and his father and brother. "Mr Ollivander told us that this was a photo of Grandpa's family. He mentioned his father and an older brother." Dave explained.

"Older brother?" Ivan enquired of Dave, who nodded in reply. "That's some new information." He said as he continued to study the photo.

With an apprehensive glance at his mother, Dave brought out the last of the photos. "This was taken when Grandpa's first son was around 4months old." He advised his parents.

Watching Ivan's eyes as he looked at the photo I saw them flicker to his father and then quickly glance away. They again gave a detailed study of Fanny's face. When he directed his attention to the child in Fanny's lap, however, I noticed him glance and it and then begin to move his eyes off the image only for them to widen in surprise.

His eyes then returned to the image of little Henry and just stared at it for several long moments. When he looked up at his wife Ivan's eyes were full of tears. "I can see him." He said to Sandra in a slightly shaky voice. He looked again at the image on the table and then said in a louder and firmer voice. "I can see him, actually see him." He said as he smiled brilliantly at Sandra.

Sandra pulled Ivan into a fierce embrace and just held him for several long moments. Her daughters and niece were also watching this with very tender expressions on their faces. I looked at Dave and could see a very similar expression on his face as well. Gabrielle had also noticed this and was drinking in Dave's expression as well. She then gave him a gentle but enthusiastic hug, which he returned.

Harry was observing all of this very carefully as well. It was then that I noticed that Arthur was also watching Harry very intently as was Ginny. Arthur then saw me watching him, he used his eyes to indicate that I should look closely at the photo on the table. So I gave it a good look.

What I noticed caused my eyes to go wide. All that was missing was the glasses, and we would have been basically looking at a very close duplicate of a young James Potter. The hair, the stance, even the expressions all matched up. When I again looked up to Arthur, I could tell right away that he had already come to the same conclusion as well.

I indicated Harry with my eyes and asked myself in my mind _'Does Harry know?'_ When I heard Arthur reply, _'I believe he does. Just look at his face.'_ I nearly fell out of my chair. As I had almost forgotten the ability that our Talismans gave us. Taking Arthurs advice I again looked at Harry to see him studying Ivan's face. He would occasionally look to Dave's face but most of his time was spent in the study of Ivan's.

 _'He looks to me like he wants to lose his bet with Kat.'_ I said to Arthur with my thoughts. _'Agreed'_ was Arthur's very amused reply.

Next, I looked at my sister, and I attempted to send my thoughts to her. _'Did you notice it also?'_ I asked her trying to conceal my excitement.

She turned her gaze to me and gave me a happy but worried smile. _'There are a lot of similarities between them I will admit.'_ She sent back with a cautious note to her thoughts. _'There are not many photos of my father-in-law from when he was younger.'_ She explained.

 _'The ones I have seen previously showed a strong resemblance to Harry's father in the photo that he showed us the day we met.'_ She advised me, _'However these photos show an even closer resemblance again. I can only think that either the breaking or casting out altered his appearance over time.'_ She mused.

 _'Do you know if Harry has any other photos of his father, Grandfather or Great Grandfather?'_ she asked after a few moments of thought.

 _'I believe that he does.'_ I told her with my thoughts, _'He could very well find more if he looked in his vault at Gringotts tomorrow.'_ I suggested. This caused her eyes to light up and a smile to form. _'That is an excellent suggestion sis.'_ She said giving me a brilliant smile that I just had to return. _'Maybe you can give that suggestion to Harry later on?'_ She asked, _'I don't want to do ANYTHING that will get any of their hopes up again without solid and significant proof.'_ She explained with some steel in her thoughts. _'They have all had their hopes dashed so many times.'_ She advised me. I nodded in understanding and agreed to her request. She thanked me with another beautiful smile as she released her husband from her embrace and checked that he was ok to continue.

Ivan looked to have gotten himself back under control. He thanked Sandra and dried his eyes.

"That's the first time I've seen the face of a male relative with a direct blood connection." He explained to us all, "It caught me a little off guard for a few moments."

"There is nothing to be ashamed of about that," I told him. There was general agreement on this point around the table. Ivan looked to be very grateful for this show of support from us all.

"He would have been my half-brother," Ivan said as he regarded the photo with moist eyes.

"Did Mr Ollivander know anything about why my father was arrested?" He asked Dave. All of Dave's family focused on him waiting for this answer.

"He didn't know the real reason." Dave answered, and once again I could sense an odd sort of reluctance in him, "He did say that he never bought the official story that came out of the Ministry."

"Mr Ollivander told me that in his opinion the reason why Grandpa was arrested was these," Dave stated as he drew three wands out of the box and laid them on the table. Everyone regarded them with looks of confusion.

"Why these wands?" Ivan asked Dave as he picked one up and began to examine it.

Dave then told us how Mr Ollivander had told him about his Grandfather saying that the wands were unique and that he believed that they would transform the wizarding world. He also told us how Mr Ollivander had tried to use the wands many times over the years and had not been able to do so successfully.

"Mr Ollivander also told us that Grandpa apparently had a lot of 'strange ideas' about wands," Dave reported with an eager light in his eyes.

"What sort of strange ideas?" Ivan asked with his curiosity coming to the fore.

"Apparently Grandpa was eagerly experimenting with multiple magical cores in his wands," Dave said with a shy smile.

"Did he now?" Ivan remarked with an amusing note to his voice, "So that's where your earlier experiments came from was it?" He asked with a grin at Gabrielle.

"It would seem so," Dave replied with a kiss for Gabrielle. "Mr Ollivander also gave me this," Dave said as he pulled out a wand that at first glance appeared to be solid black. But on closer inspection, it had dark brown veins running through it.

"It is a beautiful piece of work," Ivan said as he surveyed the wand approvingly. "Did dad make this?" He asked.

"No, he didn't. Mr Ollivander made it a few months after Grandpa had been sold. But he made it testing out some of Grandpa's 'crazy' ideas." He stated happily. "For he made this wand with three different cores in it." He reported with an enthusiastic smile.

"Three cores?" Sandra said with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Yes, three cores." Dave answered, "He told us he used Dragon Heart String, Unicorn Hair and Phoenix Feather." Dave said as he looked at the wand happily.

"So, you finally have a wand of your own from Mr Ollivander." Ivan chuckled as he took in the expression of delight on Dave's face. Dave's smile that resulted from this comment caused general laughter amongst the group of us.

"Yes, I do," Dave said with a look of wonder still in his eyes. "Grandpa also presented a wand of his own to Mr Ollivander," Dave said with a more serious note to his voice.

"He did?" Ivan asked, "Why would he do that?"

"He realised that he had never finished his apprenticeship with Mr Ollivander's father." Dave reported, "So he took the opportunity to present his 'masterpiece' to Mr Ollivander for judging."

"Oh, my…" Ivan replied, "What did Mr Ollivander say when he saw it?" Ivan asked with an intense light in his eyes.

"He judged it a worthy example for someone to present at the completion of their apprenticeship," Dave reported happily, you could see his pride in his Grandfather clearly showing. "When we told him, that Grandpa had had also been teaching me to make wands as well, Mr Ollivander judged him to be sufficiently skilled to be considered a Master of his Craft," Dave stated with a proud smile on his face. Ivan also looked like that he was full of pride for his father as well. He had a crooked smile on his face that just wouldn't go away. Sandra looked to be delighted at the smiles on the faces of both of her boys.

"What did Mr Ollivander have to say about your wands, Dave?" She asked him.

"I never asked him to judge one of my wands," Dave said blushing slightly.

"Why not?" She asked Dave, both amused and confused at the same time.

"I think it's safe to say that Dave was a little 'star struck' during his meeting with Mr Ollivander." Arthur chuckled. This caused everyone present to laugh at the embarrassed look on Dave's face and the slight blush that showed on his cheeks as well. Gabrielle apparently thought that he looked rather adorable.

"I still have a lot more to learn about Wandcraft before I can even think about 'officially' submitting one of my wands to someone like Mr Ollivander," Dave replied.

Taking some pity on the embarrassment of her son Sandra replied, "Well, I guess it gives you something to aim for then, doesn't it." She told him.

"It does." Dave replied, "If I can figure out Grandpa's special wands maybe I'll be able to consider that option." He said thoughtfully turning his gaze onto the three wands that his Grandfather had made.

"That brings us back to the earlier question, doesn't it?" Ivan said thoughtfully as he regarded the wand in his hand. "He was sure that it was these particular wands that they were after?" He again asked his son.

"Yes, Mr Ollivander said that the people who searched his shop were specifically looking for a set of 'special' wands that Grandpa had made." Dave told his father, "They needed the wands so that they could have him executed." Dave stated in a voice that made his feelings on the matter perfectly clear.

"The Aurors wanted to execute him?" Ivan asked his son with some anger starting to show in his voice.

"It wasn't the Aurors that searched his shop dad." Dave answered, "Or indeed anyone from MLE."

"Who was it then?" Ivan asked him.

When this question was asked, I could see Dave struggle to for an answer. His eyes glanced at his mother and strangely at me, but they quickly returned to his father.

"It…" He tried to answer before the words stuck in this throat.

"It was members from the Lestrange and Prewitt families," Arthur told us when it became clear that Dave was struggling to give news that he knew would cause his mother pain and embarrassment.

I have to admit that my own blood went cold and I felt a chill down my spine the likes of which I hadn't felt before.

"Prewitt?" Sandra asked in a small voice as she had gone fully white and looked totally horrified. "Did he know who in the Prewitt family it was?" She asked.

"He did," Dave answered.

"Please tell me it wasn't my Grandparents," Sandra asked Dave as we all held our breath.

"No, it wasn't," Dave answered, and the relief on Sandra's face was enormous as she pulled herself into an embrace with Ivan.

I also felt a huge relief at this news, I let out a breath that I had been holding unknowingly. Arthur noted my look of relief and gave me a supportive smile.

"Who was it?" Sandra asked as she fixed Dave with a look that clearly said she wanted the answer but was fearful of it.

"Nathanyell and Muriel Prewitt," Dave said in a voice that while it was delivered in a flat, unemotional tone, you could clearly feel that it was tightly controlled to hold back the vast anger that he was feeling.

"Muriel?" Fireball asked Dave, "As in mum's 'Great' Aunt, bloody Muriel?"

"Correct," Dave stated.

"For the love of Merlin, when are we going to get official approval to go and pick that old cow up?" Fireball demanded of her father. "She is the reason mum was kicked out of her 'loving family'." She snapped at him, and I could feel my heart break at the hurt in her words and the pain on my sister's face.

"She was clearly involved with Jimmy's murder, and now we find out that she was also involved in the bogus arrest and torture of Grandpa." She hissed, "What else is she going to be allowed to get away with?" She exclaimed heatedly.

"We will pick her up when we have objective evidence that can be taken to a sitting of the full bench of our Wizengamot," Ivan told her in a calm voice that clearly conveyed a sense of iron resolve and determination. "If you cannot agree to that, I will have no choice but to suspend you from active operations and assign you to desk duty back home."

"That offer stands for everyone on this team." He advised them coolly as he surveyed their faces. "I know you all want justice for Jimmy. But this WILL be done the right way so that there is no possible loophole for her, or anyone else involved in it to slip through." He explained firmly.

"Are there any objections to that order?" He asked as he looked around him. The faces of several members of Dave's team showed that they thought that there was sufficient evidence to bring Muriel in right now. But they were too professional and disciplined to go against an order from their ultimate boss and Minister.

When Ivan had no objections, he returned his attention to Dave. "Do I have your agreement on this matter?" He asked.

"That depends," Dave replied with a calculating look on his face.

"On what," Ivan asked Dave, looking both slightly amused and annoyed at the same time.

"What sort of evidence are we missing?" Dave asked, "In your view that is." He added.

"We already have a good amount of circumstantial evidence." He explained, "We have also used similar evidence in the past to obtain convictions. So, I would like to know what you think we are missing." He asked again.

Ivan calmly regarded his son for a few moments. "I would like some documentary evidence. Clear objective documentary evidence that links Muriel to the events around my father and Jimmy." He explained.

"I see," Dave answered. "If suitable evidence was located then what?" He asked.

"We descend on Muriel and anyone else involved in those incidents, like an angry avalanche," Ivan replied with a cold smile and an even colder note in his voice. Dave seemed to consider this for a few moments.

"I can go along with that." He advised his father.

"Thank you," Ivan replied. With Dave's agreement, the rest of his team quickly indicated theirs as well.

"Did Mr Ollivander know who the members of the Lestrange family were that searched his father's shop?" Ivan asked Dave.

"Yes, he said it was the Grandfather of Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange. Along with his brother." Dave explained. "I sent a request to Drunkmouse to do a check on them, and they are no longer with us." He reported with a disappointed note in his voice.

"Currently the only known living blood members of the Lestrange family are Rodolphus and Rabastan," Dave advised. "We already have Rabastan in custody, and I hope to have Rodolphus soon."

"Although I get the feeling we might have to share them with the POMS when we do have both of them in our custody," Dave remarked with a smile at Arthur.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that Dave," Arthur replied. "I'm sure an agreement can be reached." He added with a smile and a wink at Ivan who returned it.

"So, what's next?" Sandra prompted Dave before he got himself sidetracked. She was displaying a very eager expression as she was clearly excited by these new finds.

"Next we get to run some muggle records," Dave replied as he shuffled himself in his seat to pull out his wallet and then extract the flat black device that he showed us on the day we first met him. He opened the device up to display what looked to be a smaller version of the TV screen in his tent and our lounge. Below that, on the other half of the device, there were all sorts of square panels with numbers and letters on them. Dave called this a 'keyboard'.

He was about to 'fire up' the laptop when his phone rang. This caused him to direct his attention to that instead. He glanced at the screen quickly before putting the phone to his ear.

"Chief Roberts." Dave answered, "To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked. Dave was then silent for several moments as a look of curiosity and delight crossed his face.

"I do believe that we will co-operate fully with that request. With pleasure in fact." Dave answered. "How soon can you be ready?" He asked. Once more he was silent for a few moments, "The others?" He asked before he was again silent for a few moments.

"That is no trouble at all. Tell them to get ready for collection. I will call Kingsley and organise things from here as well as send someone to collect you." Dave answered.

"No worries mate. It's a pleasure to help with requests such as these." Dave replied. "See you soon." He added as he hung up.

As soon as he was off the phone, Mick asked, "What's up?"

Dave's reply was a somewhat cryptic, "Knock knock." He remarked with a broad smile.

This reply must have meant something to Dave's team and his family as they all had broad smiles on their faces.

"Who's there?" Mick asked.

"Travers," Dave replied smiling.

"Travers who?" Mick asked smiling eagerly.

"Thaddeus Travers…. BOO." Dave answered with a laugh.

"I'm in!" Mick quickly answered getting to his feet. The rest of Dave's team also promptly volunteered themselves for whatever was going on.

"What's happening?" Arthur asked Dave, just as he was trying to convince Gabrielle to allow him up. Gabrielle, however, was reluctant to do so until Dave advised her also what was happening.

"That was Gawain on the phone," Dave advised us as he began to explain. "Bill's work colleagues have had a great deal of success in locating and freezing accounts belonging to the Lestrange family. They have also begun to freeze the accounts of business partners and acquaintances of the Lestrange family." He explained.

"One of those business partners just informed Walt that he knew of a safe house where several known supporters of Rodolphus Lestrange are operating from," Dave said with a large smile. "Gawain has requested us to assist him and his team from today to raid the location. As he hasn't yet had time to fully check out his other Aurors and confirm that they are not compromised by the opposition."

"He also would like us to collect him and his other team members from the safe houses in France and meet up with Kingsley, Walt and Ben. I'm about to call Kingsley and confirm his location." Dave advised us.

"I see," Arthur replied with a look that was part both excited and worried. "Can you put him on speaker when you do?" He requested.

"Will do," Dave replied as he called Kingsley on his phone.

"I was wondering when you would be calling." Kingsley's amused voice spoke from the phone.

"Sorry for the delay Minister." Dave apologised. "I was bringing the rest of the crowd here up to speed on what Gawain told me." He said.

"Understood," Kingsley replied. "Are you free to help out?" Kingsley asked Dave, and you could almost hear the knowing smile on the other end.

"Always." Was Dave's reply. "What can you tell us about where you are and what you have found so far?" Dave enquired.

"We're currently just about 2 miles from Dover Castle." Kingsley replied, "Watching a farmhouse that overlooks it and South Foreland Lighthouse. Sending a position marker to you now, if I'm pushing the correct buttons." He advised.

"You did. I have it now." Dave told him, "What can you tell me about the farmhouse?" Dave asked.

"It looks to be a typical farmhouse of the area." Kingsley answered, "The strange thing with it though is when looking at it to plan our approach I get a feeling like Ice Water in my spine while my skin feels like it is on fire." Kingsley advised us. This comment caused Dave, Ivan, Rowdy and Guz to have rather strong reactions.

"Pull your team back RIGHT NOW," Dave ordered Kingsley.

"What? Why?" Kingsley asked.

"The sensation you just described is the common side effect, of a certain type of shield that is created by the Goblin style of magic," Dave told him in his professional tone of voice. "If you look at that farmhouse just noting what is going on you are safe, but if you plan a raid on it or worse try to carry one out you will trigger the wards on that building. The result of which will not be pleasant." Dave explained.

"I see your point." Kingsley agreed. "We will pull back and observe until you arrive." He answered.

"That will be best, Minister." Dave agreed. "We have some equipment at our safe house in France where Gawain is that is designed to neutralise shields of this sort. However, when they are taken down they are very noisy and are likely to cause a good deal of damage to that Farmhouse."

"Can you advise if there are any muggle buildings near it?" He asked.

"None it is very isolated," Kingsley answered.

"Excellent," Dave answered as his face took on a strange expression. "Minister, if you are facing a location with a shield and wards created by Goblin style of magic then it is VERY likely that inside that location there will be someone or multiple someones who can manipulate more than one type of magical energy." Dave cautioned him.

"I just came to that conclusion myself Dave." Kingsley replied, "That is why I'm only requesting your team to assist with this operation. We are going to have to ask the Weasley family to sit this one out." He explained.

As he did, so there were several sets of angry replies to Kingsley's request.

"I'm sorry Weasley family." Kingsley said to them with genuine sadness in his voice, "Given the risk of what we might be facing here I can't in good conscience allow you be involved." He explained.

"I even have reservations at using Gawain and his Aurors, but if I didn't allow them on the operation, I would have a riot on my hands."

"I also agree, Minister," Ivan answered. "They would, however, make a very effective reserve, in case we find ourselves in need of one and facing only traditional magic inside that shield." He suggested.

"I can agree to that," Kingsley answered happily.

Looking around at my boys they seemed to be accepting (reluctantly) this option. This didn't help my nerves any though. As my brother-in-law and nephew and his team would most likely be in the thick of it again.

"We have their agreement on this," Ivan advised Kingsley.

"Minister with your approval I will send Mick, Jono, Abby and Goose to you right now so that they can map the area and establish coms to Drunkmouse."

"Shelly, Izzy, Olly and Guz will go and collect Gawain and his team from our safe houses. They will also collect the gear we need from them as well."

"Myself, Fireball, Cassy, Rowdy and Dad will join you shortly once we have enabled a link here so our reserve team can keep an eye on the situation and know what's going on in case they are needed."

"Does that sound agreeable to you?" He asked.

"It does indeed," Kingsley replied. "See you soon." He said as he hung up.

"Any questions at this end?" Dave asked his team. When he got none, he tapped his phone a few times. "You all now have the coordinates for Kingsley location. We will meet there and then make more detailed plans based on what we see and what Mick and Jono find out." Dave advised them as they all moved off to their assigned tasks.

"Rowdy and Cassy can you both help Fireball gather up a couple of 'door knockers' as I have this feeling that we are going to need to make our own doors in a 'non-magical way'." He advised.

"Will do." Came the reply as they all moved off.

"Let's move this into my tent, shall we?" Dave suggested. Everyone agreed, and we were all soon in Dave's tent as he got the TV on and was soon talking to Drunkmouse about the situation. Very quickly a link was established to where Mick, Jono, Abby and Goose were now with Kingsley. We could see the map beginning to take shape on the screen as the required charms were cast.

Dave soon had a door opened to that location also. He gave Arthur a key that would enable the others to join them if it was necessary. Then with a final check of his equipment, he got ready to leave. But before he did he crossed to Gabrielle and embraced her, and they exchanged a few kisses.

"Remember your promise." Gabrielle firmly reminded Dave, as she reluctantly let him out of her arms.

"Always, milady," Dave said with a smile and kiss and a bow to her. Gabrielle smiled at this, blew him a final kiss and then allowed him to leave. Ivan and Sandra were also taking the opportunity to share a kiss before his departure. Then they were all going through the door while Dave held it open for them.

Just before Dave left to go through it Hermione called out to Dave, "Dave, can we use your laptop while you're gone to look up those muggle records?" She asked him.

"Of course, you can." Dave replied, "Mum knows the family password on it, and the internet will connect automatically." He advised us, before once more smiling at Gabrielle and blowing her a kiss before turning and closing the door behind him.


	48. New Discoveries, New Questions

"Can you log into Dave's laptop?" Hermione asked Sandra with undisguised eagerness. Ginny and Harry also looked to be very keen to begin the search.

"I certainly can," Sandra replied with a smile as she sat down at the kitchen table and typed the password into Dave's laptop. The display changed to show a group of seven women of varying ages.

"Are they Dave's sisters?" Ginny asked Sandra as everyone crowded around to look.

"Yes, they are," Sandra answered.

"I thought he said he only had six sisters?" Hermione asked. "There are seven girls in that picture. Who is the extra one?"

"The extra one is Emma," Sandra said with a sad smile as she indicated the youngest girl on the right of the group. Gabrielle was looking intently at the Emma in the photo with a strange expression on her face.

Emma was a lovely looking girl, in the photo she looked to be only slightly shorter than Fireball. She had raven locks just like Dave (although hers were wonderfully neat), and incredible green eyes. She also looked to have a genuinely beautiful smile. From the look on her face, I thought that I could guess as to who took the photo.

"Did Dave take this photo?" I asked Sandra.

"He did actually." She replied with a look of surprise, "How did you guess?" She asked me.

"I took note of the look on Emma's face and the fact that she seemed to be paying more attention to the photographer than the others," I said to several sets of laughter as Sandra smiled in agreement.

"When was ze photo taken?" Gabrielle asked Sandra as she continued to look at the photo.

"That was taken not long after Emma was diagnosed with the Auto-Immune Disease that would ultimately take her life," Sandra recalled with her pain clear in her voice. "I think that would mean around Christmas time in 1993."

"Who is the one in between Andrea and Shelly?" I asked Sandra to distract her from her memories.

"That is Samantha or Sam as she prefers to be called," Sandra told us. "She is the only one of Dave's sisters that you haven't met as yet," Sandra said with a smile. "She works for our Wizengamot as an investigator/researcher," Sandra said with a smile.

As she was looking at the photo of her children, it changed again. This time the photo was a group of 5 young men. Dave was instantly recognisable, although he did look to be noticeably younger in this photo. He also didn't have the scars from his encounter with the shark at the surfing titles. The person immediately to Dave's right would have had to have been his brother Jimmy. As their facial expressions were almost identical. But the giveaway was the hair. The person on Dave's right had longer hair than Dave, but it was just as unruly. The other three while they had hair that looked to be a little messy, they appeared to be positively neat next to Dave and his brother.

"Is that…" Gabrielle began to ask.

"Yes, that is Dave and his brother Jimmy. Along with his cousins Joseph, Justin and Tim." Sandra said smiling sadly at the photo of her lost son.

"That was taken the same day as the photo of Dave's sisters and Emma." She recalled with a smile.

"That person on Dave's right. He is Dave's brother?" George asked. "As I have seen him in my store a few times." He told us.

"Yes, that is my little Jimmy," Sandra said with a tear running down her cheek. I put my arm around her shoulder to try and offer her some comfort. She appeared to be grateful for the support as she leaned into me and accepted the hug I gave her.

"They look like a fine group of very tall young men," Bill said to Sandra with a smile.

"Thank you." She said to Bill with a warm smile. "They are all close to the same height these days." She chuckled, "Joseph is the tallest at 7 feet 2 inches. Although there is a family bet that Dave will equal or better that by the time he comes of age." She said with a small laugh.

"I think even Joseph expects Dave to end up taller than him. So, he is taking every opportunity he has to call him shorty while he still can." She remarked with a brilliant smile. I couldn't help but smile at this comment, as I could oh so easily picture my boys behaving in a similar manner themselves.

The next picture that appeared however caused a very different reaction. The picture was of two people snuggled up together on a hospital bed. One of them looked to be Dave, he was asleep, however, and he was also in the embrace of the very frail-looking young woman who was laying on the bed next to him. The young woman was looking at Dave with such an expression of love and adoration it brought tears to your eyes.

Next to the photo was a small hand-written note. It read;

 _'ALWAYS remember, you are NOT a freak and you ARE LOVED!'_

It was signed 'Emma' and had a few hearts as well as hugs and kisses carefully drawn on it as well.

"Zat looks like 'ow you described finding Dave after ze death of ez frère Jimmy," Fleur stated as she looked at Sandra with honest sympathy in her eyes.

Sandra for her part was just staring at the photo and what had been written next to it. Her face had gone a little pale, and she had both of her hands on her face as she simply just stared at the screen.

"I'd heard about this photo, but I haven't seen it before." She eventually said in a small voice, "I certainly didn't know about that note on it either." She added.

"But you are correct Fleur. That is indeed how we found Dave. Emma's brother Glen and her sister Sasha were the ones who first found him with her and let the rest of us know. One of them must have taken this photo for Emma." She explained. "When Ivan and I arrived at the hospital Dave was still in that same position."

"She just looks so different…" Gabrielle said in a voice that clearly showed her compassion for both Dave and Emma.

"Yes, it was very cruel what that disease did to her." Sandra recalled, "However at the same time it was so heart-warming to see the two of them support each other through it. Neither one of them wavered in their support of the other." Sandra said with a sad smile on her face.

"Even on the darkest days of her condition she could always put a smile on Dave's face, and he did the same for her," Sandra told us as Gabrielle leant over and gave her a rather fierce hug that looked to be gratefully received and returned.

After a few moments, she released Sandra, and they both had tears in their eyes. Fleur and her parents were also a little teary-eyed at that scene before them.

"Thank you, Gabrielle," Sandra said simply, with a wonderful smile on her face.

"You are welcome." She replied with a brilliant smile of her own.

Sandra took a moment to dry her eyes, and while she was doing, so she seemed to have had a thought about something. "I wonder if Emma's folder of favourite photos is still on here." She said with an evil grin coming onto her face.

She moved something that she and Hermione called a 'curser' around, and after a little bit of searching, she located a folder titled 'Emma'. When she opened it, there was a folder called 'Dave's baby photos'. Sandra clicked on it and then asked Gabrielle, "Are you game?" with a wicked little smile. Gabrielle looked to be very eager to see what she might discover in these photos.

"I have to warn you though if this folder contains the photos I think it does you will never look at Dave the same way again." She cautioned her.

"I'm game," Gabrielle replied with her own wicked little smile.

The first photo Sandra brought up caused near hysterical laughter in all of us. It was a photo of Dave when he was only a few months old. Dave was sitting on the floor holding a toy of some sort that he had just been chewing on. He was smiling at the camera with a large toothless grin. The expression was vaguely familiar, but it was his eyes that were the real delight. Dave's eyes were so open, so full of life and mischief. His hair was also showing his family's trademark sense of chaos, although it did seem to have a prominent ridge running down the middle. His ears also looked to be sticking out almost at right angles.

"A Volkswagen with the doors open," Gabrielle said to herself in between fits of laughter at what she was seeing.

"Yes, that is how most of the family described him when he was little." Sandra agreed, "He didn't 'grow into' his ears until he was almost three years old." Sandra chuckled.

"Where did you hear about that description of him?" Sandra asked her full of curiosity.

"Dave told us about it while we were 'aving lunch in Paris," Fleur replied trying unsuccessfully to hide the smile that kept on taking over her face each time she looked at the photo on the screen.

"He told you?" Sandra remarked in surprise, "That's different. He usually does all he can to stop someone knowing about that description of him." Sandra told Gabrielle with a sly grin.

Apolline was also viewing the image with a great deal of amusement, but she was also watching Gabrielle very closely as well.

"I zought zat you told Dave you wouldn't laugh when you saw his baby photo's?" She enquired of Gabrielle.

"Oui I did." Gabrielle replied, "But 'e told me zat he knew zat I wouldn't be able to keep zat promise." She chuckled in reply while looking at the photo with adoration in her eyes.

"I don't think anyone could have kept that promise," Ginny said with tears of joy streaming down her face.

"That would apply to just about anyone's photos." I told Ginny with a twinkle in my eyes, "I'd bet that Harry wouldn't be able to keep a straight face if I showed him some of your baby photos." I chuckled as I watched the look of horror that came over her face.

"Way ahead of you mum." George replied happily, "I've got a special photo album already prepared for Harry's birthday." He stated as Ginny sent a look at him that could have burned a hole in solid stone. Harry, however, looked to be very interested in seeing them.

"One more before we look up the muggle records?" Sandra suggested.

"Oui," Gabrielle replied eagerly.

The next image brought not laughter but a collective reaction of awwww. It was a photo of two small children, they each would have been only about a year old. They had fallen asleep together in what looked to be a cot of some sort.

The larger of the two kids had to be Dave, going from the hair and ears, while the smaller one must have been Emma. The smaller of the two children had snuggled herself into the embrace of the larger child. She also looked to have a very smug expression on her face about this fact as well.

Gabrielle looked to Sandra with a question written plain on her face. "Yes, that is Dave and Emma." Sandra explained, "Looking back at their baby photos it appears as though Emma had set her cap for Dave even then." She said with a wistful smile.

"Whenever Dave would fall asleep somewhere she would worm her way into his arms and snuggle with him." She explained. "Emma was of the opinion that Dave was very warm and cuddly," Sandra added with a knowing smile at Gabrielle. Gabrielle looked to be failing badly at controlling the blush that was taking over her face as all present turned their questioning gazes onto her.

"I believe Gabrielle might agree with that statement," Ginny remarked with a sly smile. "How did you describe Dave when we found you two snuggled together? Wasn't it something like 'Warm and comfortable'?" She teased her. From the ensuing laughter, it seemed like that episode had been thoroughly discussed. Gabrielle knew she couldn't deny or hide from that so she responded with the only real option left to her. "Oui. He is." She answered boldly, with a naughty smile of her own.

"Ok, before we get too distracted here…" Sandra said as she closed the photos (to Gabrielle's disappointment), "We should get to looking at those records or Dave will know what we have been up to." She added with a sly smile at us all.

Hermione sat down next to her and together they called up the 'program' to enable them to search the muggle marriage records. They typed in the name of Fanny S Hobbs as the bride. They also put in the date of 14th Feb 1927, with the location as London. Next, they added the name of Douglas as the groom. Then Sandra clicked on search.

A list of names appeared, but no documents to read. "Don't they have any documents?" I asked both Sandra and Hermione.

"They do." Hermione answered as she pointed to the display, "But this note here says that this time frame hasn't yet been digitised and put 'online'. So, we will need to work with the indexes for the time being, unless we order physical copies of the documents." She enquired of Sandra.

"That could be arranged if we found some likely suspects." Sandra agreed.

They scrolled through the list of records that had been brought up for the day in question. There were four women with the name of Fanny who had been married on that day. None of them looked to have the middle initial of S however. Of the four, none of them seemed to have married a man with the name of Douglas either. Indeed, of the men listed only one of them had any name beginning with D, and that one looked to be the first name of Darren.

We were all a little disappointed with this until Arthur spoke up.

"What if the date in that document is the date of the Magical Marriage?" He asked us all. "I don't see the muggles recording the date of a magical wedding. So, wouldn't it be reasonable that there might have been a second ceremony for her side of the family." He suggested.

"Arthur, you're a treasure," Sandra said with a brilliant smile at him. She quickly changed what she called the date filter to take in the whole month of February.

The altered search produced a longer list of names. On this list, there was a cluster of eight names where a Fanny S Hobbs was listed. In this group of names for the men, however, there was no Douglas, nor any names beginning with a D.

"No way," Harry exclaimed with an excited shout that surprised us all, along with causing us to jump about a foot into the air.

"What is it, Harry?" Arthur asked him.

"Move down the page more to fully expose that last line of text." He requested. "As some of the names there look to be quite familiar." He stated confidently.

As Sandra, did as requested the names came into full view. What I saw caused my heart to skip a few beats. Listed in the index of names were now another group of names including a woman with the name of Fanny S Hobbs. However, this time with the men there were a few names with a middle initial of D.

One was an R. D. Longbottom, the others on the lines below were, Y.D. Lovegood, J.D. Williams, D.D, Diggory and as the last line of the set appeared on the screen, it showed a G. D. Potter. We all just stared at the display for several minutes not knowing what to do.

"What does this mean?" I asked Sandra as I tried to contain my excitement.

"It means some more investigation is needed." She replied thoughtfully. "The way these indexes work is that they list all the names of brides and grooms in a parish or borough in London." She explained.

"Thus, the Fanny S Hobbs listed here could have married any one of those men listed in this grouping in the index." She cautioned, "I've learnt the hard way, Harry not to get your hopes up too quickly in chasing records like this. It is only too easy to see what you want to see and not what is actually there." She advised.

"I understand," Harry replied as he indicated his appreciation with her being honest, about the possible, likelihood of the Potter name being merely a coincidence.

"I'm glad that you understand." She told him with a warm smile. "I have no wish to get the hopes of my husband, son and father-in-law up without solid proof." She told him.

"Likewise, I don't wish to raise your hopes as well without proof. As I know the disappointment that my boys and indeed the rest of the family feel when promising leads don't work out." She explained with a gentle expression on her face. "It is also imperative to remember that these are muggle records, and amongst muggles, Potter is a relatively common surname."

"Others like Lovegood, Longbottom, and Diggory are much less common amongst Muggles." She explained.

"Muggles very often base surnames on things like a personal characteristic, place names, name of an estate, a geographical location, ancestral or occupational." Sandra informed us, "Amongst muggles Potter is an occupational type name usually meaning someone who made pots or other ceramic type objects. We all learnt this the hard way ourselves, I wish to spare you that pain." She said kindly.

"Thank you." Harry replied as he smiled back at her, "It makes a certain type of sense." He added.

"Thank you, Harry." She replied. "I must ask all of you also not to mention this to any of my family until we have found some solid objective proof." She requested.

Sandra received a chorus of agreement that pleased her. "Excellent with that now sorted we can make a call to the 'big guns'." She chuckled as she got out her Mirror Phone. She tapped on it a few times. Eventually, a somewhat sleepy voice answered.

"Hello?" it asked.

"Brendan, it's Sandra here. I'm sorry to bother you, but I have some information I need you to run down urgently for me." She requested.

"Aunty Sandra." The voice replied happily, "It must be something hot to make you call me at this hour." The voice chuckled.

"It is." She answered, "We have some newly discovered hard evidence on previously unknown members of my husband's family, and we want to see what information you can shake loose on them for us." She replied excitedly.

"Really?" Came the reply that sounded almost as excited. "Are you on your laptop?" He asked.

"No, I'm using Dave's one with the family account logged in to it." She answered.

"Ah ok. I have the profile for that one. I will connect now." He said, a few moments later we saw the 'cursor' start to move on the screen. "Ok I can see your screen now; can you tell me what I'm looking at?" He requested.

"We found out that the first wife of my father-in-law was a Fanny S Hobbs." She told him, "We also have a date for what we believe to be the magical marriage of them. We went looking in the muggle records, and we found nothing matching for that date. So I expanded the search to the range that you see and we found this group of names." She said as she circled the names we were all staring at with the mouse.

"Ah ha, ok. I have an idea of what you want me to do now." He replied, "Bloody hell, one of those names is Potter." Came the shocked reply.

"Do Uncle Ivan and Dave know about this?" He asked.

"Not yet. We want to try and find something solid before we raise it with the boys." She chuckled.

"We?" He questioned.

"Sorry, Brendan I should have made introductions earlier." Sandra said a little embarrassed, "I'm at my sister's place in England. She is here with me along with her family. We also have Dave's girlfriend and her family here as well." Sandra said with a broad smile at us all.

"That sounds seriously cool." Came the chuckled reply. "I saw 'Ace' the other day at the shops, and she mentioned that you had made contact with your family over there in the UK. She was very excited about it." He reported.

"As exciting as she found that news however it was nothing compared to the excitement that she and all the other girls had regarding the news about Dave and his mystery lady." He laughed, "No offence to your sister Aunty." He added playfully.

"None taken," I told him with a smile.

"Thank you." He replied with a laugh. "Anyway, all the girls in Dave's family (and my own I must admit) are dying to know how this mysterious young lady actually managed to catch our 'little' Dave and if she needed a surfboard or similar object to do it." He enquired as there was an outburst of laughter at this end.

Gabrielle looked to be slightly overwhelmed at this news, but she also had a smile on her face as well.

"We don't want to spoil the surprise, Brendan." Sandra told him, "I'm sure that Gabrielle and Dave's sisters along with Cassy will only be too happy to tell the story when we get home." Sandra advised him.

"Oh, I'm sure of that. In fact, I have a pile of red jelly beans riding on that with your mother-in-law." He laughed. We all smiled at this news.

"I can imagine." Sandra replied, "Can we get back to the records on the screen?" She asked.

"Yes, lets," Brendan replied. "Ok with these indexes there isn't a direct reference to a specific document. Only the pages in the physical records book. You have to physically view the book or order the certificates to see all the details." He advised.

"But we do have a different option we can try." He said with a thoughtful tone. "Do you know anything else about this Fanny S Hobbs?" He asked.

"We do indeed," Sandra told him. "We know that she had two younger sisters. They were Mary Margaret Hobbs and Daniella Marie Hobbs. We also know the date of her death, along with the name of her first child."

"Cool bananas." He replied. "Let me open that family tree page that Dave uses, and we will plug those names in." He said as we saw a different screen appear and then as the mouse moved around we saw a list of family trees briefly appear. I saw the names of Webb, Prewitt, Black (UK), Black (AUS), Weasley, Potter (UK), Potter (USA), Longbottom and Vogt appear before a new tree with the name of Hobbs, was started.

I had no idea of how it was being done, but as the information appeared and was entered into the tree, I could feel a sense of excitement build in me.

The names of the Hobbs girls were all entered in along with a generic Mr and Mrs for their parents. The date of Fanny's death was entered in along with the name of her child and his date of birth and death.

Brendan then looked to be searching baptism records. He soon found two likely records for Fanny S Hobbs. They both had different names for parents though. Undeterred he next looked up each of her sisters. Here he also found multiple records for them. However, only one set of parent's names matched all three of the girls. These names were William Andrew Hobbs and Sarah Jane Wills. These names were duly entered into the tree along with the dates of birth and the baptisms.

From that, he found marriage records for the two younger sisters. They looked to have not married in London but at churches in the countryside. For these records, there were indeed documents to view. The marriage of Mary Margret Hobbs was also in 1927.

When the document for it was accessed, we could see the name of her father listed along with his occupation. He looked to have been a builder. Fanny appeared on it recorded as the maid of honour and a witness to the wedding. It also showed that her middle name was Sarah. She must have gotten that from her mother.

The most significant item, however, was the fact that her married family name was blurred out.

"That has to be the right Fanny S Hobbs." Hermione stated, "It is too much of a coincidence that the name is blurred out like that." She said to general agreement.

"Agreed" Everyone replied at almost the same time. Looking around the room at my family, I could see their interest and excitement beginning to show on their faces. I have since learnt that this type of activity is referred to as a 'paper chase' and I certainly agree it is an apt name, for it does at times feel like it is an actual chase.

"Ok, Aunty give me a few moments to get my computer up and running here as I need to look into a 'work program' to check some details for more recent records." Brendan requested.

"Certainly, we will," Sandra replied as she sat back in the chair and raised her eyes to the TV screen. We followed her gaze and glanced up at the screen as well. We all realised that we had been so focused on the information on the laptop that we had almost forgotten about the operation that was currently underway.

Looking at the TV it was clear that the mapping had been completed, and that all of Dave's team was now on the scene. Gawain and his Aurors also seemed to be all there as well. All the dots indicating the various Aurors were blue and had names next to them. Inside the house, however, several feeble red dots were showing.

"Why are the red dots not as clear?" Ron asked.

"I would guess that whatever shield is in place around that building is interfering with the mapping charms that they have used," Sandra replied thoughtfully. "That is most likely why Jono and Mick are sneaking around the way that they are." She stated as she indicated two blue dots that were a lot closer to the farmhouse than the others. They did seem to be moving away from it, however.

Sandra picked up the remote and turned the sound up some more so that we could better hear them all.

"What did you find out?" We heard Dave's voice ask as the dots indicating Mick and Jono became clearer after they cleared the line of the goblin shield.

"The shield around this place was put there by an actual goblin." Mick's voice replied, "I guess that they hired a goblin to set it for them but didn't pay him very well, or he wasn't interested in doing a good job in setting it." Mick stated confidently.

"Why do you say that?" Kingsley asked.

"When a human performs magic using magical energies associated with goblins it leaves a different sort of trace behind." Mick answered, "As most humans don't speak Gobbledegook and they certainly don't think the same way as goblins."

"Ok, that makes sense." Kingsley replied, "But how do you know that the goblin who did the shield wasn't interested in doing a good job?" He enquired.

"Down by the trees over there, the shield runs over a large pile of rocks." Mick replied, "If the goblin who set this shield in place were looking to do a good job he would have checked that the rocks over there didn't interfere with his shield."

"Personally, I'm rather glad he didn't, as there is a fairly large rock acting kind of like a bridge." Mick chuckled, "The shield is on top of it, but underneath there is a gap that we were able to squeeze ourselves through." He explained and you could hear the smile in his voice.

"You've got to be joking" Gawain's voice exclaimed.

"He certainly isn't," Jono answered. "We got through with no troubles and were able to sneak up and look into the farmhouse itself." He replied with only a trace of smugness.

"Did you learn anything useful?" Ivan's voice could be heard to ask.

"We did actually." Jono answered, "Travers is certainly in there along with two other wizards who I couldn't get a good look at." He stated.

"There are also four werewolves in there as well." He said rather grimly.

"Anyone, we know?" Dave asked with a hopeful note to his voice. As he said this, I could see a few looks of concern on the faces of Sandra and Gabrielle. Certainly, Arthur was looking slightly concerned as well along with my boys. The exception being Bill. He almost seemed to be sharing Dave's hope.

"We couldn't get a good look at their faces." Mick replied, "But two of them are certainly the right size for either one of them to be Greyback." He reported.

"Dibs." Dave's voice called out very quickly, and it caught several of us by surprise.

"This isn't a personal hunting expedition Auror Webb." Ivan chided him.

"I'm aware of that Minister." Dave replied coolly, "However Guz and I have been working on 'something special' in case we encountered more of those FLF's."

"If we have Gawain and Ben backing us up with their wands and the sprays I can practically guarantee none of those FLF's will get away." He stated confidently, "They will also be VERY talkative once we have them in custody." He added with an evil note to his voice.

"This 'something special' it conforms to the R.O.E. for your team?" Ivan asked Dave with a serious note to his voice.

"Fully," Dave replied confidently.

"Approved then." Ivan replied, "You, Guz, Ben and Gawain can take down the werewolves." He stated.

"Shelly, Cassy, Goose and Olly. You four take Walt, Greg, Pepper and Lilith with you and take out the wizards in the house. Fireball and Izzy can use the 'door knockers' and make holes for those of you going inside."

"Mick and Jono, you two will be with Kingsley and me as a reserve in case we are needed." He explained.

"Abby and Rowdy the two of you will put up a shield over this whole area. Nothing gets in or out by any magical or other means." He ordered.

"That's a rather large area to cover Minister." Abby's replied, "Can we have a few helpers?" She requested.

"We do have a few eager volunteers available to us?" Ivan could be heard to ask Kingsley.

"True," Kingsley replied, and I could see my boys and Harry get excited at the prospect. "As long as they stay outside that shield I have no objections." Kingsley eventually stated.

As soon as he did so Arthur was moving to the door with the key he was given earlier. He had the door opened, and we then heard Kingsley's voice from the other side remark, "That was quick."

"Were you waiting by the door or something?" He chuckled.

"No, we are just eager to help, that's all," Arthur replied in a voice that didn't fool anyone. My boys quickly followed him after they collected some kisses from their significant others. Julian also followed them through the door after a whispered conversation with Apolline.

Once more the door was closed, and we were left with only the voices coming over the TV.

"Is there an operation of some sort going on?" Brendan asked over Sandra's mirror phone. His voice showed a note of concern in it.

"Yes, there is." She answered, "Some Death Eaters and their supporters have been identified and localised." She explained.

"Dave and his team along with some local Aurors are going to assault their hideout, while Molly's husband and sons, along with Harry and Julian are assisting them."

"I see." Brendan replied, "Well I hope that they are all careful." He added.

"Me too," Sandra replied as those of us left behind echoed her sentiments.

"Shall we continue?" Sandra asked us all, noting the looks of concern on the faces of Audrey, Ginny, Gabrielle, Fleur, Hermione, Apolline and myself. "Worrying ourselves silly while they are working, doesn't do any good to ourselves or them." She advised us all. A strong sense of 'speaking from experience' could be heard in her voice as she said this to us all.

"If we can give them some good news about a discovery when they get back that will be a very beneficial thing." She suggested looking at us all to see that we understood.

"Yes, let's continue," I told her.

The others soon agreed with me as well.

"Ok, Mr Black," Sandra said with a smile at the computer screen, "Show me what your 'magic fingers' have been able to find."

I did notice that this comment brought out some chuckles from Fleur, Ginny and Gabrielle. But they wouldn't explain to any of us the reason behind them. That was to be a mystery for later. Then something connected…

"Black?" I asked Sandra, "Is this Brendan related to that Black family that Ivan and Dave were telling us about?"

"That I most certainly am." Came Brendan's voice over the phone. The note of pride in his voice was also very evident as well.

"Yes, Brendan is the Grandson of Mr Byron Black who freed my father-in-law," Sandra said with a brilliant smile on her face. "Byron and my father-in-law maintained a close friendship until their respective passing's." She told us.

"In fact, the whole of the Black family kind of adopted my husband's family you could say." She added.

"I see. That's rather wonderful." I replied, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Brendan Black." I informed him.

"Thank you, Mrs Weasley." He replied, and I could tell that he was smiling, "It is a pleasure to meet you also." He answered.

"Along with all the rest of you ladies." He added with a chuckle.

"Ok Brendan, back to work now." Sandra chided him gently, "Or I will need to tell your special lady that you have been trying to chat up the ladies here." She chuckled.

"She won't believe you, Aunty." He replied, "As she is sitting next to me just now pointing out some records that I think you will be interested in."

"It was worth a try," Sandra said with mock disappointment, while some feminine chuckling was heard in the background. "Ok then, tell us what you have found." She requested.

"Ok. We know that Mary Margaret Hobbs married Daniel Wheeler, with Fanny as her bridesmaid." Brendan explained, "Danielle Marie Hobbs married a Phillip George Crowe in 1934, but there is no mention of a Fanny on the marriage records for her."

As Brendan read out these details to us, the names and the dates appeared on the screen on Dave's laptop. We were all eagerly watching them come up.

"It looks like both Phillip and Daniella Crowe are still alive as I can find no information about their death in any record collections," Brendan said as he placed a status of living next to their names. "Mary and Daniel Wheeler both appear to have passed away though." He informed us, as the dates of their deaths were placed on the screen as well.

"They left behind an only daughter by the name of Jean Margaret Wheeler." He reported. As he did so, I noticed Hermione look like she went slightly pale. Ginny seemed to have picked up on this as well. She looked about ready to ask Hermione what the issue was when Brendan continued speaking.

"Jean Margaret Wheeler married a man by the name of Geoffrey Simon…" He was saying before Hermione jumped in.

"Granger." She stated confidently.

"Correct." Brendan replied, "How did you know that?" He asked.

"They're my parents," Hermione told him still looking at the screen with a mixture of surprise and intense interest.

"What?" Just about all of us exclaimed at the same time.

"They are my parents," Hermione replied confidently, as she entered in her details into the family tree on the screen.

"She's correct." Brendan reported, "I'm looking at the official birth record for a Hermione Jean Granger, and it matches fully with what she has put on the screen."

We were all a shocked, none of us was quite sure what to make of this new information.

"Fanny would have been my Great Aunty," Hermione said with a shy smile as she looked to Sandra. "In fact, I think that I might have even visited where she's buried." She said with a light coming into her eyes that wasn't there before.

"She can't have been buried, as she was sent through the execution arch in the British Ministry," Sandra told her.

"I guess that the Ministry, most likely the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee presented the family with something that they could bury, to explain the loss of their daughter and grandson." She said as the light in her eyes only got stronger.

"Do you remember where the grave was?" Sandra asked hopefully.

"No, I don't, sorry." She replied, "I was very young at the time you see." She explained.

"Although I'm sure mum or Great Aunt Daniella would know, as they are both very interested in family history and have very extensive records." She said smiling brilliantly at Sandra.

The two of them embraced and were slightly misty-eyed when they separated.

"Now that IS some exciting news to report back to the boys," I said as I looked up at the screen and noticed that there were blue dots arranged around the farmhouse. As well as another set positioned further out.

"It looks like things are about to happen at that farmhouse," Sandra remarked with a slight note of worry in her voice.

She again turned up the volume on the TV, and we heard Fireball's voice yell out "Fire in the hole" just as there were two thunderous explosions.

With the sound of the explosions still ringing in our ears, the blue dots swarmed into the farmhouse, and the red dots quickly started to turn to red crosses. There were screams of pain coming from a group of male voices, but we couldn't make out who was the source of the screams.

Then there was a shout of "Behind you!" before a voice that sounded like Guz's yelled out in pain. This was quickly followed by a voice that was Dave's saying, "I got him."

We then saw most of the blue dots congregate around one with the name of Guz on it.

"How is he?" We heard Ivan ask.

"It looks like he sustained a flash burn to his arse along with the upper part of his right leg," Dave reported in a detached voice. "If Pepper hadn't warned him though it could have been much worse." He added.

We could then see a few of Dave's team move to hug Pepper by way of thanks. The next thing we heard was.

"What do you think you are doing?" Called out a voice that was evidently in pain.

"I have to cut away your burnt pants so I can access the burned area of skin." Dave reported, "Or do you want me to leave the remains of your undies stuck to your arse." Dave asked him in an amused voice. There were some chuckles here as well at that image.

"Ok, but can you ask the girls to step outside?" Guz asked hopefully.

"Not a chance." Replied Fireball, sounding amused at Guz's embarrassment. Some other feminine sounding laughter came across the communication link as well.

"Did you really have to ask?" Dave told Guz, "You should have known what they would have said. Besides, we still have prisoners here, and they need to be watched, so they can't go outside even if they wanted to." Dave advised him.

"Oh, ok then," Guz replied as he seemed to give up.

"Excellent." Dave said happily, "Pepper can you give me a hand over here." Dave asked her.

"WHAT!" Guz almost cried out. His reaction caused some more laughter that we could hear over the TV.

"Everyone else is busy," Dave replied calmly.

"Don't worry I don't have cold hands," Pepper told Guz in an amused voice.

"I'll take your word for it, but you still might want some gloves." Dave chuckled, "I mean after all it is Guz's raggedy arse here." He added.

"It doesn't look that raggedy to me." Pepper chuckled in reply, "It looks quite alright in fact, apart from the burn that is." She observed, and her smile was evident in her voice.

"If you say so," Dave answered, and we could hear his amusement. Several sets of chuckles that sounded like the girls from Dave's team could also be heard in the background. At our end, there were several sets of smiles as we pictured the scene in our minds.

Guz could be heard to make some complaints about Dave being a little too rough, but these were ignored.

"Ok, I've got the burned area clear now and have cast the required charms on it." Dave informed Guz, "We just need to rub in some ointment to keep it from getting infected." He advised.

"Dave, we need you over here as we think you might know some of this lot," Goose called out to him.

"On my way." Dave replied, "Pepper can you do the honours?" Dave asked over the protests of Guz and the giggles of the girls from his team.

"I think I can manage." She almost purred in reply.

"Thanks," Dave replied as we saw his dot move over to Goose.

"Does he look familiar?" Goose asked Dave as we saw the two of them standing near one of the red dots.

"He does. He does indeed." Dave replied with a note of satisfaction clear for all to hear, "Get his picture off to Drunkmouse for confirmation but I 'm willing to bet that this is Arcus Gagwilde." He said confidently.

"Who is that?" Kingsley asked as his dot entered the room.

"He is the personal accountant for the Lestrange family," Dave said happily. "He is sure to know ALL the details of the Lestrange family finances." He purred to Kingsley.

This caused my own heart to skip a beat as well as all the girls in Dave's tent to break out into large smiles. From the voices, we could hear over the TV it was causing a good deal of excitement there also.

"Hey if that is Arcus…" Dave remarked, and we could see him rapidly crossing the room to one of the other red dots. "This this has to be Peter Edgecombe, as those two are often found together." Dave almost laughed.

"I'm guessing that he is someone significant judging by your smile?" Kingsley enquired of Dave.

"Oh… you could say that." Dave replied happily, "He is one of the main lawyers for the Lestrange family." Dave explained.

"I'm also extremely confident that he knew the location of Lestrange Manor BEFORE the Fidelius Charm was placed on it," Dave said with a note of grim satisfaction in his voice.

"Don't you Peter?" Dave asked in the kind of voice that put me in mind of a dragon purring.

"I answer only to the Lestrange family." Snapped an unknown voice.

"Is that so?" Ivan stated happily, "Well, we will just have to arrange that then won't we." He said with cold mirth in his voice.

"Kingsley, can I request we send this one off to our facility in France where we are currently holding a special someone." Ivan requested. The smile in his voice could almost be felt.

"That sounds reasonable to me," Kingsley replied happily.

"Thank you, Minister." Ivan replied, "We can send Gawain and Faye off with him also, as it is only a short trip from there to where their families are."

"They can stop off there on their way to work tomorrow, and there might be some good news waiting for them in the morning." He chuckled.

"That sounds good to me," Gawain replied, and Faye also voiced her agreement as well. We could see the prisoners being taken outside.

"Excellent." Dave replied, "When you drop him off at Torquemada's, please stress that it is imperative that we get the location of the Lestrange Manner out of Mr Edgecombe." Dave requested.

"The more precise the location information, the better." Dave requested, "But we can work with even a general area if we have to." He advised.

"If you know that Lestrange Manner has been protected by a Fidelius Charm, why are you so keen to get the location?" Gawain asked Dave. "You still won't be able to see it, even if you are standing on the front doorstep."

"Let's just say that I have recently been given some information by a dangerously overly smug part Veela on a possible way to 'get around' the Fidelius Charm," Dave replied cryptically.

At this comment from Dave, everyone turned to look at Gabrielle, Fleur and Apolline to see if they knew anything about what Dave had just mentioned. But they were all displaying looks of bafflement on their faces. Although Gabrielle also looked to be ready to fight any other Veela that got to close to her, Dave.

"Do you care to elaborate on this information?" Kingsley asked Dave?

"Not at this point Minister." Dave replied cautiously, "I want to see if her idea has legs, and checks out before I go telling anyone else about it." He explained.

"What you really mean, is that you prefer to make a fool of yourself in private." Shelly chuckled at Dave.

"There is that also," Dave answered with some laughter from those present.

"But you will tell us how your idea checks out?" Kingsley requested.

"Oh, don't worry about that Minister." Dave advised him, "If it works, both she and her husband will be gloating it over me for weeks, possibly even months to come." He said with a note of resignation in his voice. Gabrielle was listening intently to this conversation. But at the mention of a husband for the mysterious part Veela, she visibly relaxed. Sandra and Fleur indicated to her that she had nothing to worry about, but she still looked like she was ready to 'fend off' anyone who got too close to her Dave.

"What is her price for this information?" Shelly asked Dave, as Gabrielle once more became extremely attentive.

"Seasons Tickets." Dave replied, "Apparently her husband is a recent convert to Quidditch." He chuckled. Gabrielle looked to be relieved by this piece of news. But I could see she was still a little confused as to who Dave was talking about.

"I see." Came the mysterious reply, "I do believe I know who you are talking about now. But how did she find out about your interest in trying to find out a way to 'get around' a Fidelius Charm?" Shelly asked.

"Her sister overheard Oscar and me discussing it the last time I was in the office." Dave answered, "And we all know how well sisters keep secrets don't we." He remarked to his sister with a note of challenge in his voice. This also caused a few mysterious smiles here between Fleur and Gabrielle as well.

"We keep the secrets that we want to keep," Shelly replied cryptically.

"Is that how it works now?" Dave enquired, as Kingsley and Ivan could be heard to chuckle.

"Children you can continue this 'discussion' later." Ivan chided them, "We need to get these prisoners into proper custody, and we need to collapse this shield so no one else can make use of it." He reminded them.

"Yes, Minister." Dave replied, "Kingsley, please get everyone else to clear out and Dad, Rowdy and I will get the charges laid to blow this shield." Dave requested.

"Will do," Kingsley replied as his dot made to leave the building.

"Sounds like Dave has some explaining to do when he gets back." Ginny teased Gabrielle. "Just how many Veela does he know?" She asked Sandra.

"Quite a few." Was Sandra's surprising reply.

"What?" We all asked her in disbelief.

"How else do you think he was able to recognise Fleur and Gabrielle as being part Veela so easily?" Sandra asked us all. "There are quite a few Veela who serve as Aurors, in a variety of roles back home." She explained to us.

"In fact, I happen to know that Dave has already put in a request for one of his favourite ones to help him teach Gabrielle when she visits," Sandra informed us.

"His favourite one?" Gabrielle asked Sandra with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't worry my dear." Sandra said smiling, "She has her eye on his 2nd cousin Oscar." She chuckled at the expression on Gabrielle's face.

"She is also a VERY accomplished sorceress." She advised Gabrielle, "She will be able to show you some things about sorcery that Dave just can't" She added in a more serious note.

"He is very serious about you being taught by the best that he can get access to," Sandra told her with a smile but also a serious note to her voice.

"Merci," Gabrielle replied with a grateful smile at Sandra as Fleur and Apolline delivered some comforting hugs to her also.

"Ok, Brendan. What else have you got for us?" Sandra asked her mirror phone.

"Evidence of a will." Came the reply.

"A will?" Sandra asked him, "Who's will?"

"The name's obscured, but it has a middle initial of D and names a Fanny S and Henry William as the sole beneficiaries of it." Brendan advised us, "They also have obscured last names."

"So, the muggle records show my father-in-law as having died along with his wife and child then?" Sandra asked.

"Yes, they do. They list the cause of death as a house fire; the records also state that the families were presented with a single closed casket for burial." He reported. "There is a note here saying, that because so little was found of their bodies, it was decided to keep all three of them together for eternity." He explained.

"That sounds like something that the Muggle worthy excuse committee would come up with," Hermione advised us. "Does it say where they're buried?" She asked.

"No, sadly it doesn't. The church that the funeral was held at is listed as being in London though so I would guess that the burial would be nearby. I will have to get some people to check the paper records for me and get back to you on that one."

"However, I do have this, that I would like to show you," Brendan told us as an image of a document appeared on the screen.

"That's a muggle baptism record." Hermione stated excitedly, "It doesn't show a family name, however. But it does show Douglas as the father's middle name. It also lists his father's occupation as a specialist carpenter." She said smiling at Sandra.

"This is odd." Hermione stated, "It lists two Godmothers and a single Godfather."

"Who are they?" I asked her.

"Mary and Daniel Wheeler, and also Daniella Hobbs." Hermione read out with a smile on her face, "She listed all of her side of the family. I guess that Douglas's family are listed on the Magical Baptism record." She said as her eyes became alight with the mystery.

"Aunty Sandra," Brendan said with a question plain in his voice, "I think this meets the 'level of proof' for these names to be included in the main family tree that Dave has. Don't you?" He enquired.

After a few moments thought, Sandra replied, "Yes. Yes, I think it does." She stated happily with a smile. "Add them in."

"Will do." He replied. We then saw him select the tree marked Webb. When it opened, we could see all of Dave's Aunties and Uncles laid out. Along with their photos, and photos of their children and in some cases grandchildren. We could also see Dave's immediate family listed with his sisters and their husbands.

It was evident that he kept this updated as little Jayden was already shown coming off Helen and Colin. He also had Jean-Luc connected to Shelly and a Matthew Martel next to Fireball.

"Dave is making predictions, is he?" I asked Sandra.

"Oh, he made those predictions last year." Sandra laughed. "If we want to see if he is making more recent predictions all we need to do is this." She explained as she clicked on her name and told it to show her family tree. Immediately the Prewitt and Weasley family trees were showing. It was fascinating to see how it was all laid out. Then I could hear Sandra laughing at something, and I followed her gaze down to where my children were listed.

Attached to Ginny's entry in the tree was Harry's name. We all turned to look at Ginny only to see her go so bright red; I was beginning to wonder if she had any blood left in the other parts of her body. I then looked at Ron, and he had an entry for Hermione linked to his. When Hermione saw this, she blushed and looked very embarrassed, not quite as much as Ginny was though.

"What does that dotted line mean?" Hermione asked, trying to distract everyone from the blush that was spreading across her face.

"Officially it is an unproven link." She explained, "But Dave uses it when he puts in his predictions." She chuckled.

"We will have to ask you, two ladies, to turn your backs for a few moments please." She requested struggling to hide a smile. Still quite embarrassed the two of them turned around and then Sandra opened up the entries for both Ginny and Hermione. Sure, enough in each of them Dave had listed two entries one for engagement and one for marriage. We all laughed and had to make sure that neither Ginny nor Hermione could see as we wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for them.

The dates that Dave had listed turned out to be fairly accurate when all was said and done. He was only two months off on his prediction for Ron and Hermione and only a month off for Harry and Ginny. It was very scary how close he was. Especially at that time. The only person who guessed better was his Grandmother. She is a real witch when it comes to things like this. I can understand why no one bets against her anymore in the family pools for things like births and marriages.

However, at the time, none of us knew this and we were all very disbelieving of Dave's guesses and quickly made our own bets as to what we thought for those couples. Sandra dutifully noted them down (as did Brendan) and they were lodged with Dave's Grandmother who was delighted at having another family to 'bet on' as she put it when we met her. After this was done the two girls were allowed to turn back around, but they were met by a sea of smug little smiles on the rest of us. Ginny only got her own revenge for this when she had a good chat with Dave's Grandmother and managed to see her prediction for Dave and Gabrielle.

Sandra then switched back to the Webb family tree, and I noticed Dave's entry, and I saw the one for Emma attached to him. The small black line across the lower corner of the photo saddened me that Emma had to die so young. Likewise, his brother's photo had a similar black line on it.

Following the entries further up the tree we could see the entry for his Grandfather. It stated Douglas Webb but also had question marks next to the name. His parents were listed as Mr and Mrs Unknown, somehow that simple statement was enough to convey Dave's sense of frustration to us.

Attached to Dave's Grandfather were entries for Lilian Vogt as well as for unknown 1st wife and unknown child. Brendan quickly linked those two entries to the ones in the Hobbs tree that he had started earlier.

Sandra used something she called a 'scanner' to get the photos, documents and the newspaper articles that Mr Ollivander had given Dave into the laptop. They were then 'attached' to the records in the tree. It also put a face on the records for Fanny and Henry.

We all sat back and looked at the tree as it now stood. The tree was now more detailed than before and certainly seeing the Grangers on it, and Hermione had a sense of unreality to it.

"Dave is going to be very excited when he sees this," Sandra said happily. She turned to Hermione, "You might need to prepare yourself for some serious hugs as both Dave and Ivan are likely to 'hug you into the family'." She explained with a chuckle.

Hermione looked like she was willing to accept this 'ordeal' if it presented itself. As we were all teasing her, we heard over the TV that they were about to collapse the goblin shield. Ivan, Dave and Rowdy were all rapidly heading outside the shield boundaries. Once they were joined up with the others, we could hear Ivan counting down. When he got to zero, there was a deafening noise.

"Merlin, that was loud," Kingsley exclaimed.

"It would have been worse on the inside." Ivan chuckled in reply.

"Let's give the wreckage a quick check then we can all head home, and you can entertain your new guests," Ivan suggested. This was agreed to, and we saw several Aurors from both groups quickly checked over the remains of the farmhouse. It didn't take long before they were all returning to where Kingsley was located.

"I think the goblins will be able to make use of these," Gawain reported as his dot came to stand next to Kingsley.

"Good find Chief Roberts." Kingsley agreed, "I think that they will."

"What did you find?" Ivan asked.

"Copies of financial transactions for the Lestrange family," Kingsley stated happily.

"That is some great news to end the night on." Ivan chuckled.

"Let's head home." Kingsley agreed.

With that statement, we could see different sets of Aurors began to Apparate away. Very soon after the door to Dave's tent opened and Dave and the others started to make their way into the tent. I did notice that Guz was walking very gingerly and had a large towel wrapped around him.

"We heard that you had a 'hot time' tonight." Sandra chuckled to Guz. He gave her a rueful smile and remarked, "We all make mistakes." As he continued to make his way gingerly out of Dave's tent and onto his own. Shelly and Pepper assisted him to his tent. Shelly returned not long after with an evil grin on her face.

"Where is Guz?" Dave asked her.

"Pepper is putting him to bed, so he will be able to get some rest," Shelly reported.

"I see," Sandra commented with a very amused look on her face. "I don't think we need any more information than that." She chuckled, and everyone else laughed as well.

"Thank Merlin," Dave remarked under his breath as he held Gabrielle in his arms. This caused even more laughter. Gabrielle smiled at him and gave him a few kisses.

"You might have heard Molly, that we captured a few key members of the Lestrange family organisation tonight," Ivan reported to me in a satisfied voice. "We now have one of their senior financial staff members under our control along with a good sample of his records. We also have their family lawyer as well."

"Once we have let Gawain's team as well as Torquemada and his team comb through their heads we should have some solid, actionable information." He advised me happily. "Not to mention what the Goblins could do with those extra records." He added smugly.

I went up to him and hugged him, along with the rest of them that had gone off to assist Kingsley.

"Thank-you," I told them all. It was the only thing I could think of saying, but to this group, it was more than enough. The looks on their faces showed that they understood.

"We have some news for you also," I told Ivan, Dave, Shelly, Fireball and Cassy.

"Really?" Ivan asked with a delighted look on his face, "Please do go on…" He requested.

Sandra then directed them over to the laptop and showed them all that we had recently learnt about Fanny Hobbs and her family. The only part we didn't mention was the finding of the Potter name amongst the list of possible partners for her. I looked into Harry's eyes, and he indicated his agreement with this arrangement.

When Sandra got to the part that explained the link to Hermione's family Ivan and his family were dumbstruck. That quickly gave way to excitement and just as Sandra predicted they promptly hugged Hermione into the family. She didn't seem to have any objections regarding this at all.

They all wanted to see the new members as they sat in the family tree.

"So, your Grandparents and Great Aunt were Godparents to Grandpa's first child?" Dave asked Hermione.

"Yes." She answered simply. Dave's answer was a brilliant grin. "What's so funny?" She asked him.

"Only that your parents have often remarked how much it feels like that they are visiting family when they are at mum and dad's place." He chuckled. "I know it isn't a blood connection, but it still strikes me as kind of appropriate."

"Indeed," Ivan answered also smiling. We had also (at that time) decided to keep Hermione's comment about her mum and Great Aunt having extensive family records a secret. This was done as we didn't know what had become of them in the time since Hermione had last seen them.

"Shall we move this conversation out to the dinner table?" I asked the now very eager crowd in Dave's tent. "I know it is rather later than the usual dinner time, as we have had a few interruptions. But dinner has been kept warm and is ready to serve."

This almost caused a stampede as people made for the dinner table. Fleur's earlier comment about Aurors making a very efficient dinner service was proved to be correct once more. In a very short amount of time, we were all sitting down to yet another wonderfully noisy family dinner.

Sandra made sure to take in some dinner for Guz. At Dave's suggestion, she took a second plate for Pepper as well. Although he did caution her to knock before she went in. When we asked him why he blushed and stated, "Better safe than sorry". We all found his reaction very amusing, Gabrielle in particular, got a good amount of enjoyment out of it.


	49. Best Laid Plans

During dinner, we experienced an expanded explanation of the raid on the farmhouse. Part of this explanation was what had caused Guz's accident.

He had apparently been getting changed when the boys returned from Diagon Alley and in his rush to get dressed had left off the pants of his Bunyip Fur Armour. Then when he had his close call with the fireball in the farmhouse, his 'normal' clothing had burnt away. I got the feeling that the burn scars will fade quicker than the stories and good-natured ribbing from his teammates would.

We also asked about all the screaming that we heard during the raid on the farmhouse. The answer we got was rather surprising.

"It was the werewolves," Dave casually replied, as if it explained everything.

"Why were the werewolves screaming like that?" I had to ask. I noticed my boys (Bill especially) were paying close attention to Dave for the answer.

"Even when they are in human form werewolves retain certain lupine tendencies." Dave explained, "The most common ones being a heightened sense of smell and hearing. Occasionally other tendencies like a fondness for rare meat or excessive body hair are also retained."

"After what happened to Jimmy, Q, myself and Abe started to look for ways to take advantage of these retained tendencies to enable us to identify and neutralise werewolves more effectively." He stated in a calm voice, but at the same time, there was a gleam in his eyes like a hunter stalking its prey that wasn't there before. "It was decided that their heightened hearing would be our best bet to target. Because if we could devise or discover a spell that would affect only their hearing we could potentially have a way to neutralise them even in a crowded environment."

"From tonight's raid, it seems like you have indeed discovered such a spell?" Arthur enquired.

"Correct we have," Dave replied with a smile. "It came from an unexpected source too." He chuckled.

"What is it and where did you find it?" Hermione asked eagerly. I got the feeling she beat Bill to this question by a matter of moments.

"Uncle Jason showed it to me actually," Dave replied. "It is a very common spell that he uses daily in his line of work apparently," Dave informed us.

"Is he an Auror?" Bill asked.

"No, he is a magical builder." Was the surprising answer from Dave. "The spell in question is used to send very high-frequency sound into metal objects that they are working on. Apparently, by measuring the change in the sound, they can tell if a join in the steel is good, or if the quality of steel is sufficient."

"It was one of those lightbulb moments when he told me about how the spell worked and what it did."

"As soon as he had taught me the spell, I raced off to find Q, and we started experimenting with it straight away," Dave recalled.

"Was this the reason that the two of you disappeared at Christmas time?" Sandra asked him.

"Yes," Dave replied with a sheepish grin.

"Well, I guess I lost that bet," Sandra said a little regretfully.

"Let me guess you thought that we were discussing Q's new girlfriend?" Dave asked her with an amused smile.

"No actually." Sandra replied with an amused and interested expression, "But now that you mention it, the least you can do is fill us in on the details." She said with an arch little smile to the amusement of the girls.

"Not me." Dave replied, holding his hands up defensively, "He can tell you when they are both good and ready." He countered.

"The spell David?" Hermione asked getting a little impatient.

"Thanks for the save Hermione." Dave chuckled, "The incantation is a little long as it was never intended for use in battle. It is 'ultimus alte tumultum'."

"When you cast it, there is no wand movement required, just be sure to aim your wand in the direction of the werewolf as it is an 'area effect' spell. You also need to be thinking of sound in the range of 50 kHz and at a level of around 200 dB" He explained. "It will cause permanent hearing loss if used for too long, so keep the duration of the spell short."

"You will know when the spell takes effect, as the werewolf will drop like a stone and usually assume the foetal position while covering their ears." He advised us, "At that point, you can stun them and put them in cuffs."

"What happens if they are deaf?" Harry asked with a cheeky grin.

"That's why we had Gawain and Ben backing us up tonight," Dave replied with his own grin.

"So tonight, was the first time you tried that spell on actual werewolves then?" He asked Dave.

"Yes, it was," Dave replied.

"I see. Was Greyback one of the werewolves you caught tonight." Harry asked Dave.

"Sadly no. Greyback wasn't there." Dave replied with his disappointment obvious to all, "Although something about one of them that we caught tonight strikes me as being very familiar." He mused.

"I've sent photos of all people we captured today off to Drunkmouse and his team to see if they can identify them but that will take time."

"One more question." Harry asked Dave, "What does FLF stand for?"

Dave smiled and then replied, "It stands for Furry Little Fu…"

"DAVID!" Sandra snapped at him, "Watch your language young man." She advised him while Dave was grinning at her and the rest of us were laughing.

"It's quicker to say over our coms gear than werewolf and also seems appropriate," Dave explained to several grins around the table.

Once dinner had finished and the dishes cleared away, Ivan called everyone back to the table to fill us all in on what had agreed upon between him and Kingsley.

"Kingsley has arranged for an official announcement from the British Ministry to be published in various newspapers and periodicals starting tomorrow." He informed us.

"Which ones?" Hermione asked him.

"I believe he called them…" Ivan began as he pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket, "The Daily and Evening Prophet, Witch Weekly and the Quibbler." He said as he read them off his list.

"Witch Weekly!" Dave exclaimed with a look of horror and disgust on his face. "I didn't realise that the UK was infected with that rag also." He remarked in dismay.

This outburst caused his family and team to break into laughter.

"Think of it this way Dave." Shelly suggested, "At least they don't have 'Teen Witch'." She advised him with an evil grin as Dave, and a few of his male team members let out groans of 'pain'. All of the female members of his team broke out into laughter.

"We don't have Teen Witch." Ginny advised Dave, "But we do have 'Teen Witch Weekly'." She told him happily as she noticed the look of relief depart his face.

"Why don't you boys like 'Teen Witch'?" Ginny asked with wide-eyed 'innocence' that fooled no one.

"I'm not sure 'dislike' is a strong enough word," Shelly remarked as Sandra was struggling to contain a smile. "They all seem to think that it is a publication that needs to be put out of business." Dave and his 'boys' were nodding in agreement, much to the amusement of the female Aurors present.

"Can you explain?" Hermione asked.

"I do believe it is primarily to do with their yearly publication that covers all the 'hot' male Aurors." Fireball explained with undisguised glee. Gabrielle's eyes lit up at this news, and she looked to Dave with a hopeful expression on her face.

"I've so far escaped having my photo in that 'publication'," Dave advised a disappointed Gabrielle.

"So, you're not considered 'hot' enough then?" Ginny teased Dave. I did notice a few of Dave's family looked concerned at this statement for a few moments before Dave laughed.

"He hasn't had his photo in that edition." Fireball told Ginny, "But Teen Witch has described him in great detail." She laughed.

"Nauseating Detail," Shelly explained with an evil grin at Dave and then a cheeky smirk at Gabrielle.

"Why 'ave zey not published your photo?" Gabrielle asked Dave with a burning curiosity.

"I'm primarily an undercover specialist." Dave replied a little smugly, "I know how to avoid the press and hide when the situation requires it." He explained with a laugh.

"Although, Guz, Rowdy, Goose, and Olly have all 'graced' that particular edition. Haven't you." Dave teased them.

"The year I was in it they had their largest sales," Olly replied almost proudly.

"That was because Jimmy was on the cover, topless." Shelly teased him as the other girls laughed.

"You could be right." Olly replied, "But there is no proof either way." He countered.

Once the laughter died down, Hermione cleared her throat loudly to get the conversation back on track.

"Kingsley actually believes that the Prophet and Witch Weekly will publish something factual and accurate?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"He is invoking some rarely used laws that will compel all the publications to print the announcement as is with no major alterations, and to direct all queries to the Ministry for more information," Ivan remarked in a tone that indicated that he too had reservations about them accurately doing so.

"In each of the publications will be a form that the readers can easily duplicate if they need to. This form will help them layout information about missing family members and friends. In a logical manner that will make searches easier." He explained, "Kingsley is also getting set up a special office in the ministry to act as a central 'clearing house' for all information on missing people."

"Our embassy will be providing some staff to work in this office, as well the MACUSA embassy along with the French, German and Italian Embassies. As these embassies have all reported that they had assisted people out of the country recently."

"All the embassies in the UK have also been advised of this, and they will be providing staff to act as translators and other assistance as needed. Drunkmouse's team is also going to be providing a good number of staff from the team that has been coordinating our safe houses around the globe as well."

"Sounds like you two have been busy," Dave stated with a smile. "Just what is Kingsley putting in this announcement?" He enquired with an air of concern.

"He isn't going to name the members of your team if that is what you're asking," Ivan answered, and you could see the relief on all of their faces at this news. This also aligned with earlier comments about this group preferring to work in the background and having acknowledgement go to the team rather than individuals.

"The official announcement will simply state that the Australasian Auror Service had a team from its Special Operations Command that was operating here during the recent 'troubles'. The team worked with various Auror Services (and Magical Governments) from the European mainland to evacuate people who were at risk from the Death Eater-controlled Ministry."

"The announcement will not go into too much detail around your activities here." He added with a rueful smile, "No mention will be made of your team; breaking into the Ministry (on numerous occasions), misleading the Ministry, setting up bogus Ministerial offices, stealing records from the Ministry, placing illicit recording devices in the Ministry, various prison breaks, as well as assaulting Ministry staff." He added in a slightly exasperated voice.

This list caused some amused smiles and laughter from the assembled crowd.

"He forgot Destroying Ministry Facilities and Property, and Detaining Ministerial staff." Jono chuckled as the rest of Dave's team joined in the laughter, "Or don't Death Eater-controlled facilities, the Death Easters themselves and their supporters count as such anymore?" He asked.

"It was a long list, and I might have forgotten one or two items," Ivan replied with a sly smile. "The deal is he won't make a fuss about your activities over here as long as we show him and Gawain's Aurors how we did what we did." He explained.

"If Gawain can clear all of his Aurors, I don't have a problem with that," Dave replied happily. The rest of his team also indicated their agreement to this plan as well.

"Did Kingsley make any comment on the requests that we made?" Dave enquired. This question, caused Arthur and my boys to sit up and follow the conversation with more attention.

"Yes, he did," Ivan answered as he pulled out two rolls of parchment. These he handed to Percy and Audrey. "These are for the two of you as part of an official thank-you for your efforts in the recent troubles," Ivan explained.

Percy quickly unrolled his scroll, and the look of delight on his face was a sight to behold.

"Well, what is it?" Arthur asked him, showing slight traces of annoyance at having to wait for an explanation.

"It is a full, complete and unconditional pardon for any and all acts carried out against the Ministry during the recent war." He said with tears in his eyes. "It also says that Kingsley is offering me a job as his personal assistant and right-hand man in the Ministry." He said as he got up and hugged Ivan, Sandra, Dave and every member of his team that was present.

We were all on our feet very quickly and were offering our hugs to Percy as well. After the commotion died down Audrey opened her scroll. She too found a full, complete and unconditional pardon for any acts she may or may not have carried out. Also, like Percy, she had a note from Kingsley.

"He wants me to come and see him when we get back from our trip to Australia." She told us, "As he has a few new positions coming up in the Ministry that he would like to know my opinion on." She said with a brilliant smile. This caused another round of congratulations from all assembled.

Eventually, we returned to our seats.

"The others?" Dave asked his father with a very direct look.

"He agreed to them all." Ivan replied, "He also agreed not to publish their names without their consent or that of their families." He added.

This brought a look of contentment to Dave's face. Along with the members of his team and Percy and Audrey also.

"That is excellent news." Dave replied, he then turned to take in his team as well as Percy and Audrey, "We will need to hand carry these scrolls to those we have nominated." He explained, "Just remember, it is their choice if they want their actions to be made public or not." He reminded his team along with Percy and Audrey. Everyone agreed to this. None of us even tried to discover the names of all those people who worked with Dave's team while they were here. As we knew how seriously he took the safety and wishes of those who worked for and with him and his team.

To this day I don't think that they have all been made known. I do know that at least two people have asked for their actions to be kept secret until after their deaths.

"What did he have to say about 'our colleagues from the mainland'?" Dave asked his father.

"Only that they have his and the Ministry's whole-hearted thanks for their efforts," Ivan replied with a grin on his face. "He did say that he would like to meet them personally and thank them for all of their efforts if that can be arranged."

"I'm confident that can indeed be arranged," Dave stated happily.

"I can also report that pending the action against the Wizengamot and submission of final reports, this operation here has been declared a success with the official blessing of the Australasian Auror Service and all of the magical governments involved," Ivan stated proudly looking around at Dave's team.

This was the cause of a minor celebration amongst Dave's team. When they eventually calmed down and returned to their seats Ivan continued.

"Your team is hereby officially instructed to begin moving 'official' control over to the nominated 'caretaker group'. They, in turn, will be responsible for coordinating the repatriation of those under our care back to their families." Ivan reported.

"This team will still have control of the hunt for Rodolphus Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback," Ivan informed them. "You will also be involved in the rebuilding of the British Auror office. The exact specifics are yet to be determined as Kingsley and Gawain are still reading through the various manuals." Ivan chuckled.

"But even looking at the 'short' list that Kingsley has prepared I'm sure that we will have 'boots on the ground' here in the UK for at least the next two years." He said with a knowing type grin at both Dave and Shelly.

"We also have had 'official notice' to expect a formal approach by MACUSA and the French Ministry who are interested in some 'cross training' as well." He added.

This piece of news brought smiles to the faces of Shelly and Dave. Gabrielle also looked to be very pleased with this as well.

"Timeframes?" Dave asked.

"Yet to be determined. But I will tell you as soon as the formal requests have been made." He replied.

"Fair enough," Dave replied. "Any news about what is to happen to those under our care who either have no family? Or we can't locate their family?" He asked his father. The expression on his face indicated that this group were particularly close to his heart.

"Nothing official as yet. Kingsley is still trying to confirm the specifics of the laws here and how they relate to minors who have lost parents and other family members." Ivan explained, "He suspects that most of the younger orphans will have to go to either wizarding or muggle orphanages."

"What?" Dave exclaimed with some heat in his voice, "Most of those places are little better than prisons for kids." He shot back at his father.

"They have been through a seriously traumatic experience, in a lot of cases losing their parents and family members was only part of that." Dave advised his father, "If they are not dealt with carefully, and with the right support we will be raising a generation of seriously scared children who will be angry, hurt and looking to lash out at any suitable target that presents itself."

"Dave, you are preaching to the choir on this one." Ivan advised him calmly, "Kingsley also shares your concerns and views, but the current laws have severely restricted is options. He is doing his best to have things fixed to enable a more beneficial outcome for those involved. But he is also going to follow the law on this issue." He stated.

"You have my personal promise, Dave, that Kingsley, myself and all involved will be doing all we can to see that the needs of those children currently under our care will be met in full," Ivan told his son.

Dave just stared at this father for several moments; I could see his concern writ large on his face. The rest of his team were also displaying similar expressions. Gabrielle too was showing her concern, and she whispered something into Dave's ear. After listening to her, Dave nodded in agreement with his father.

"The muggle's?" He asked his father?

"Kingsley is meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister tonight to explain the situation to him." Ivan explained, "He is also going to deliver to him a list of the confirmed Muggles and Muggle-Borns that are under our care. Where possible he is going to try and arrange for them to be returned to their families (if any can be found)."

"For the muggles that are under our care but are not British or from our region he is going to ask the Muggle Prime Minister to reach out to the embassies of those countries and as per Drunkmouse's suggestion the muggle Interpol service as well."

"We will need to see how successful those steps are before any further engagement with the muggles can be organised." He advised.

"I suspected as much," Dave replied, and his team looked to be of a similar opinion.

"Now Dave I have some questions for you," Ivan stated. "How did your meeting with the French Minister of Magic go?" He enquired with his curiosity on fully display.

"Successfully," Dave replied. "We got his full support, and he signed all the required paperwork for us, with no arguments," Dave answered.

"Especially after you gave him your autograph, that is." Fireball chuckled. At this comment, I could see Shelly and Cassy along with Izzy and Abby sit up and deliver looks of anticipation as well as some evil looking grins at Dave.

Dave had a look on his face like someone who knows that he is about to be thrown to the wolves and has no hope of rescue. That doesn't mean he didn't try. His face went blank for a few moments as he had a last-minute conversation with his sister. She didn't seem to be interested in anything he had to say, however.

"What sort of document did Dave have to sign for the French Minister?" Sandra asked her daughter with a smile playing about her lips.

"It wasn't a document mum, more like a photo." Fireball replied with a grin that would have done the devil himself proud had he seen it.

"Did you manage to secure a copy of this photo?" Shelly asked (just before Sandra could).

"I certainly did." She replied as she pulled out her wallet and extracted from it a largish photo. I did notice that as she did so, Gabrielle placed herself into Dave's lap and put her arms around him. Efficiently pinning his arms in place so that he couldn't easily attempt to summon the photo to him.

Dave looked at her with an expression of surprise and shock. She only gave him an impish grin in reply.

Once Sandra saw the photo her eyes went as wide as sources for a few moments before she began to laugh. "You HAVE to keep a copy of that for Grandma and Great Grandma." Sandra exclaimed, "They will NEVER forgive you if they don't get to see this." She chuckled, as she handed the photo to Ivan.

"That has already been taken care of mum." Fireball replied, "When I was at the embassy this morning I sent off a priority package to them with this photo in it. Along with one to all of Dave's sisters." She added as Dave looked to be dying of embarrassment.

Ivan's reaction was one of amusement when he saw it. His response was priceless. "I have to say, Dave, that for someone with the financial resources that you have, you do seem to have a wardrobe full of the most questionable articles of clothing around." He chuckled as the rest of his family and team, and my family I will admit broke down into laughter. Dave's expression didn't help matters of course.

"I do think we are going to have to send Dave on a supervised shopping trip when we get him back home." Ivan remarked to Sandra, "His wardrobe looks to be in need of a complete overhaul and replacement."

"Why else would he wear undies as threadbare as these?" Ivan said with a grin, "Or ones with suggestive messages flashing on them." He added just as Dave turned white. This lasted for only a few moments before Dave turned to fix his sister with an expression that seemed to declare 'this means war.' Fireball looked to be ready to accept that declaration from Dave though (more on that later).

"I'm curious though Dave as to why you had to sign a copy of this particular photo?" Ivan asked him. Once more Dave looked to be VERY embarrassed at this. Fireball, on the other hand, was having no such issues.

"Apparently the niece of the French Minister requested him to see if he could secure a signed copy of it for her." Fireball replied. This started a new round of laughter while Gabrielle looked to Dave with a question written plain on her face.

"She was one of the 'helpful' French Metro Magical Police who came to my 'assistance' back in March." Dave explained to her, "We met her in Paris on Saturday during our shopping trip." He added.

"I see," Gabrielle replied with a VERY amused expression at the discomfort that Dave was showing. "So zat only leaves ze question of why you autographié ze photo?"

"I can answer that one." Fireball stated eagerly with obvious delight, "The French Minister hinted that it would encourage 'co-operation' between the two services and act as a gesture of goodwill as well." She stated.

"Dave decided to fall on his sword for the good of the team and signed the photo to secure the Minister's signature on the required warrant requests." She explained.

"They might have to teach that at the academy as an example of going above and beyond in the name of duty." Sandra chuckled while grinning broadly.

Dave looked like he was seriously considering changing his name, appearance and moving to another country. Gabrielle, however, shocked him out of such thoughts.

"May I see it?" Gabrielle asked Ivan with a beautiful look of mischief on her face.

Sandra suddenly beamed at her husband, "Oh I think it is almost a requirement that Gabrielle gets to view that photo." She strongly suggested to him.

"Agreed," Ivan replied as he handed the photo over to Gabrielle. As he did so, all the girls got up to have a look as well. I do have to admit that I found myself at this point looking over Gabrielle's shoulder at the photo in question. My only defence was that I was in the company of Apolline, Fleur, Shelly, Cassy, Abby, Izzy, Hermione, Ginny and Audrey. Given the group of impressionable young women present, I thought that it was my duty to assess (no pun intended) the suitability of the material in question.

All of us girls had amused expressions on our faces at the photo in question. The photographer from the French Metro Magical Police had evidently gone to great pains to capture all of the detail of the 'subject'. Along with making sure that he moved just enough to display the full message of the undies in question as well as the 'sculptured' nature of what lay underneath.

Gabrielle seemed to be delighted with what she was seeing. I did notice a few of the other girls (not Dave's sisters and cousin though) give the photo approving looks as well.

"May I keep zis?" Gabrielle asked Ivan and Sandra hopefully.

"Feel free." Fireball replied, "I have LOTS more copies where that one came from." She explained happily.

"Merci," Gabrielle replied with a twinkle in her eyes as she gave Dave a quick kiss.

"Now that we have established that all required 'documents' were signed." Ivan said with a straight face, "What happened at the ICW?" He asked.

"The documents were submitted and checked. All were found to be in order, and they were accepted." He advised Ivan.

"Excellent news," Ivan replied with a satisfied smile. "Did they tell you if the warrants would be ready as promised?" He asked.

"I was told to expect them to be ready for collection tomorrow night." Dave stated confidently, "The German Minister had apparently pushed all the other paperwork through as far as he could in expectation of the remaining documents being delivered today."

"That is excellent news indeed," Ivan said as he proudly regarded his son. "Sounds like a full day's work has been done by all."

"How about we call it a day and have some 'down time'?" He suggested. Everyone who was present quickly agreed to this suggestion.

"Movie night?" Gabrielle requested of Dave.

"If there is interest in one." He replied looking around and seeing a sea of eager faces, "I guess that answers that question." He chuckled.

"As it was your suggestion Gabrielle, what would you like to watch?" He asked her.

"I zink zat et is called 'Star Wars'?" She asked Dave as his face lit up with a brilliant smile. He picked her up and delivered a very enthusiastic set of kisses to her. She seemed to be very appreciative of them.

"It's like she doesn't even have to try to wrap him around her little finger." Fireball remarked to her mother, sounding a little disappointed. Fleur, Apolline, myself, Ginny and Sandra all had a good laugh at this.

"He doesn't seem to be resisting very much either," Sandra observed.

As we all made to move off to Dave's tent to watch the movie, Dave was observed pulling out a muggle style pen and signing something for Gabrielle. Whatever it was she looked to be delighted with it and kissed and hugged him enthusiastically in reply. She then quickly made off to her tent while Dave continued to his.

I shared a 'look' with Sandra, Apolline and Fleur. All of us quickly made a beeline to Gabrielle's tent to find out what Dave had just signed for her.

When we entered her room, we found her in the process of hiding something in the draw of the bedside table. Apolline cleared her throat, and poor Gabrielle almost jumped out of her skin as she saw the now enlarged group of us standing in her room. As Shelly, Fireball, Cassy, Ginny, Hermione and Audrey had joined us by now.

"Can you share wiz us just what it was zat Monsieur Dave signed for you?" Apolline asked her daughter with a knowing smile.

Gabrielle was by now blushing to the roots of her hair. But she retrieved the photo and handed it over to her mum with a naughty little smile.

We all eagerly looked at the photo that Apolline held in her hands. It was the 'evidence' photo as we suspected and Dave had indeed signed it for her. But he had also added a personal message to it.

He had written; 'My dearest Gabrielle. It isn't much. But it's ALL yours.' The photo was signed 'Dave' with some hugs and kisses along with two entwined hearts below his name.

Apolline was smiling brilliantly, as she read what had been written on the photo. Sandra had a smile almost as brilliant as well. The rest of us just had naughty little smiles on our face as we read over the message and took in the look on Gabrielle's face. The photo was returned to Gabrielle, and she secured it away as though it was a priceless treasure (which in a way it was, and still is to her).

We all then joined the boys in Dave's tent for the movie. Gabrielle further cemented her place in Dave's heart when she displayed her obvious enjoyment with one of his favourite movies. She also asked if there were any more movies like this one. Dave seemed very pleased with this request. He advised her that there were several more movies in the Star Wars trilogy. He also informed her that he was eagerly awaiting the release of the new trilogy.

Shelly smugly turned to Fireball and her mother, "Care to revise our bet?" She asked them with a predatory grin on her face. The two of them did seem to be slightly concerned for a few moments before Fireball replied.

"Nah." She stated confidently.

Apolline delivered a smile to Fireball, "Never underestimate a French woman in matters of the heart." She stated smugly.

"Or a Frenchman for that matter," Fleur remarked cheekily to Shelly who only smiled by way of reply.

After this, we all broke up and headed for our beds as tomorrow looked to be a busy day as well. Dave was escorting Gabrielle to her tent when Apolline and Julian caught up with them.

"No phone calls between ze two of you night." She advised them, "It has been a long day, and Dave needs to get some rest to recover from his earlier injuries." She said with genuine warmth and affection in her voice. Dave looked to have caught the message loud and clear as he nodded in agreement. Gabrielle also seemed to agree with her mother as she was reminded just what had happened earlier today.

With that Apolline and Julian disappeared into the tent while Dave and Gabrielle shared one last kiss before bed. While they were kissing Apolline stuck her head out of the tent and smiled at the scene in front of her. Then with a look born out of pure mischief, she remarked, "I just have to say, Dave, zat you do have a beautiful signature."

She then grinned at the now blushing Dave and the almost equally blushing Gabrielle. Fleur and Bill arrived on the scene; they just had to laugh at the scene that they were presented with before they entered the tent. I could also hear Apolline laughing, as she made her way to her room.

Dave and Gabrielle both still blushing shared another final kiss before heading off to their separate beds.

I quickly headed off to the burrow looking for my bed, as I was sure that tomorrow would be just as busy as today was.


	50. Hermione's Introduction

Of all of the adventures in my life, I think this one would have to be one of the strangest. But family can be 'stranger than fiction' as the saying goes. The more we delve into what we perceive as our family, the more secrets we uncover. Grandparents and distant relatives who were seen to be stoically respectable and pillars of the community turn out to be rebels and troublemakers when a closer lens is applied to them, their activities and beliefs.

That is one of the main things that I learnt during this adventure involving a certain Australian Auror and his family. As a family, they had assumed that they had been cut off and cast out from the wizarding world in the UK, (like a lot of other families in Australia and New Zealand we were all to find out). But in truth, their family had more connections than they knew (or dreamt) about.

Indeed, after this adventure, I realised that my own family had more connections to the wizarding world than I would have ever had dared guess (more on that later). The most surprising ones were the more recent connections that Molly alluded to in the previous chapter. This link seemed to be (to me at least) kind of appropriate. As my Grandparents and Great Aunty had been designated as guardians of a member of Dave's family, yet it was Dave's family who became the guardians of my family during their time of need.

As we learnt more about my parent's adventures in Australia and around the South Pacific I came to realise that my parents were more complicated people than I had initially given them credit for. They were also far more accepting of the wizarding world than I dared hope them to be. They also had a taste for adventure that went a long way towards explaining my eagerness to flirt with danger. That discovery surprised me more than I was willing to admit for quite a while, but I did have to accept it as truth in the end.

If I'm honest with myself, I'll have to say that Harry and Ron didn't have to try very hard to get me to participate in their crazy adventures during our school years. Or indeed the ones that occurred after our school years ended.

Likewise, my initial sense of frustration and irritation with a certain 'oversized Auror' came not only from his vastly different approach to life than my own. It was also because that we shared certain particular traits and those traits were the cause of this initial irritation with each other. It wasn't until this similarity was pointed out to me (by a VERY brave Ron) that I began to take notice of it and come to accept it (albeit reluctantly).

I found myself enjoying the company of the female relatives of this particular Auror a great deal, but for his own company...

That took longer as I had to let go of my sense of frustration regarding him. Then take a look at him with 'honest eyes'. When I did this, I came to understand Ginny's view of him as more of a teacher than as an Auror.

If laws in the wizarding world had been different at that time, I'm sure that this particular person would have made for a brilliant teacher.

Having participated in classes/lessons lead by Dave, both formal and informal, I can attest to his honest desire to see those that he is teaching genuinely understand the concepts of WHAT he is teaching. His style of mixing humour into his classes struck me as odd until I found myself in an exam trying not to laugh at a memory of something that happened in class. This particular memory enabled me to piece together the facts required for my exam question. It was then that I could honestly say that I began to understand my future husband's cousin more clearly.

Somethings that we learnt from him (as well as from his family and friends) didn't make sense at the time. Others, we saw no point in (initially), but they did all fit together into a much 'larger whole' and that only became clearer as time went on.

Other things that we learnt through our association with Dave were a lot more fun. I have to admit that I'm more than a little grateful to him for teaching Ron to surf. As the sight of him in his 'beach gear' always gives me some butterflies in the pit of my stomach, as well as bringing a smile to my face.

I know Ginny LOVES to see Harry in his beach gear as well. Fleur certainly doesn't complain about Bill's 'surfing outfit' either, so much so that I'm starting to wonder if Fleur had an ulterior motive for wanting to live so close to the beach in the first place. I'll also not mention Gabrielle's reaction here when she saw Dave's beach gear for the first time. Needless to say, that she also has developed an enthusiasm for surfing that isn't entirely honest.

Experiencing how the wizarding world outside of the UK views and uses magic was a real eye-opener for me. It was that experience that led to my belief that maintaining mutually beneficial links with the rest of the wizarding world should be viewed as 'essential'. Because as certain people have been telling me, 'you never know where a good idea will come from'.

Given that some of the other cultures around the world have a much longer 'history' with magic than we do in the UK, it is only natural that their ideas would be different to ours. Certainly, when we got to meet with Mick's family and experienced how they live with magic, it caused me to have an almost complete rethink about the way that I viewed magic myself.

Although, I'm sure that if we in the UK could trace our magical heritage back almost 40,000 years, we would very likely have different views regarding magic, than what we have now. The main difference that I experienced was this; I was taught that magic was something to be 'used' and 'controlled'. Mick and his family, however, regarded themselves as being 'part' of magic, and consider it as merely an extension of themselves.

This was a real revelation to me, even more so when I later found out that House Elf's, Bunyips, Griffins, Centaurs and many other magical creatures came to this realisation many hundreds of generations ago.

These different points of view that I encountered on this journey were not limited to magic (or other magical energies) either. I do hope that you enjoy my take on the events that I have been asked to document. As I know that I have enjoyed reading the stories that the others have contributed so far.

Hermione Weasley

P.S. I do think I should offer thanks to Dave here for introducing us to what he regarded as unremarkable 'everyday spells'. Namely the Summary and Index spell, the Scribing charm and his editing 'trick' that I saw him use. All of these have significantly assisted me over the years in getting through school work and then work in general. Despite my initial reactions when I first learnt about them, I have assuredly come to appreciate them and their usefulness.

Sometimes it is the things that are considered 'unremarkable' to some, that end up being the most remarkable of all to others.

I have also learnt not to be so quick to dismiss other magical professions. Especially regarding their knowledge of magic. Because more than a few 'remarkable' spells have been uncovered, through informal chats with people from supposedly 'mundane' professions and how they use magical energies.


	51. Morning Shower Thoughts (Hermione's POV)

**19th May 1998 (Tuesday) – Early Morning**

I awoke on this particular morning with thoughts from yesterday's discoveries still raging in my mind. The revelation of my family's link to Dave's was a real surprise. But it was the tantalising possibility of a connection between Harry's and Dave's families that was the cause of almost all of these thoughts.

Not even Ginny getting herself ready to go running with the others was enough to disturb my concentration. Although I do have to admit that when Ron came into the room to give me a good morning kiss and a cuddle my thoughts got seriously derailed for several moments.

I didn't complain though, as it was (and still is) an enjoyable experience. There are worse ways to be greeted in the morning I suppose. Despite the many jokes on the subject (both from my family and Ron's), I believe that there is some truth to the assumptions that Quidditch Keepers are indeed 'good with their hands'. Isn't that right Fireball? I'm sure that you would agree with me on this.

After Ron left to join the others my thoughts slowly (and a little reluctantly) returned to their earlier track.

Chief amongst these thoughts running through my head was; If all the written records were affected by the 'casting out' of Douglas, how could we prove one way or the other if there was a link between them or not. Indeed, if a link was found and confirmed what exactly would it mean to them both?

While I could see and understand the desire of Dave and his family to find out where they came from, just how would they react to (as well as feel about) the news that it was (potentially) their own family that had turned on them like that.

I could still visibly recall Harry's reaction to the news that it was his own family that had been the ones to bring the charges and punishment against Douglas. That reaction occurred when he thought the possibility of a link was only slight. How much worse would it have been if the connection was confirmed and it turned out to be relatively recent as well?

Being unable to resolve these thoughts I made my way to the shower to try and clear my head and get ready for the day ahead. As today was the day, we were all planning on going to visit Gringotts. Ivan, Bill and Arthur are going to see the Head Goblin about Douglas's key and about the account number that Mr Ollivander had shown to Dave. We all hoped that one or both of these items would lead to more information about Douglas than we had now.

Harry was going to Gringotts to visit his family's hereditary vault. Until yesterday Harry had been unaware that this vault existed, as he was of the belief that the vault he had been using ever since he found out he was a wizard was the only vault to which the Potter's had access. When Bill explained to him that traditionally a wizard only gained independent access to their family's hereditary vault when they came of age, he was shocked. But also, eager to explore it.

Vault 687 that Harry had been using turned out to be only the personal vault of his father. When his father married, both James and Lilly had made use of it. The main Potter Family Treasures were always kept in the hereditary vault, however.

It was this news that got Harry excited when he learned of it as he was hopeful that there would be more information on his family in that vault. He quickly asked Ginny if she would accompany him to see what was inside it. Naturally, she readily agreed. Unsurprisingly he also requested Ron and me, and we were both only too happy to help him with this investigation. The real surprise was when he asked Dave if he would be willing to help him out as well. From the expression on his face, I'm sure that this offer surprised him also. Dave had been planning on accompanying his father to speak to the Head Goblin. But after an assurance from Ivan that he would be fine with both Arthur and Bill, Dave agreed to accompany us all to Harry's vault.

It was later after I was made aware of the conversation between Sandra and Molly that I understood Harry's real motive. He was hoping to find evidence of a link between their families with Dave present so he could prove to him that he hadn't faked anything that might be discovered.

Arthur also had another reason to go Gringotts, as he needed to deposit the gold that had been 'discovered' during the creation of the Talismans. Molly was getting more and more nervous at the thought of all that gold laying around the property and wanted it stored somewhere safer. I think Arthur had only agreed to this as he wanted to get back his workshop space in his shed. Because the wheel burrows in the shed, which were currently filled with gold were getting in the way of his investigation of various muggle artefacts. I think that this perfectly describes Arthur's view on gold and it's 'power' over him. How can you not love that man (or his youngest son)?

All of these thoughts were still in my head as I finished my shower and made my way back to Ginny's room. While I was getting dressed yet, another question made its way into my mind. If indeed a link between Harry's and Dave's family was established, what could be done about it?

Would Harry be the key to reversing the casting out, and thus re-join the two families? Can the casting out be reversed? If it can how?

Who could I even ask about it? My only thoughts on this matter at that point in time were to ask Dave and his family about what they knew about the process of being cast out of a family.

As to who else I might be able to ask, I had no idea. Then I remembered a comment that Dave had made, about a particular History Professor who enjoyed obscure questions about magic. Thinking about this option made me smile.

How could I get to speak to this History Professor without Dave (or his family) knowing? I thought on this for a few moments before the answer became obvious. Kat. She would be, I'm sure delighted to assist me with these questions. Who knows, they might even end up helping her win her bet with Ivan and Harry both.

Once I was finished getting dressed I quickly wrote a note to Kat detailing all that we had recently learnt, along with my questions and a desire to ask her brother about them. I then went up the stairs to Ron's room and located Pigwidgeon. He was delighted to have a letter to deliver, once I told him where I wanted him to carry it he was off and out the window.

Smiling to myself, and happy with my actions, I began to make my way back down to the kitchen where I could already detect the smell of breakfast.

While walking down the stairs, my mind again began to race and raise several new questions. This time the questions were if being cast out by his family caused Douglas the amount of pain that was previously mentioned would reversing it also cause pain? If so, to whom? Would those who had been cast out be on the receiving end? Or the descendants of those who initially did the casting out receive any pain/discomfort as a sort of punishment? Is the casting out spell still active? Would it fight being broken or undone, much like some curses do?

Similar questions were also rising in my mind around the process of someone being 'broken'. Is it possible to undo it? I know that Professor Dumbledore said that a wizard who tore his soul to make a Horcrux could re-join the two parts by feeling genuine remorse. He also mentioned that it would be an excruciating process as well.

Would that translate to someone who had their soul partially removed against their will?

How would the descendants of that person also be affected if the breaking were to be reversed?

Given that Douglas now no longer had a body of his own, how would he experience the re-joining of his soul? Would he feel the pain of it? Or would Dave feel it as he was hosting his Grandfather's soul? This question caused me a great deal of worry. Because at the time, didn't have any access to information about how someone who is 'hosting' another's soul would be affected if the breaking were undone. There is also the fact that two of the souls in question that are affected by the breaking are currently residing in the one body, would that compound the issue? That would have to be a question for Kat's brother to help me sort out.

I was almost in the lounge when another question occurred to me. Why would this mysterious 'Council' be so interested in wands that Douglas had made during his time as an apprentice with Mr Ollivander's father?

Dave had reported on Mr Ollivanders belief that the wands in question were not intended for witches and wizards. He also mentioned that Mr Ollivander couldn't perform magic with them, and he can use almost ANY wand he comes across. Even Dave and his father were not able to produce any confirmed magic with them.

Could they be intended for non-humans? It is known that Goblins and House Elves can use a wizard's wand. So they wouldn't need anything considered to be 'special' if that is the case. I can't see Douglas making wands for Giants or Trolls. Although Hagrid has mentioned a few stories of giants using wands to perform magic. I doubt that trolls would even be able to pronounce the words for even the simplest spells.

Centaurs could be another option. They certainly have their own brand of magic which they proudly state is very different from the magics employed by human wizards. So that option doesn't seem likely to me.

A thought then occurred to me that caused my eyes to go wide, and I almost fell over while thinking about it.

Could those wands have been intended for Muggles to use? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me. If there were wands that Muggles could use, that would undoubtedly bring about significant change in the wizarding world. They might even forever remove the distinction between the wizarding world and the muggle world.

If that was indeed the reason, then I can see why the council would have been hoping to execute Douglas. As a creation like that wouldn't just break the international statue of secrecy, it would destroy it utterly.

This was the thought uppermost in my mind as I stepped into the kitchen to be warmly greeted by Molly, Arthur, Charlie, Bill and Fleur.


	52. Press Attention

**20th May 1998 (Tuesday) Early Morning - Breakfast table**

I had just sat down at the breakfast table in the kitchen and was making a start on my breakfast when there was a loud knocking coming from the scullery door.

"Molly? Arthur? Are you there?" We could hear a familiar voice calling out, "It's Sandra and Ivan here. We need to speak with you all urgently." She requested breathlessly.

With a look of puzzlement and interest, Arthur quickly crossed to the scullery door and opened it.

"Come in, come in." He said as he stepped back to allow them entry into the kitchen. He warmly embraced Sandra and shook hands with Ivan as he came in the door. A brief but warm set of greetings followed.

"What is the matter?" Molly asked Sandra as she registered the look of anger and frustration that was written plain on Sandra's face.

"Have any of you seen this morning's papers?" Sandra enquired with a worried expression.

"No, ours hasn't been delivered as yet." Molly replied, "Why what has happened." She asked.

"Many different things," Ivan also replied with a grim note in his voice.

"Let me guess. The Daily Prophet didn't print what Kingsley asked them to?" I enquired.

"If only it were that simple," Ivan replied as Sandra nodded in agreement.

"What did they print?" Molly asked the as her worry began to show.

"The politest way that I can describe it is a deliberate attack on Harry and an attempted smear campaign against Dave and his team, along with Kingsley also," Ivan said as he dropped four different editions of the Daily Prophet on the kitchen table.

"Why are there four different editions of the Daily Prophet?" Molly asked as she reached over and picked them up. As she unfolded them to look at the front pages, she went white. I could also see her start to become visibly angry. Arthur, Bill, Charlie and Fleur also became visibly enraged after reading the articles that Molly had just read.

"Just when you think that they can't sink any lower." Molly snapped, "They go and do something like this." She exclaimed as she threw the papers onto the table.

"I can see why they printed four different versions now." Arthur replied, "Lies that big can't be contained in a single edition of that rag." He stated as he went to embrace Molly.

I reached out to grab the copy of the Daily Prophet that Arthur had put on the table. As I turned it over, I was greeted by the following headline.

 **So-called 'Boy who lived' lies about the loss of his family.**

 _'During the extraordinary events at the Ministry of Magic on Monday, it was revealed once and for all that the famous Harry Potter, the so-called 'boy who lived' had been misleading the entire wizarding world about the loss of his family. The photo below clearly shows that Harry Potter has a brother who is very much alive and well._

 _This naturally leads us to ask if Harry Potter has any other family members that he has been keeping hidden from the wizarding world._

 _What about his parents? Are James and Lilly Potter really dead?_

 _If they are why did they abandon their son, forcing him to be raised on the far side of the world?_

 _If they're not, then who is buried in their graves in Godric's Hollow?_

 _Are they secretly managing Harry's life from the shadows?_

 _Trying to use him to plump up the Potter family coffers?_

 _What really happened that Halloween in 1981?_

 _Why have Harry's parents decided to bring his older brother back into the public's eye?_

 _Are they concerned that Harry may be losing his appeal in the wizarding world?_

 _For more on the life of lies of the infamous Harry Potter turn to Page 3…'_

Unfolding the paper, I could see that below that section of the article there was a photo that showed, Harry, Dave, Molly, Ginny and Fireball gathered around the body of the wizard that Ginny had knocked out. The photo looked to have been taken shortly before Dave was hit by the two killing curses.

The caption on the photo read:

 _'Harry Potter and his mysterious brother restrain an unknown wizard at the Ministry of Magic on Monday'_

Looking at the photo, I was forced to admit, that if I didn't have access to the information that I now did, I would have been extremely tempted to make the same conclusion as the paper. Both Harry and Dave had almost identical expressions on their faces. Because of the way that they were crouched down over the body of the wizard, the differences in their builds and heights were mostly masked as well.

As the photo was in black and white, their eyes also looked to be remarkably similar also. Most telling of all was their hair and their faces. Even more than usual, in this photo, the similarities were on full display for all to see.

Just as Julian and Apolline joined us in the kitchen, I reached over and with a small amount of trepidation turned over the paper that Molly had been reading. This one had a large photo on the front page, showing Molly and Sandra greeting each other, both a close-up picture as well as one taken from further away. It also had a suggestive headline:

 **Molly Weasley's Hidden Secret** **.**

 _'Now that Molly Weasley has managed to secure the future of her family through her dubious association with Harry Potter, she has decided to bring previously hidden members of her destitute family out of the woodwork. Is this all part of Molly's grand plan to milk Harry's fame for the financial benefit of her family._

 _The question needs to be asked if Molly and the rest of the Weasley family are the most suitable family to guide and nurture the famous Harry Potter, the 'boy who lived'._

 _Or is this sister of hers to fill another role?_

 _It has been widely reported that young Ginevra Weasley viciously attacked Harry Potter after the Battle of Hogwarts. Why did she do that if she was supposedly in love with him?_

 _Had she tired of playing her role as Harry's love interest while trying to entrap him into marriage?_

 _Or was she as was reported by Miss Pansy Parkinson genuinely upset that Harry survived the final battle (reports are that she had hoped he would die in battle)?_

 _Harry Potter reportedly had to spend several days in the hospital wing of Hogwarts after the attack by young Miss Weasley. By all reports, he still needs to visit the hospital regularly to deal with the wounds that he suffered. Be sure to check out our follow up story on the 'Price of Freedom'._

 _Is Molly's sister to be given the role of getting Ginevra 'back with the program'?_

 _Or is she to take a more direct hand in managing the Harry problem?_

 _To learn more about the Machiavellian schemes of the Weasley's turn to page 3.'_

The next paper had a photo plastered on its front page showing a close up of Ivan greeting Kingsley. This picture also had a suggestive headline:

 **Assistance? INVASION? or Coup d'état?**

 _Recent press releases from the Ministry of Magic have brought to light the fact that our nation had been subject to an armed invasion by foreign Aurors during the recent war._

 _What was the motive of these Aurors?_

 _Why didn't they render assistance to the wizarding public during the war?_

 _Were they too fearful to get involved or did they have an ulterior motive?_

 _Our current Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt (previously an Auror of mediocre abilities) seems to be very friendly with these foreign agents. Did he have a hand in bringing them here to help him rise above his station and become Minister? Or is their actual role yet to be revealed to us all._

 _Turn to Page 5 to read more about Kingsley Shacklebolt's plans to install himself as the first dictator of the wizarding world._

The next headline on the front page was no better. It was screaming for the heads of all employees in the Ministry because they had failed the wizarding world in keeping the menace of Tom Riddle Jnr in check. They also couldn't keep members of the press safe, within the Ministry of Magic itself (it was the second point seemed to be the greater crime in the eyes of the reporter).

The last newspaper had a photo on its front page of Dave being hit by the first killing curse and then thrown back into the arms of Harry and Bill. The caption on the photo was incredibly insulting as it read:

 _'Harry Potter and Bill Weasley cower in fear behind Harry's brother as he is struck by a killing curse.'_

Fleur was particularly angry when she read this, and her eyes flashed with a dangerous fire that I had never seen before. Bill was quick to move to try and calm her down, but I got a distinct feeling that he was only delaying the explosion not neutralising it.

The headline on this edition of the Daily Prophet read:

 **Potter brothers discover secret to avoiding death** **.**

 _The events in the Ministry on Monday brought to light the possibility that Harry's remarkable escape from Tom Riddle Jnr at the age of 18 months might not have been so remarkable after all. Indeed, it would seem that both Harry and his mysterious brother have somehow acquired some form of natural immunity to the killing curse. The photo on the left of this article shows Harry's mysterious brother as he's struck by the first of two killing curses that hit him during the battle in the Ministry._

 _A short time later Harry's brother was seen to be leaving the Ministry under his power and showing no ill effects from being struck by not one, but two killing curses. See page 3 for more photos. From this, we can only conclude that the Potter brothers are either immune to the killing curse or that they have somehow learnt how to bring people back from the dead. In either case, it is in the interests of the entire wizarding world that they immediately disclose how they managed to carry out both of these feats of magic. If only to return to us all the many loved ones who were lost in the recent war…_

I looked up from what I had been reading, only to realise that I had been reading all the headline stories out loud. The shock and outrage that showed on the faces of everyone in the Burrow's kitchen provided mute testimony to what their thoughts were about the article that I had just read out.

"'ow can zey be so cruel to 'arry." Apolline remarked while looking at Molly with a look of dismay on her face, "Kingsley and Dave as well 'ave done nozing to deserve such treatment by ze press." She added as she looked at Sandra.

"Newspapers have always been more interested in printing editions rather than the truth." Ivan replied with a note of disgust in his voice, "However, as bad as the stories on the front pages are they only get worse when you get to the dragon dung that is inside the paper itself." He advised us all.

"Worse?" Molly asked, "How can they get worse than those horrid headlines." She asked a little fearful.

"There are stories inside the paper that are supposedly from Harry's many love interests during his time on the run." Ivan exclaimed, "They are making demands that Harry own up and acknowledge their relationships or in some cases their engagements." Ivan explained as Molly turned white with rage.

My blood was boiling at this news also, but I could only think of the hurt that Harry and Ginny would be feeling at seeing such hurtful lies published in the paper.

"They didn't?" Molly asked.

"They did indeed." Ivan replied, "Each one of these editions carries such a story. They didn't even take the time to check their stories with each other." He added.

"As they place Harry in different corners of the country on not only the same date but also the same times of the day as well." Ivan explained, "It's like they didn't even care about the lies that they printed. Only that they had enough to fill the required space in the newspaper." He added with a frustrated note.

"They are also using those stories as one of many possible reasons as to why Ginny apparently attacked Harry at Hogwarts after the battle there," Ivan explained.

"What?" I exclaimed, "That is just absolute crap." I snapped before I could catch myself. I didn't even register the surprised look on Molly's face at my outburst.

"She was distraught at seeing his supposedly dead body and then finding out that he was alive, and then learning that he had walked passed her on the way to the forest without even saying goodbye." I blurted out.

"Hermione," Molly said a little firmly as she tried to get me to calm down, "We know that dear and more importantly Harry knows that." She explained.

"But not everyone there had Harry's best interests in mind did they?" She reminded me, "Ms Parkinson is always looking for a way to get her name in the paper. I wouldn't put it past her to be the sole source of this trash." She stated as she angrily swatted the papers on the table. Arthur came up and put his arms around her to try and calm her down.

"What did zey say about Dave?" Fleur asked as I prepared to look at the rest of the paper.

"They are claiming that he is Harry's older brother who has been hiding in Australia to enable Harry to gain fame and fortune," Sandra replied with disgust clear in her voice. "There is also an interview in there supposedly from his fiancée Justine who goes on to make all sorts of lewd claims about him." She further explained with tears starting to show in her eyes.

"His fiancée?" Molly asked, "Where do they get this rubbish from." She asked.

"Who knows," Sandra exclaimed, "Unfortunately, if this Justine is who we think it is, she is in a position to cause Dave a great deal of pain," Sandra explained sadly.

"How?" Most of us asked at the same time.

"Her sister Renee used to date Jimmy until she betrayed his trust in her. All in an attempt at trying to make a 'name' for herself. As what exactly I never figured out" Sandra explained, "Given that they had been dating through the final two years of school she had learnt quite a bit about our family."

"Renee told the Australian papers all she knew about Jimmy's remarkable abilities as well as some aspects of our family's past," Sandra reported. "We can safely assume that she told her sister Justine what she had learnt as well."

"Both of those cows regard my boys as their personal property. They seem to believe that they can do anything they want to, regarding them." She spat in anger, "I know what they both did to Jimmy when he tried to move on with his life and began to see other women."

"I do not intend to see a repeat of that happen to Dave," Sandra stated with conviction and some real heat in her voice.

"Didn't Dave's relationship wiz Emma register on zem at all?" Fleur asked her.

Sandra laughed, "They both seemed to regard Dave's engagement and later marriage to Emma as his way of playing 'hard to get'."

"They both turned up uninvited to Jimmy's funeral, Renee tried to play the grieving fiancée for the press. But just about every Auror there all turned on her and chased her off." She reported.

"Justine, however, had somehow managed to locate Dave and was seen to be trying to 'comfort' him. Solely for the purpose of the photographers that she always seems to have following her around. But even in the state that he was in, he didn't want anything to do with her. All that was on his mind was getting back to Emma."

"Emma's brothers and Dave's cousins went to help him get away from her. They reported back to us that Justine had apparently asked him 'So are you single yet? Or is that hag still alive?'"

"She said what?" I had to ask, as I couldn't believe that someone would ask something like that. The looks on the faces of Julian, Apolline and Fleur showed that they would tolerate none of that sort of attitude from anyone toward their Gabrielle. Or 'their' Dave for that matter.

"Yes, she has no sense of common decency at all," Sandra reported. "She even tried to show up at Emma's funeral…"

"Ze nerve," Fleur remarked in shock.

"That's close to what I was thinking myself at the time." Sandra chuckled, an evil light in her eyes. "Although I think I used fewer words." She said with a smile to Fleur who smiled in return.

"Apparently she had come to tell Dave that she was willing to 'take him back' now that his charade with that 'other woman' was over," Sandra stated with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"What 'appened to 'er?" Fleur asked.

"Emma's Grandmothers caught her trying to sneak in." Sandra chuckled, "I'm not sure what exactly it was that they did to her, but she hasn't been seen in public since." She said with a laugh.

"For someone who spent just about every moment trying to get herself noticed by the press, to disappear and go underground like that suddenly." Sandra said with a smile, "Emma's Grandmothers must have pulled off something extraordinary indeed." She said with an evil little laugh.

We all had to agree with Sandra's assessment of that particular situation.

"Did any of these editions of the Daily Prophet publish Kingsley's announcement at all?" I asked as I was looking through the papers.

"They did." Ivan replied, "But you have to get to page 12 to find it. Even then they broke it up and spread it over several pages of the paper."

"They also didn't publish the form that family members can use to structure and submit information on missing family members."

"Nor did they publish any of the details we gave them about the families we have managed to identify."

"Kingsley isn't going to be happy with that," Arthur reported.

"He isn't." Ivan agreed, "He rang me to apologise for the paper's actions and told me that he was heading straight there to get things sorted out for the afternoon edition." Ivan advised us.

"I told him he does not need to apologise as no one can truly control a 'free press'. But Kingsley seems to have taken it almost as a personal affront that the Daily Prophet would publish crap like this, rather than inform the wizarding world about missing members of the wizarding public." Ivan explained.

It was now that two owls arrived. One was carrying the Weasley's copy of the Daily Prophet (they got the version with the photo of Molly and Sandra on the cover). The other owl was from Luna. She had sent a copy of the Quibbler, along with a note saying that her father had published the requested information. Luna added that after seeing what she called the 'Daily Profit' had done she was happy that the wizarding public had at least now got visibility of the information.

"Oh, bless Luna and Xenophilius," Molly said smiling at the note. "Her father might be a little odd, but his heart is certainly in the right place." She added as she opened the paper.

The headline on the front page read:

 **Thank Merlin they're safe** **!**

Underneath this headline, Xenophilius had written a small editorial praising the efforts of the Australasian Auror Service Aurors as well as those who had worked with them. He also made mention that this information was to be distributed by all wizarding publications at the request of Kingsley and the Ministry. He added that the Quibbler was proud to assist in the dissemination of this sort of news from the Ministry.

Then below that was the announcement from Kingsley, published as requested.

"It's almost like he knew that the Daily Prophet wouldn't have complied with the request from the Ministry isn't it," Arthur said with an enthusiastic grin on his face. "I'm sure that the readership of the Quibbler will grow significantly after this." He chuckled.

"I hope it does." Ivan replied with a smile, "I'd certainly be happy to have this Xenophilius over for dinner at the embassy to say thank you." He offered.

"I'm sure he would be delighted." I told Ivan and Sandra, "Just be prepared for some of the most 'original' conversation that you have ever had." I added chuckling. Arthur, Molly, Bill, Charlie and George were all chuckling along with me.

"Sounds like it could be an educational and memorable event." He added with a grin.

While we were discussing this, another owl arrived. This time it was carrying a letter addressed to Molly. She collected the letter and thanked the owl. It took only one look at the writing on the envelope for her to tell who had sent it.

"It's a letter from Great Aunt Muriel." She told us with a little hesitation in her voice. The looks on the faces of Ivan and Sandra said all that needed to be said at this point. Even Arthur was looking a little grim.

Molly broke open the envelope and extracted the note inside. It looked to be only short, but whatever was written on it almost caused her to fly into a rage. If Arthur hadn't been on hand to calm her down, I'm not sure what would have happened.

"What does it say?" Sandra asked a little fearful.

Arthur picked up the note and read it aloud.

 _'My Dear Molly,_

 _I hope this finds you and your poor but dear little family in good health._

 _I'm writing to you about a troublesome article I happened to see in today's paper._

 _It was about a woman that you met at the Ministry on Monday._

 _I would like to take a moment to warn you about her._

 ** _Do not believe a word that comes out of that woman's mouth_** _._

 _She is a well-known con-artist and has plagued our family before._

 _I know that as a good daughter of the Prewitt family you will follow this advice._

 _Especially if you wish to remain in my current will._

 _Love Muriel._

"She is still a tiresome old windbag, isn't she?" Ivan remarked to his wife, with a crooked half smile.

"That's a polite way of putting it," Molly replied with an angry note in her voice.

"Do not let her get to you." Arthur advised Molly, "If you let her get back under your skin the old bat will stay there forever."

"Good advice Arthur." Ivan agreed as he also checked on Sandra to see that she was getting herself under control. She looked to be struggling with it, but her control was gradually getting the upper hand. "We have more important matters at hand right now than notes from that old bat," Ivan advised his wife.

"We need to let Harry and Dave along with the rest of them know what has been printed in the papers this morning." He reminded us all, "When do you expect them to be back from their morning run?" He asked us.

"The first group should be along very soon actually," Molly replied as we all looked out the window and could see some people moving along the late.

"First group?" Ivan asked. We then let him know that since Ron, Harry, Ginny and Gabrielle had joined in on the morning run, they often split into three groups during it.

"I see." He replied, "Ok then I will go and grab the first group and ask them to collect the stragglers and bring them back here straight away." With that, he exited the Burrow and made for the gate to the lane.

We saw him greet Shelly and the first group as they arrived at the gate. Soon after this they all Apparated away and were soon back with the two groups of stragglers. Ivan then brought everyone over to the tables that had been set up in the yard.

Here he explained to them all what had appeared in the morning's newspapers. After he had described the situation, he showed them the different editions of the paper.

Dave's reaction to the interview with his 'fiancée' looked to be one of an icy rage. Watching him while he read the article you could not only see him getting angry but feel it also. It wasn't anger that caused him to jump up and start to scream and yell; it was the sort of rage that seemed to lead to detailed plans to turn the tables on both the reporter and their source. Sandra was watching Dave with a look of concern on her face as she wasn't entirely sure how he would respond.

Looking around I could see both of Dave's sisters and Cassy reading over his shoulder. They were visibly becoming furious as well about what they were reading.

"It was Justine that they interviewed, wasn't it?" Sandra asked Dave when he finished reading the article. His only reply was to nod his head slightly. Gabrielle looked to be full of curiosity as to who this Justine was. But she caught Fleur's look and a slight shake of her head and decided not to pursue that line of questioning just now.

"Are you sure?" Sandra asked. Again, Dave only nodded in reply.

"It's her mum." Shelly said with a steely look in her eyes, "Only someone who was there would know about that particular scar she mentioned."

"You mean it's real?" Sandra asked in shock.

"It's real mum," Shelly explained. "She's the one who gave it to him."

"She WHAT!" Sandra almost exploded. Ivan also looked about ready to explode as well. "When did this happen?" She demanded. Several others from Dave's team looked to be very interested in Dave's answer to this question also.

"It would have been late on the Saturday of the Easter long weekend," Dave answered after a moment's thought.

"I see" Sandra replied with her eyes blazing, "I wondered why you looked so uncomfortable while helping out with the Easter egg hunt and other games." She remarked.

"Yes, I was still a little tender from it," Dave replied.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She almost pleaded with him.

"Several reasons." Dave replied, "Most importantly I didn't want to spoil Easter for the 'munchkins'..." He began to explain.

"No, I mean officially," Sandra demanded of her son. Dave just looked at her for a few moments before he answered.

"She was trying to get a reaction of some sort, from me," Dave answered in a voice that while it was quiet, it was also clearly heard by all of us. His voice also very clearly conveyed his thoughts about the person under discussion. I can remember thinking at that time that I hoped that I never got to experience Dave talking about me in a voice like that, as it terrified me.

"When I didn't give her what she wanted. She drew that knife she always has with her and cut me." He explained. "She was obviously hoping that I would fall to the ground so that she could 'comfort' me and give her hidden photographer something interesting to capture on film."

"Either I was extremely fortunate, or she is utterly useless with a blade. As she missed all the tendons and major blood vessels in that area." Dave told us "Because of that I was able to stop the bleeding and just walk away while ignoring her. As I wasn't going to give her a reaction of any sort."

Sandra looked to have gone almost white with rage at hearing this.

"Was her hidden photographer the reason you wouldn't let us 'deal' with her?" Shelly asked Dave.

"Partly." He replied, "She also isn't worth the time it would take to fill out the paperwork for an incident of that sort." He explained to her (and the rest of us).

"You mean to say that you let her get away with stabbing you?" Ivan asked incredulously. The rest of us were in a similar state of disbelief.

"Yes, I guess I did." Dave replied with a thoughtful look, "You need to remember dad that she is doing everything that she can to cause of spectacle of some sort. She is almost desperate in her attempts to do so."

"If I had put in a report on that event, she would have been charged. That would mean that she would have been arrested. That would then give her the opportunity to contest the charges in court."

"A public stage like a courtroom would be the perfect platform for the media circus that she so desperately wants to cause," Dave explained.

"You sound like you have thought it all through." Fireball remarked with an evil glint in her eye, "I was worried that you had let her get away with it out of your 'love' for her." She said with an evil chuckle as she teased her 'little' brother in a way that only 'loving' sisters can.

"I think that I would prefer to kiss a Dementor before I allowed myself to entertain ANY possibility of any feelings for her," Dave replied in a cold voice.

"Sounds like an acceptable plan of action." Ginny chuckled at Dave. "Considering the alternative." She added. This caused some nervous laughter at the table until Dave slowly started to show traces of a smile at the corners of his mouth. Gabrielle flashed Ginny a very grateful smile as she maneuvered her way into Dave's lap and enfolded him in a hug, which he gratefully returned.

After a few moments, Gabrielle released Dave and delivered a few kisses to him as well. Dave then looked across to Harry whose mood seemed to be just as dark as Dave's was a few moments ago.

Harry's face visibly showed the hurt that he felt, from the articles that insinuated that he was 'running around' with numerous women when he had in fact been working very hard to both stay alive and solve the puzzle that Professor Dumbledore had left him. His face also showed some anger that people would believe these stories. When he looked to Ginny his concerns for her feelings were plain to see.

Ginny wasn't showing any hurt for her feelings, as she knew her Harry. She was, however, trying to hide her anger at what had been written about Harry. When she registered Harry's hurt as he looked at her, she quickly pushed her anger to one side as she offered her love and support to him.

The effect on Harry was immediate and clear to see. Ginny evidently had a powerful hold on Harry, and she wasn't about to let go anytime soon. As she took him into her arms and gave him some hugs of her own. I could see her resolve surface, and it showed that she wasn't interested in allowing those who wrote these stories to escape her unique brand of direct justice.

Dave had been watching this scene approvingly with a small smile on his face. As Ginny was releasing Harry from her hug, Dave caught his attention.

"Harry, you should know by now that the press never lets the facts get in the way of a good story," Dave remarked with a slightly forced chuckle.

"I think it's more likely that he has been frightened by the thought that people will now think you're his brother." Fireball remarked with a sly smile at Ron and Ginny, "Speaking from experience, I can relate as to how upset that can make you feel." She added while grinning at Harry.

Fireball's statement looked to have done the trick as Harry had a startled look on his face for a few moments before he had to smile at the impish look on Fireball's face. I could see the grateful look that both Ginny and Ron returned to her. Then Ron had a look of mischief on his face as well.

"That makes sense I suppose." He said with a smile, "Finding out he is your cousin is scary enough. I can't imagine how much worse it would be to have him as your brother." He said before laughing at the thought.

This pushed Harry over the edge, as he too began to laugh at Ron's comment. It wasn't long before we were all laughing. Poor Dave was struggling trying to look hurt, but at the same time trying (and failing) not to laugh at the look on his sister's face.

"Honestly with friends and family like this, who needs enemies…" Dave remarked as he looked at the group before him. As he looked to Gabrielle, he found her failing badly to contain a giant smile that wanted to take over her face. The look of resignation on Dave's face as he regarded her was very entertaining.

He pulled her to him and gave her a quick kiss then said. "It's ok, go ahead and laugh, you're going to do yourself an injury if you keep on struggling like that."

"Merci," Gabrielle replied before she burst into joyous laughter. Dave could only smile at the sight.

While we were all enjoying ourselves by laughing at Dave and Harry, Kingsley arrived carrying some sacks that looked to contain letters.

"It seems that I have missed out on something here." He asked with an amused smile while he took in the group.

Arthur quickly explained to him about the exchange that had just occurred and Kingsley was also soon struggling to keep the smile off of his face.

"Is the whole wizarding world laughing at me this morning?" Dave enquired of no one in particular.

"Not everyone." Kingsley replied, "That group we captured last night are most definitely not fans of yours. But they're co-operative least we turn them over to you for further questioning." He added with a Cheshire Grin of his own at Dave.

"Glad to be of help," Dave replied while he rolled his eyes in resignation and Gabrielle enfolded him in another hug.

"How did it go at the Daily Prophet?" Ivan asked Kingsley while trying (unsuccessfully) to hide his own grin.

"Frustrating." Kingsley replied, "They claim to have followed my instructions to the letter, as they had planned to release the form and details on the families in the afternoon edition." He explained with an air of annoyance.

"That is a pretty thin excuse," Ivan replied as he agreed with Kingsley. Arthur also looked to be in full agreement with them both.

"Will they be replicating the Quibbler for their afternoon edition?" Arthur asked as he held up a copy for Kingsley to see.

"I should hope so as I left them a few copies of it as 'inspiration'." He chuckled, "Along with a bit of a warning." He added with a grin.

"What sort of warning?" Ivan asked.

"I told them that if they didn't comply with my requests this time, the Quibbler would receive exclusive access to the Ministry along with any further announcements." He advised with a sly grin on his face.

"That should have gotten their attention," Arthur said happily. "What's with the sacks?" He enquired.

"Ah… Yes. These. Well, the Ministry has been flooded with quite a bit of mail this morning." Kingsley explained, "By the time I got back from the Daily Prophet offices the mail room was already passed the point of overflowing."

"Quite a good portion of the mail is about missing friends and family members." He advised, "The next largest chunk of mail is people demanding answers for the events in the Ministry on Monday as well as to why your Aurors were operating here uninvited." He told Ivan with a slightly sheepish grin.

"The next most common topic of the mail we have been receiving are marriage proposals for Harry. Now that he is apparently 'free' to date again." Kingsley said as poor Harry received some good-natured ribbing from his family. Dave and his team were also poking gentle fun at him while Ginny wrapped him in her arms to assure him of his 'proper' place (in her view).

"You must be slipping in your popularity, Harry." George chuckled, "Only two sacks of mail by morning? The girls of the wizarding world must think that you are getting too old or something."

The look Harry directed at him could have cut a hole in solid stone. But George only grinned impishly back in reply. So much so, that eventually Harry had to give in and begin to laugh about it.

"Actually George" Kingsley stated, "The sacks are magically expanded with featherweight charms on them, and only the first one is really for Harry." He explained.

"Oh REALLY?" George asked in delight, "Who is the other sack of mail for?"

"Well the other sack is also magically expanded, and it is letters from infatuated women asking Harry if he can introduce them to his brother (if Harry himself isn't interested in them that is), along with all sorts of questions about him." Kingsley explained with a grin, "There is apparently quite a bit of interest among the female magical population here. Mostly around the 'official status' of Harry's brother as well as his age." He said as Dave's family and fellow team members all fell about in near hysterical laughter. Dave was giving Kingsley a near identical look to the one that Harry had just given to George. While Gabrielle apparently saw the funny side of the situation, she did, however, have a secure and slightly possessive grip on 'her' Dave.

Harry was looking quizzically at Kingsley, while Ginny was struggling to hold back her own laughter at the expression on Harry's face. After a few moments, Harry also saw the funny side with the situation along with Ginny's grin.

"There are also a few marriage proposals addressed to some members of Dave's team also." Kingsley chuckled. This seemed to restore some of Dave's good humour and make a few of the others look slightly worried.

"Why would women propose marriage to someone they don't even know?" Fireball asked Kingsley.

"It's not just the women sending marriage proposals, Fireball." Kingsley explained, "There are one or two proposals addressed to you as well." He advised her.

This caused Fireball to be immediately offered several sets of suggestions as to what to do with her mail. She also freely offered her own advice in reply.

"So, is it safe to assume that you do not want to read over your 'fan' mail?" Kingsley asked Harry with an amused grin. He also directed a sly look at Dave to see what his reaction was as well.

"I have no desire, or need to read any of it," Dave replied, much to Gabrielle's great pleasure.

"Good answer." She told him softly, but several others still heard it and smiled in response.

"Same here." Harry also replied.

"Smart answer," Ginny told him cheekily not caring who heard it as she fixed Harry with a wicked little grin. Harry smiled slightly nervously in return, while the rest of the Weasleys had a good laugh.

"So, you are all happy to have these burnt?" Kingsley asked showing only slight disappointment. He was presented with a chorus of "Yes!" from all four of them. When they all realised that they had spoken in unison, it caused them all to begin to laugh at the situation. The rest of us also joined in as well.

"Before you do that Kingsley, the letters that have curses on them should be carefully removed and studied. As whoever sent them, clearly had inflicting harm in mind." Sandra stated as she looked thoughtfully at the sacks.

"Cursed?" Kingsley asked in disbelief. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"Extremely." Sandra replied confidently, "I can feel four letters in those sacks which are cursed. In fact, there is something similar between all of them that leads me to believe that it is possible that the same person most likely sent all of them."

"I will ensure that they're thoroughly investigated before being destroyed," Kingsley answered with genuine appreciation. "Is there anything else of note in there that you can see or detect?" He enquired.

"Nothing out of the ordinary considering that it is a bunch of mail from mostly infatuated teenage girls. Or rather worryingly, their mothers." She chuckled, "Just about everything edible in there is laced with some pretty potent love potions. So, it would be wise to make sure whoever handles this mail is made aware of that." She added with an evil smile at Dave.

Ginny definitely caught this look, and she quickly asked, "What's the story behind that look Aunty?" with her 'sweet and innocent' face on full display. She didn't fool anyone but considering it was Dave's family she was asking I don't think that they really cared. They were just looking for an opening to use to try and embarrass Dave.

"It's not much of a story really." She replied with her own innocent look, "There was just a 'small' allergic reaction, I guess is the best way to explain it." She chuckled.

"Small?" Fireball, Shelly and Cassy remarked in almost perfect unison.

"It went on for the best part of a day. I wouldn't call that small." Fireball chuckled.

"We don't need to discuss that just now, do we?" Dave asked his sisters and mother with an almost pleading look on his face.

Sandra looked at Dave with a somewhat amused expression on her face for several moments before she replied.

"No, I guess we can leave that story for your Grandmother." She replied with an evil glint in her eyes. Dave accepted this answer while trying not to show his relief. Ginny and Gabrielle looked for all the world like they were storing this information away for use another day, however.

Kingsley too appeared to have a curious look on his face at this news. But he also quickly put it aside, as he had just noticed Pepper sitting at the table next to Guz. When she saw Kingsley's gaze on her, she looked slightly guilty and had a small blush on her cheeks. Kingsley gave her a cheeky smile and continued.

"Given how unreliable the papers have been in getting accurate information out to the wizarding public. I would like to call a press conference so that we can answer the many questions that people are asking about recent events." He advised us.

"Press conference?" Harry snorted with heavy contempt. "How is that going to help us get accurate information out?" He asked Kingsley.

"The press will only print what they want to print. Not to mention the way that they carry on during the actual press conference, it's almost like they are answering your questions for you." He remarked.

"What he said," Dave said with a grin at Harry that was returned.

"We could broadcast it live?" George offered 'helpfully'. "Lee Jordan has got his own radio show now, and I'm very sure he would be happy to assist." George offered.

"If the press knew that the wizarding public was listening in on the conference it might make them behave with some more decorum." He suggested.

"I think you're giving them more credit than they deserve George," Harry replied while Dave and Ron nodded in agreement with him.

"We could do a one on one interview," Ginny suggested as her eyes came alight with the idea. "Just like Hermione organised so that Harry could tell everyone about Tom Riddle Jnr being back. Where you did that interview with Rita Skeeta and Mr Lovegood published it in the Quibbler."

"That's a great idea, Ginny." I told her happily, "Although we should probably pick a different reporter this time." I added after looking at Harry's face. Ginny followed my gaze, and after taking in Harry's expression, she quickly agreed.

"You and Luna should do the interviews," Ginny suggested after a moment's thought. "That way the questions will be the ones we want them to be?"

"That's actually an excellent idea Ginny," Kingsley replied. "Hermione could interview Harry and Luna could interview Dave." He suggested with a slightly smug look on his face.

"I'm afraid that won't work," Dave replied while returning Kingsley's smug look. "As an active duty Auror, I'm not authorised to give interviews covering active operations." He explained with a smile and a grin at his father.

"Luna would be better off interviewing my boss." He suggested as he grinned madly at his father. "As he is authorised to give interviews on just about anything." He explained very smugly.

"I had forgotten about that," Ivan admitted with a sheepish look while Dave and his team all grinned broadly at him.

"It does make sense dear," Sandra replied while trying to hide her own amusement. "We should probably get Hermione to interview Kingsley instead of Harry as well." She suggested as Harry's face split into a broad grin. I'm sure that she had just scored some serious 'brownie points' with Harry for getting him out of being interviewed for a newspaper once again.

I also have to admit that the thought of getting to interview Kingsley had gotten me rather excited, and I was indeed looking forward to the challenge.

"Sounds to me like they have gotten this one all worked out between them," Dave said a little smugly to Harry.

"Indeed, it does," Harry replied just as smugly. "Time to hit the showers?" he suggested.

"Not just yet," Ivan replied with a devious look in his eyes. "You may have gotten out of the interview, but you can still help by supplying some of the information needed for it."

"I guess so," Dave replied as he quickly drew out his mirror phone and dialled Drunkmouse in one smooth motion.

"Good morning all," Drunkmouse answered as the connection was made.

"Good evening to you mate," Dave replied with a chuckle. "I need you to call up some key bits of information on our time here." Dave requested, "As the Minister is going to give an interview around our operations in the UK." Dave explained.

"Oh, is he taking Jimmy's place in the plan, then is he?" Drunkmouse asked.

"What plan is this?" Ivan asked a moment before Dave could.

"The plan we worked out to hoist the press by their own petard," Drunkmouse replied. "Jimmy, Dave, Mick, Shelly, Izzy and Jean-Luc came up with it. Right after that hack, Rita Skeeter published that story, 'exposing' the elderly couple who had been hiding Muggle-Born wizards and their families from the Ministry." He explained.

"We did?" Dave asked as he looked at Mick, Shelly and Izzy with a question on his face. They also were looking equally perplexed about it.

"When did we do that?" Dave asked Drunkmouse.

"The plan was mostly finalised the day before Jimmy was killed," Drunkmouse replied, and you could instantly see the grief register on Dave's face, as he recalled those events. Gabrielle quickly grabbed his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. This seemed to be enough to distract Dave from his thoughts.

"Sorry mate." Dave replied, "My memory of that time isn't too clear." He said a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, I figured that might have been that case," Drunkmouse replied kindly. "But luckily for you all, we here at HQ didn't forget, and we have been diligently gathering information, newspaper records and cross-referencing them to either your operations or the many deaths and disappearances of people." He explained.

"It has turned into quite an impressive set of records." He chuckled.

"Just how were you going to use this information?" Ivan asked Drunkmouse.

"The original plan was for there to be a press conference where Jimmy would present this information that showed just how poorly the wizarding world had been served by the mainstream press. As well as the Ministry." Drunkmouse explained.

"I think I like that idea," Kingsley replied with a certain evil light coming into his eyes. "If we could find a way to present that information just right, it could inflict some serious damage to the opposition and their claims that things have been exaggerated in the official reports." He almost chuckled.

"You know that could just work." Ivan agreed. "We would need someone else to do the press conference though." He suggested with a grin at Dave.

"My thoughts exactly." Kingsley agreed as he too turned and grinned at Dave.

"It's a conspiracy." Dave shot back at the two ministers. "You're just trying to get even with me for suggesting that you two be the ones doing the interviews. Aren't you." He enquired.

"Yes." They both replied in unison. This caused several sets of laughter around the table, mostly because of the look of exasperation on Dave's face.

"You seem to forget Minister, that I'm not authorised to give interviews of any sort, which are connected to active operations." Dave replied smugly to his father, "A press conference would fall under that category." He said with the look of someone who had just escaped the hangman's noose.

"Unless the press conference is part of an active operation," Ivan replied with his own VERY smug look back at Dave. "Your little plan that Drunkmouse just described to us makes this press conference fall into that category." He added with a look of extreme satisfaction on his face.

Kingsley also looked to be smiling in a very smug and self-satisfied manner too. Dave, however, looked like someone who had escaped the frying pan only to fall into the fire.

"Don't worry Dave." I told him, "I have some ideas on how we can make this press conference much more enjoyable for you." I told him with an evil grin of my own as I thought about getting even with Rita Skeeter. Not only would I be playing her own game against her, but I would also be doing it in public.

"How?" Dave asked a little suspiciously.

After gathering everyone around, I began to explain my plan. I could see the looks on their faces indicating that they were in full agreement with me. Not only for what I was trying to achieve but for how it was to be executed as well. More on that later.

As I finished explaining my plan to everyone, Drunkmouse was the first to offer his complete support. Kingsley, Ivan, Dave and Harry were quick to follow. Ginny was also very keen to help, and she dashed off to send an owl to Luna to invite her and her father over to the Burrow for lunch so that things could be coordinated with them as well.

Dave's team and family were very willing accomplice's as well. It almost made me feel sorry for the members of the press who would be attending the press conference.

George raced off to see Lee Jordan (Guz and Rowdy were quickly sent along with him by Dave), to secure his support as well. We were to find out that Lee Jordan was an enthusiastic supporter of my plan also.

When George returned and announced Lee's support for the idea as well as the time and place, Kingsley left to go to the Ministry (Goose and Jono accompanied him) to get an announcement about the press conference the following day put out. The statement would also let everyone know that it would be broadcast on the WWN.

With that done we could all finally head off to get cleaned up and changed for breakfast. Along with readying ourselves for our trip to Gringotts later in the morning.


	53. Books and Bunyips

After those who had been on the morning run were washed and changed, a quick and hurried breakfast was had by all of us. As breakfast was being cleared away, I noticed Dave carrying what looked like a set of documents over to Julian and possibly another set for Bill. Curious as to what they were, I wandered over myself to see if I could find out what was going on. I arrived just as Dave had caught up with Julian.

"Monsieur Delacour, a moment please," Dave called to him (a little formally) as the Delacour's were making their way back to their tent. "If I may Sir, I would like to ask you to please have a read over this before I submit it." Dave requested as he held up a file of parchment.

"What is it?" Julian asked as he regarded the file Dave was holding.

"It is a copy of the formal report on the incidents that occurred here on Thursday." Dave explained, "As part of the report covers what happened to Gabrielle, I'm required by law to present a copy of it to her parents." He advised.

"You will need to read it." He requested, "Not the entire report, just the part that I have indicated that concerns the events directly relating to Gabrielle. Then if you have no objections regarding what has been written, you can approve it for submission, or highlight the parts that you don't agree with. They can then be re-worked so that they meet with your approval, while still meeting the facts of the events." Dave explained looking slightly embarrassed.

"I see." Julian replied while regarding Dave approvingly, "I will read over it and advise you of my findings shortly." He advised Dave.

"Thank you," Dave answered.

"If you have no objections I would also like to request your approval to make a redacted copy, of that same section of the report, available to the Indonesian Ministry of Magic." Dave requested, "They made a copy of a similar report available to us. It covered one of their Aurors who had been killed by a cursed knife that was almost identical to the one used on Gabrielle. Bill was able to read over that report while we were getting things prepared to make an attempt to heal Gabrielle." Dave explained.

"I would like to return the favour to them, for their help to us." He advised. "Gabrielle's name will not be mentioned in the report that they get to see, nor will the names of the Weasley family or their home be mentioned either. As per standard practice."

"Understood." Julian replied, "If I find no issues with your report I will be happy to give my approval for it to be shared as you mentioned." He stated.

"Once again, you have my thanks," Dave replied gratefully. "Bill, this is a copy for you to read over as well. To make sure I have accurately recorded all that we did and discussed." Dave advised as he presented Bill with the other report.

"Thank you, Dave." Bill replied while trying to hide his amusement, "I will read over it and get back to you shortly." He advised.

"Excellent. Thanks." Dave answered as he quickly smiled at Gabrielle before heading off back to his tent.

"He seemed almost nervous, just now." Bill chuckled to Julian as they headed into their tent.

"Oui, he did." Julian replied showing his amusement at the incident, "There must be some good reading in this report of his." He chuckled as he followed Apolline into the tent and they sat at the kitchen table. I could see them begin to read Dave's report. This jolted my memory around some books that Dave had promised to look up for me. With that thought in mind, I made my way over to his tent.

Walking into Dave's tent, I found him working on his vest with the Bunyip scales on it. He noticed me enter and waved me to a seat at the kitchen table.

"What can I do for you this fine morning Hermione?" He asked me as he continued to work on his vest.

"I came to ask if you had managed to locate those books on the Talismans that you told me about." I reminded him. He quickly looked up at me with a slightly alarmed expression.

"Boggarts." He exclaimed, "They had almost slipped my mind." He said as he got up from the table and crossed to one of the many bookshelves in his tent.

He returned carrying two rather heavy looking books.

"These two should get you going for starters." He explained as he placed them on the table. "That first one discusses personal Talismans in general, how they were first discovered and their evolution over the centuries."

"The second one goes more into the different types of Talismans along with what they can do and a little on how they go about achieving that."

"The first half of the second book covers 'targeted' Talismans of the type that I made for the attempt on Gabrielle." He explained, "While the second half of the book deals more with the type of Talisman that you are currently wearing."

"When Kingsley gets the laws here on Sorcery sorted out, you can borrow the book that covers their actual creation." He promised me.

"Thank you," I replied as I eagerly collected the books, while also trying to see what he was doing with his vest. He noticed my curiosity and happily explained to me what he was doing.

"I'm changing out the Bunyip scales that were 'killed' when those two killing curses struck me yesterday." He explained, "I got most of them changed out last night, but ended up having to go to bed with it mostly done. As it is a rather tedious process to carry out."

"When we get home, I'm going to have a chat with Jackie to see if she has any ideas on how to simplify this process."

"Not that I'm planning on getting hit by any more killing curses." He quickly clarified with an embarrassed chuckle.

"I understand," I told him with a smile. "May I see them?" I asked indicating the scales that he had out on the desk.

"Of course, you can." He replied as he pulled out a seat next to him. "Just be careful when you pick them up as their edges can sometimes be very sharp."

I indicated my understanding of this and then eagerly picked up one of the scales that was 'alive'. It was very light and gorgeous to look at. When I mentioned this to Dave, he answered a little sadly.

"Yes, they are gorgeous to look at." Dave agreed, "That is part of the reason why there are so few Bunyips around today compared to a few hundred years ago." He advised. Seeing the question on my face, he explained further.

"With the arrival of people from Europe and Asia into Australia during its colonisation, the number of interactions with the Bunyip population increased drastically." He explained, "The muggles who saw the Bunyips called them monsters and tried to shoot them. Thankfully muggle firearms of the period were of little use against the Bunyips."

"It was the witches and wizards who saw the Bunyips that were the most dangerous." He said sadly, "At first they simply drove them out of their lands or frightened them off. But eventually, they came to try and capture them and experiment with them to see if they were useful in potions or for other purposes. They never took the time to try and learn about them."

"Then when the Bunyip's scales were noticed they quickly became a prized item. For even when they have 'died' they are still beautiful to behold."

Dave then showed me one of the 'dead' scales that he had removed from the vest. While it wasn't as lovely as one of the 'alive' scales, it did have a remarkable beauty all of its own.

"Those early settler witches and wizards devised several truly horrible spells to strip Bunyips of their scales so that they could be collected for fashion or other decorative purposes. They didn't care at all about the state it left the Bunyips themselves in after they had been stripped of their scales."

"When this started to happen, the Bunyips began to fight back to protect their lands and families," Dave explained sadly.

"That was when the trouble really began, as the manipulative and the greedy quickly saw a way to turn this situation to their own profit. They fed stories into the magical population about Bunyip's going on rampages, killing indiscriminately and eating those that they have killed." He said shaking his head in disbelief.

"While an enraged Bunyip is a truly terrifying sight they will only kill if they are left with no other choice. They certainly do not eat humans either, despite all the stories that say otherwise."

"The Ministry of the day stepped in and 'helped' clear Bunyip's from large areas of the country." Dave explained, "This, of course, dwindled their range drastically."

"If it weren't for the local Aboriginal people actively hiding the Bunyips along with some compassionate settlers they would have been driven to extinction."

"It has only been since the late 1950's that official laws were brought in to protect Bunyips and even then, they were rarely enforced."

"Since then it has been slow going, getting laws of sufficient strength with sufficient penalties in place enacted to provide real protection for them. Likewise getting dedicated areas of protected habitat set aside has been difficult also."

"You care about the Bunyip's a great deal, don't you?" I asked Dave very interested in his answer.

"I do." He replied simply as his eyes took on a bit of a faraway look, "I'll be the first to admit that some of their forms can appear monstrous if you came upon them unawares." He explained.

"All it takes though is a little time to observe how they interact with each other. When you do that, you can clearly see the Bunyips true nature."

"They care for and support each other in a way that you just have to admire. Even other creatures they will look after to a certain extent. Provided they are not hungry at the time that is." He added with a laugh. I had to laugh as well when he said that. We both heard laughter coming from the door at this point. I Looked up and saw Gabrielle standing at the door, listening to the conversation with apparent interest. Dave quickly waved her to a seat where she could also clearly see what was going on.

"How did you get to be accepted by them?" I asked Dave, and I could see Gabrielle's eyes show her interest in this topic also. "As your parents said that you are allowed by them to approach their actual campsites."

Smiling at a memory of some sort Dave explained. "Grandpa had taken me up to visit the Bunyip's one day. While he was in their camp 'talking' with Big Jim, I was seated on a log, which was on the top of a small hill just outside of their camp. I was just watching them, as I found them endlessly fascinating."

"While I was watching them, I became aware of something watching me."

"I quickly did a check of the area to make sure it wasn't anything dangerous like a Yowie or a Drop Bear."

"What I found was that one of the younger Bunyips, Big Jim's Grandson to be precise, had come over to check me out. As he hadn't seen a young human before."

"When I noticed him watching me from such close range I got quite a fright. This caused me to jump back off the log I was sitting on. When I did this, I instinctively changed my form to something that roughly resembled a Bunyip." He said with a half-smile. "My form was far from perfect, but it was close enough to make it clear to all those watching what I had tried to do."

"Unknown to the two of us Big Jim and Grandpa had the seen the incident and they had both found it extremely entertaining." He chuckled, "When I noticed them both laughing at me I changed back so that I once more appeared in my usual form. Big Jim's grandson found this to be hilariously funny and he then also began to laugh so hard that he fell over and rolled down the hill to Big Jim himself."

"That, of course, caused me to erupt into laughter and I had to sit down to get my breath back," Dave recalled smiling. "Once we all got our breath under control Big Jim invited me down into their camp. Because as he explained to me, anyone who can bring that much laughter to his family was welcome in his camp anytime."

Both Gabrielle and I were laughing at this image, as we could picture that event unfolding.

"How old were you at ze time?" Gabrielle asked.

"I would have been around ten years old." Dave told us, "Each time I go to visit Big Jim's family since then, if his Grandson is present he always requests me to change form, from what he calls 'the silly one' into the 'normal one' and back." Dave explained with a laugh.

"As to this day he still finds it extremely hilarious," Dave said smiling.

"They seem to have a very active sense of humour then?" I asked him.

"Yes, they do. Bunyips love to laugh and make those that they care about laugh and smile."

"Although the sight of a 14-foot-tall Bunyip smiling at you with a mouth full of very sharp fangs can be a bit unsettling if you are not used to it," Dave advised us with a chuckle.

"I can understand how that would take a bit of getting used to." I agreed with Dave. Gabrielle also looked to be of the same opinion as me as well.

"What will happen when you return the dead scales to Big Jim?" I found myself asking. As soon as I had asked the question I could see a small amount of worry on Dave's face.

"I'm not entirely sure." He admitted, "I'm willing to bet that Big Jim is going to want to know all about what happened when they were killed. With that in mind, I'm more than willing to share my memory of that event with him as he has a right to know about it."

"Other than that, I just don't know. Because Bunyip's have never given permission, for their scales to be used like this before. So, I just don't know." Dave confessed.

"My biggest worry is that he will decide that I haven't looked after his gift to Emma, and demand that I return all the scales," Dave admitted as he looked at the vest and the scales on the desk.

"Somezing makes me zink zat will not 'appen," Gabrielle stated confidently to Dave. As she reached across and took his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Merci," Dave said with an impish grin at her. This gave us all a good laugh.

We both then sat back and watched Dave change out the last few dead scales from his vest. While he was engaged in that task, Gabrielle and I carefully examined the loose scales that were on the table.

"How is it that we can pick up these living scales without them dying?" I asked Dave.

"These scales know that they have been 'given' to me." He explained, "Therefore, as long as they can still feel my magical signature they won't die."

Holding one 'dead' and one 'alive' scale in the same hand you could feel (albeit just barely) the life force in the in the 'alive' scale. It was like a faint tingling in your hand; there was a comforting sense to it.

I did notice that the dead scales that Dave removed from the vest were placed into a beautifully made wooden box. It put me in the mind of a coffin for a much-loved family member. This also added to my insight into Dave's view of the world.

I found that while I might not understand him as well as I would have liked I could very well appreciate the way he viewed the fundamental things in this world. And that was a great start.

Ron came looking for us shortly after this to let us know that Harry, Ginny, Bill, Arthur and Ivan were getting ready to head to Gringotts and they were waiting for us.

Changing out of his T-Shirt (I could see the smile on Gabrielle's face when he took it off), Dave put on his Bunyip fur top, the now repaired vest, and a shirt. He also quickly packed away all his tools and the Bunyip scales. We then followed Ron from the tent to where the others were waiting for us.


	54. Gringotts

We all gathered in the kitchen of the Burrow, as Bill had made arrangements to use the Secure Floo to get into Gringotts without attracting any unwanted attention. Arthur, Ivan, Dave and Bill all secured some final hugs and kisses from their partners before we took the Secure Floo into Gringotts.

On arrival, we were greeted by a good number of armed goblin guards as well as some of the humans who also served as guards in Gringotts. There were a few tense moments when I was a little worried that they intended to arrest us for our earlier break-in, despite the assurances from Kingsley and Bill that the goblins had guaranteed us safe passage.

It turned out that the extra security was because of the presence of Ivan and Dave. Because when Ivan went to go with Bill and Arthur to see the Head Goblin and Dave went to follow Harry, the security details were unsure as to who they were to follow. In the end, they decided to follow Ivan, and we were able to make our way down to Harry's hereditary family vault.

The ride in the Gringotts cart was the usual ghastly affair. Although I did notice that both Harry and Dave seemed to enjoy it immensely. They were both still grinning as they exited the cart.

The Potter family vault was much further down in Gringotts than Harry's trust vault, but it was not quite as deep down as the Lestrange family vault was. None the less we were still a long way under the Gringotts entrance.

I noticed that like the Lestrange family vault this vault door required the goblin to place his whole hand on the door to get it to open. When the goblin guide opened the vault door, he stepped back and allowed us to see contents of the Potter family vault.

Harry's eyes went wide like saucers as he tried to take in the view all at once. The rest of us were in a similar state also. The sight we had before us with wasn't the one that we had been expecting.

While the vault contained a significant amount of gold and silver along with jewels as we were all expecting. Those items were outnumbered at least three to one by an army of bookcases, vast piles of books, masses of paintings and chest after chest of scrolls and other bits of parchment.

"Where do we start?" Ron asked as he looked around with a worried expression on his face.

"Well, that would depend on what you want to find?" Dave replied while he too was looking around in wonder at the piles of books.

"I'm starting to think that we should have brought Izzy along. She could index this whole place in an afternoon." Dave remarked as he continued to take in the vast number of books in the vault. "Although prizing her away from this many books might take significantly longer." He added with a chuckle.

"The same might be said for Hermione as well," Ron suggested while smiling at me. It was now that I became aware of my sense of awe at the number of books in front of me. After assessing my feelings, I had to admit (albeit grudgingly) that he was right. The library at Hogwarts might have had more books than Harry's vault did, but it would be a close race between them.

Harry entered the vault, and we all cautiously followed him. Once we were inside, the scale of what it contained was even more impressive.

I was trying to look everywhere at once, just like the rest of the group. However, I'm proud to admit I was the first one to notice a desk set against one wall of the vault. On this desk was what looked like a book keeper's ledger and above it was a shelf that contained many more of them.

Crossing the vault to the desk, I looked at the ledger that was open on it. To my surprise, I realised that it was indeed part of a catalogue of what the vault contained.

"Harry!" I called out excitedly, "You have to see this." I told him pointing to the ledger.

"What is it?" He asked as he came over to examine what I had been pointing at.

"It looks like this book here and the ones on the shelves above are a catalogue of the contents of your vault," I reported excitedly. From the look on Harry's face, my excitement was becoming infectious. "What sort of information do you want to try and find?" I asked him.

"What I'd like to find are the personal diaries of my Grandfather and Great Grandfather," Harry advised us with a wistful look on his face and a sidelong glance at Dave.

"Sounds logical," I told him, and everyone else seemed to agree with me.

"Grab the third book from the right off the shelf." Dave suggested, and we all looked at him with questions on our faces, "I'm not as good as Izzy is at using the Summary and Index spell without touching a book, but I can do it. At a reasonably close range, anyway." He explained with a crooked smile.

"I can sense in that book the names of Harry's Grandfather and Great-Grandfather along with several mentions of personal diaries." He told us, "If I can lay my hands on it I might be able to pinpoint the page that mentions them for you." He offered.

Harry quickly pulled the book down and passed it to me. While I had the book in my hands, I promptly cast the summary and index spell on it to see if I could find the information we were after. Dave must have noticed me do this as he had a chuckle and smiled at me while I was doing it.

"Did you find it?" He enquired.

"I think so." I told him confidently, "Page 37 should be the one we are after." I said as I passed the book to him.

"Agreed." He replied as he placed his hand on the book. I found myself smiling at his agreement, "Along with page 54." He added while grinning back at me.

"Remember we are after two sets of diaries." He reminded me. Ron and Harry had a chuckle at my expense while I opened the book to page 37.

As I expected there was an entry for Henry Potter that mentioned his personal diaries. It indicated Bookcase 67, Shelf G.

"Where do we find Bookcase 67?" I asked as I looked up from the book.

"On the map, of course," Ginny replied very cheerfully as she reached around Harry and pulled a map of the vault off the wall. She then held it up with a very self-satisfied look on her face for us to see it.

"There are no bookcase numbers on that map Ginny," Ron advised her with a chuckle, as Ginny quickly turned the map over to look at the front of it. She began to scan the map with a scowl on her face. While she was doing that Harry started to chuckle.

"What?" Ginny snapped at him more than a little annoyed. Harry just pointed at the wall where she got the map from. There on the wall was another map this one showing bookcases. When she saw this Ginny looked more closely at the map, she had in her hands and realised that it was for the piles of books and the various trunks in the vault.

"Well I was close, wasn't I?" She asked Harry with a dangerous tone in her voice as we all moved off to locate the bookcase in question. Harry was trying to suppress a smile as he moved to follow Ginny.

When we found the one we were after there was a pile of trunks in front of it. Harry and Dave began to move them carefully to one side so that we could safely access the bookcase behind them.

While they were moving the trunks, a curious thing happened. The two of them were placing one of them that they had just been carrying on the floor when Ron walked up to them with a piece of parchment that had fallen out of it. He never made it to them however as there was a barrier that was stopping him from going any further.

"Looks like this might be a restricted section of your vault Harry," Dave advised him while he was looking for the ward line of the barrier on the floor.

"How did you get in here then?" Harry asked Dave.

"It must have been because I was helping you with that trunk," Dave replied with a thoughtful look. "We can test that idea by getting Ron to help you with the next trunk if you like," Dave suggested as he indicated what he thought to be the line of the shield on the floor.

Harry and Ron quickly agreed to this, and they then set about moving the last of the trunks from in front of the bookcases. This time though as Ron approached the line that Dave had indicated he again stopped cold and could go no further. We all looked at Dave with our questions plain on our faces.

Dave for his part had a look of intense concentration on his face as he had his hands out trying to feel for the shield. While he was doing this, he freely crossed the line that he had indicated earlier. When this happened, Harry looked to have a wild hope in his eyes. Dave noticed this and cautioned Harry.

"Do not jump to conclusions Harry." He advised him, "We do not know what type of barrier or ward that this is, and without that information, we can't say precisely what being able to pass through it means." He explained.

"I have been able to pass through blood wards not set for me before." He told Harry in a serious tone of voice, "Depending on how they have been set, they either allow only one particular family through or keep everyone else out."

"Being 'broken' I'm sometimes 'read' by those wards as being a third category, and depending on the design of the wards I'm either allowed through or excluded." He explained while observing Harry's face carefully.

Harry reluctantly acknowledged this fact, but the look of disappointment on his face was evident.

"If you would like to know more about this ward/barrier I would suggest that you get Bill to examine it." He suggested, "There is an odd feeling about it. It also feels extremely faint to me, so I'm unable to get a good understanding of it. Without a spending a good amount of time on it that is."

"I certainly will ask him to take a look." Harry agreed with Dave.

We all then went to the bookcase and located Shelf G. The entire shelf and the ones below it looked to be dedicated to the personal diaries of Henry Potter.

"We know that the arrest of Douglas occurred in 1928." I reminded them, "So, should we grab the diaries that cover 1927, 1928 and 1929?" I suggested.

"That would give us the ability to establish a baseline for Henry's style of writing. That, in turn, will make it easier to determine if there are any changes in what he wrote when we get to the time of Douglas's arrest." I explained.

"Are you sure that you haven't done this sort of work before?" Dave asked me with a sly smile.

"No, I haven't." I told him, "It's just that is what seems logical to me."

"That's a big part of what we do Hermione." Dave replied as he gave me an approving look, "We apply logic to supposedly illogical happenings and attempt to work out what has happened and why. We also try to work out what is likely to happen 'down the track' so to speak." He explained.

"I do also agree with your suggestion though." He added with a smile as we all turned to the shelves to locate the books for that time period.

It turned out that 20 books of various sizes covered the time in question. We carried them to the front of the vault and carefully placed them in a pile so that we could 'check them out' later with the goblins when we left.

Dave and Harry moved the trunks back to their original locations in case we needed to locate one of them at a later date. The others then set off to find the personal diaries of Fleamont Potter. When they turned their backs, I quickly grabbed the personal diaries for Henry Potter that Covered Dec 1905, Jan and Feb 1906. On a whim, I also selected the diary's that covered the summers of 1922 and 1923. I grabbed them as something told me that they would be crucial to the outcome of our search. Once I had the diaries, I had to move quickly to place them near the front of the vault with the other diaries and then catch up with the others.

The bookcases that held the personal diaries of Fleamont Potter were unobstructed. There were more diaries in total though. Covering the same time period, there were a total of 42 books. While the boys were neatly piling them by the door, Ginny and I were looking at the ledgers that contained the catalogue of the vault.

Ginny was absently running her hands over the books while muttering something under breath. I assumed that she was using the summary and index spell, but I was curious as to what she was searching for.

"Find anything?" I asked her.

"Not yet." She answered as she continued to work her way down the bookshelf.

"What are you searching for?" I enquired.

"Nothing in particular." She replied, "Just seeing if any of these books have any mention of a Douglas or Diagon Alley." She explained while still concentrating on the books. Before I could reply, she excitedly pulled one of the books off the shelf.

"This one mentions Diagon Alley." She exclaimed as she quickly opened the book to the appropriate page. Her excitement brought the boys over to see what she had uncovered.

"What did you find Gin?" Harry asked her.

"This book contains entries for properties that your family own in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley," Ginny told him with a broad smile.

"Really?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Yes really." Ginny replied with her own excitement showing, "It mentions several books in the pile marked No 5 as giving more details." She told us as she made her way over to the pile mentioned.

After a quick search, Ginny located a book that she pulled out and showed to Harry. As she did so, Harry quickly whispered something into her ear. Ginny's eyes went wide for a moment, she then nodded in agreement. Giving the book to Harry, she came over to join me as the boys sat down to look through the book on Harry's properties.

Ginny approached me, and with a quick glance over her shoulder, she passed on Harry's request. "Harry wants us to see if there are any family photo albums or photos of his Grandfather and Great Grandfather in here." She told me.

"I think I can understand why" I replied as we walked back to the desk where the ledgers were. We were searching them for information on family photo albums when Ron's voice called out loudly.

"No Way." He exclaimed, "Harry you own the building that Honeydukes is in, in Hogsmeade." He said grinning with delight. That smile on his face brought a similar smile to my own. It just couldn't be helped. When I noticed Ginny's amused expression, I could only acknowledge it and continue on with our search.

"Looks like I own the building that Zonko's used to be in also," Harry reported with a chuckle as both Ron and Dave gathered around to have a look.

"Found any of the books that cover Diagon Alley?" I asked them. Mainly in an attempt to keep them working, I will admit.

"Not yet," Harry replied as he pulled the next book indicated and began to cast the Summary and Index spell on it. Ron and Dave were also searching the books located in that collection that the catalogue had identified.

While the boys were searching, Ginny and I hit the mother lode. We found two magically expanded trunks which were full of photo albums covering the time period of Henry and Fleamont Potter. When we located them, we quickly searched through them and selected a couple of photo albums that looked promising.

There was one photo album that seemed to cover the significant life events of Fleamont Potter. While in the other trunk was a similar album for Henry. Several of the photos in the album for Fleamont Potter seemed to depict family gatherings, curiously in several of them, there was a person whose face was blurred out. Nothing about the person appears to have stood out in any way, however.

Towards the end of the photo album, there was another photo of a family scene where one person had their face blurred out. They appeared to be talking to a woman standing next to them who was holding a newborn in her arms. When I looked closer at the woman, my heart felt as though it had stopped for a few moments, as I was sure that I had seen her somewhere before. Quickly I called Ginny over to show her the photo as well.

When I showed her what had gotten me so excited the look on her face indicated that she shared my suspicions. Before we could discuss this in detail, however, Ron's and then Harry's voice rang out in the vault.

"Harry, you own the building where Fred and George have their shop," Ron reported with his voice showing how amusing he found that fact to be.

"WHAT?" Harry asked with his own amusement clear for all to hear. After some chuckles between the boys about increasing George's rent, Harry's voice again rang out.

"I own the building where Sugarplum's Sweets, is located." He exclaimed with palpable excitement.

This name rang clearly with us all, as it was the building where Douglas had lived while he was working with Mr Ollivanders father. Ginny and I very quickly found ourselves back with the boys. We were all now searching for the rental records of that building for the time period that Douglas had been living there.

"I found them," I called out to the others excitedly. They quickly gathered around me. "These records are for the year 1926/27/28," I told them.

"My thoughts were, that even if Douglas's name was blurred out on the page, we should still see Fanny's name appear on the tenant list," I explained.

"Sounds logical to me," Dave replied with an encouraging smile.

As we knew from the records provided by Ollivander the apartment number that Douglas lived in, our attention was focused on the 4th floor of the building.

"Here's a name that is blurred out." I pointed out excitedly.

"What is the date of that record?" Dave asked with a focused look on his face.

"This page is for January 1927," I told him.

"He got married in February, didn't he?" Ginny asked Dave.

"Correct." Was the reply.

Flipping through the pages of the book, we came to the entry for February of that year. There was still only the single blurred name for the apartment that we suspected to be Douglas's. Continuing onto the records for March we found a second name added to that apartment. It was a 'Fanny S' with the surname blurred out.

All eyes turned to Dave, and the look of wonder and relief on his face was a joyous sight. You couldn't see it and not smile. Dave tore his eyes from the page in the book and looked at us all with genuine warmth and affection.

"Thank you." He said simply, "Thank you for helping find this." He said with tears in his eyes.

"You're welcome," Harry replied as he placed his hand on Dave's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Dave smiled by way of reply, and it really did say all that needed to be said.

"May I?" He asked as he indicated the book I was holding.

"Certainly," I told him as I passed the book over to him.

Dave looked very carefully at each page, but he was also flicking through them rather quickly. He got to the entry for December 1927 and seemed to be a little upset when he didn't see what he was looking for. When he located the record for January 1928, however, the smile was back on his face. As there next to the blurred name of Douglas and Fanny's name was an entry for a 'Henry William' with the surname also blurred out, along with a notation of 'infant' next to it.

For several moments Dave only stared at the entry. He then looked up at us and spoke.

"That must be how they knew him." He stated, "The Potter's were his landlords." Before any of us could reply Dave was quickly searching through the other entries in the book. The last one had a notation against it that seemed to indicate that some correspondence was being undertaken between Douglas and the Potter's.

Looking at the notation, it gave us a clue as to where to look for the letters. When the box indicated was located, we all watched as Harry opened it. Inside the letters seemed to have been arranged by the building that they related to.

When the packet of letters for Douglas's building was located, Harry's hands were almost trembling with excitement.

Harry extracted the letters and laid them out so that we could all read them. The letters looked to be very polite and cordial ones between Douglas and the Potter's agent and the Potter's themselves. While Douglas's name and family name were blurred out, we could see enough references to Fanny and little Henry William to know that they were indeed the correct ones.

The content of the letters looked to be the desire of Douglas and his family to move into a larger apartment, now that they had little Henry in their lives. The Potter's looked to be in full agreement that a larger apartment would be a good idea, but sadly they didn't have any larger apartments currently available. There was an interesting section in one of the letters that Harry pointed out to us all.

"Listen to this." Harry requested as he began to read aloud;

 _"While we do not currently have any suitable apartments available for your requirements, we would be only too happy to recommend you to our fellow landlords. As you are a long-standing tenant of ours, who is very highly regarded by not only your fellow tenants, building superintendent and agent, but also by ourselves."_

 _"A wonderful family such as yours should have accommodations that suit your needs. Therefore, if you desire, we would be only too pleased to make such introductions as are necessary and furnish any required references as well."_

 _"On a personal note, we all would like to thank you, your wonderful wife Fanny and little Henry for attending my eldest son's family only birthday recently. It pleased us all a great deal to see you all there."_

"It is signed by, Henry Potter," Harry reported with an excited look on his face. "So not only did they know each other in a business sense. They were also close enough to be invited to a family only birthday party."

"That would explain the photo," Ginny remarked thoughtfully, as all the boys quickly focused their attention on her.

"What photo?" Harry asked.

"This one," I told him as I retrieved the photo we found earlier. The boys eagerly gathered around to look at the photo. "That is Fanny, isn't it?" I asked them.

"I would be willing to bet that it is," Dave replied while he was staring at the photo. "The question is though, why is it my Grandfather that his face blurred in this photo?" Dave asked with a look of puzzlement.

"In all the other photos, I have seen of him, his face is not obscured. Only those of his family are." Dave explained.

"I hadn't thought of that," I told Dave truthfully. What would cause that to occur? I really needed to learn more about the casting out of a person from their family, and how it worked.

A familiar voice calling to us from the door interrupted my thoughts.

"How did your searching go?" Bill asked with amusement as he watched us from the door of the vault. Looking over we could see Arthur, Ivan and a few Goblins also watching us from the door as well. Arthur and Ivan seemed to be sharing Bill's amusement. The Goblins, however, looked to be watching us as one might view a dangerous animal. I was willing to bet that all the extra guards we saw earlier were nearby just out of sight.

"Quite well actually." Harry replied excitedly, "How did your searching go?" He asked.

"We had some good luck also." Ivan replied, "We have found some records that confirmed what the girls and Brendan were able to dig up last night. Regarding Fanny's full name, the names of her parents and siblings. Along with the names on the muggle baptism record for the godparents." He explained.

"The goblins are also doing some extra searching for us as well." He advised us, "But their records also look to be affected by the casting out of my father. So it is likely to take some time."

"The new information we found is that the godparents listed on my father's 'magical' baptism have the godfather's name blurred out. But the godmother's name was Ève Laflèche."

"That is a new name to us, and we will have to do some looking into it." Ivan Explained, "It is too early to jump to conclusions just now, but it does seem to hint at a French connection somewhere in my father's life here in the UK."

"We also found another reference to my father's will, being apparently secured in his family's vault. But still no information on what vault that might be." He explained.

"Most excitingly we now have the date of the Muggle Marriage of my father and Fanny." Ivan reported with a broad grin, "We also know the exact location of both the Muggle and magical weddings." He added excitedly.

"Are you sure?" Dave asked with a real hunger in his eyes.

"Extremely," Ivan replied smiling at Dave.

"Where was the magical wedding held?" Dave asked with hunger showing in his eyes.

"The family church in Godric's Hollow," Ivan told us. Harry's face lit up at this news, and even I felt a tingle run through my spine. We knew that Harry's parents were buried in that church and that a large number of Potter's were also mentioned on rolls inside the church. Remembering Dave's earlier comments about getting carried away, I also admitted to myself that there were a good number of other wizarding families that have called Godric's Hollow home over the centuries as well. Bill's voice pulled me from my thoughts.

"Before we get too excited at comparing notes on today's finds, perhaps we should introduce Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Dave to our very busy hosts?" Bill suggested looking at everyone and the pile of books and photo albums that were not near the door of the vault.

"Yes. Yes, we should Bill." Ivan replied looking a little shamefaced at forgetting the presence of the Gringotts goblins who were waiting patiently behind him. "Sorry about that." He apologised to the Head Goblin. The Head Goblin quickly accepted the apology and turned his attention to me, Ron and Harry.

Cautiously the two groups approached each other. Harry, Ron and I all naturally drew to each other as we approached the Gringotts Head Goblin. I'm not sure what we were expecting as we walked towards him, but he looked like he fully expected us to draw our wands on him at any moment.

Ginny and Dave were left behind as we made our way to the door of the vault. Although I could feel Dave's eyes on us all throughout the exchange. I also noticed Ginny positioning herself to be closer to Dave, most likely to avoid the stars of the various goblins who were present.

"Harry, Ron and Hermione, I would like to introduce you to the Gringotts Head Goblin," Bill stated as he began the introductions a little nervously.

"Head Goblin…" Bill said before he was cut off.

"I'm aware of who these three are, Mr Weasley." The Head Goblin stated as he regarded us with cold dead eyes and an even colder expression.

"They are I believe, the only living beings to ever successfully break into Gringotts and steal something that was not rightfully theirs." He snapped as a Judge might to a condemned prisoner. "The wizarding Ministry has gone to great lengths to encourage us to 'forgive' your thievery. However, you can rest assured that the goblins of Gringotts will NEVER forget it." He stated firmly.

"I do believe that we will never ever feel completely comfortable with any of you being in our bank ever again." He advised us. Arthur and Bill looked to have been taken entirely by surprise by these statements, and they were looking for a reply when Harry stepped forward and addressed the Head Goblin.

"On behalf of my friends, I would like to personally apologise unreservedly to you and all the members of your staff for our regrettable actions," Harry told him in a calm voice. "I would like you to know that we didn't do what we did lightly, or for any personal gain."

"What we did was necessary, to enable the ultimate defeat of Tom Riddle Jnr." Harry explained, "I'm sure that the goblins are happier now that he is gone for good?" Harry inquired.

"A likely story, Mr Potter." The Head Goblin snapped. Harry looked to be unconcerned at this reply. He almost looked like it was the one he had been expecting and maybe even hoping for strangely.

"Did the Ministry advise you of what we took and why?" Harry asked the Head Goblin.

"They did not." The Head Goblin replied stiffly, "They deemed us unworthy of knowing that information." He growled.

"Would you like me to tell you that information?" Harry offered. "I must request, however, that all who are present to hear this information be sworn to secrecy and promise to never repeat it. As the Ministry wishes to keep it very tightly held. The reason for which will become obvious when I tell you about it." Harry explained.

"By telling you this information I'm placing a great deal of trust in you and your staff," Harry advised him calmly, but the steel behind that statement could not be ignored. "Do you agree to those terms?" He asked.

This offer had an extraordinary effect on the Head Goblin. His stance at once became less stiff and hostile and far more relaxed. His face assumed an expression of curiosity and eagerness.

"Yes. Yes, I do." He replied to Harry in a very different tone of voice. It was almost polite (by goblin standards). "My staff will all agree to this also." He advised Harry with a quick look at the group of people who were gathered with him.

"Very well." Harry replied, "I will accept your word."

That simple statement from Harry appeared to have a significant positive effect on the Head Goblin as well as those members of his staff that we could see. Bill also was indicating his approval of Harry's actions and choice of words.

"The item that we took from the Lestrange family vault was the cup of Helga Hufflepuff," Harry told him. All the goblins reacted strongly to this news.

"Many years before Tom Riddle Jnr had killed Hepzibah Smith and framed her house elf for her murder. This was done solely so that he could steal this cup and another item from her as he greatly desired them."

"He stole it?" The head Goblin asked with undisguised curiosity, "Why?"

"He stole it as he desired to make another Horcrux to house a fragment of his soul," Harry explained to the horror of the goblins and their human guards.

"We had a Horcrux under our care?" The Head Goblin hissed angrily in disbelief.

"You did indeed." Harry replied, "Tom Riddle Jnr used the murder of Hepzibah Smith to split his soul yet again so that a fragment of it could be placed into Hufflepuffs cup."

"The reason why he chose her cup is that he deemed only objects of great historical importance to be worthy of housing his soul."

"What did you do with the cup?" The Head Goblin asked Harry.

"We destroyed it," I told him.

"We?" The Head Goblin asked as he regarded me with his cold looking eyes. Curiously his face didn't seem to contain the open animosity that was on display before.

"Or you?" The Head Goblin enquired of me.

"Yes, I destroyed it," I told him. As I said this, I reached into my beaded bag and retrieved the remains of Hufflepuffs cup and handed it to him. "As you can see for yourself, it has been magically destroyed beyond repair."

The Head Goblin took the cup from my hands and carefully examined it for several long moments. Eventually and somewhat surprisingly he handed it back to me.

"It seems that you are indeed telling the truth, Mr Potter." The Head Goblin remarked as he closely regarded Harry for a few moments. "In our dealings with wizards, we have found that to be a scarce thing. But then, from all reports, you are indeed an extraordinary and rare wizard, Mr Potter." The Head Goblin replied cryptically.

"I do believe that I will accept your apology, Mr Potter." The Head Goblin stated, "On your behalf and that of your friends also."

"But I feel I must warn you also. Our defences have been significantly increased since your incident." He advised us, "So you will not be so lucky next time." He cautioned the three of us.

"Thank you." Harry replied calmly, "I can assure you that I have no intention of EVER doing anything like that ever again." Harry explained.

"That would be best." The Head Goblin replied as he looked at both Ron and me also. We indicated our agreement with Harry and the Head Goblin also seemed to accept this as well.

Looking much more relieved than he was before Bill continued on with his interrupted introductions. He introduced Ginny to the Head Goblin. However, the Head Goblin almost ignored her completely as his attention had moved on to Dave. Ginny looked to be very happy at being dismissed so quickly. Because as she told me later the Head Goblin kind of 'creeped her out' and she was glad to escape his attention.

"Head Goblin, I would like to introduce Auror David Webb of the Australasian Auror service." Bill said as he indicated Dave who was leaning against the vault door watching with open curiosity, "He is the son of Minister Webb and my cousin." Bill explained. As he was introduced, Dave stopped leaning against the wall of Harry's vault and stood up. He inclined his head in polite greeting to the Head Goblin.

"Your cousin?" The Head Goblin asked Bill. "This wasn't mentioned in the report I was given." He snapped at one of his underlings who now looked very uncomfortable.

"It was a recent discovery," Dave explained in his professional tone of voice. "I'm sure that you're aware that my mother was thrown out by her family when they thought that she was a squib?" Dave enquired. The Head Goblin indicated that he did.

"On Thursday of last week when my mother and Molly Weasley met for the first time it was discovered that they were actually sisters." Dave explained, "It was quite a shock for both of them, as they hadn't known about each other up until that point. They have however quickly warmed to the situation, and are now doing their best to make up for lost time."

"I see." The Head Goblin replied thoughtfully. "It can be pleasing to reconnect with family." He said watching Dave very closely.

"Yes, it can be," Dave agreed, he continued to observe the Head Goblin while keeping a neutral posture.

"I must admit Auror Webb that I was extremely reluctant to allow you to visit here today." He advised Dave. Ivan and Bill reacted to this news with disappointment and traces of anger, they held their tongues however and didn't reply. Dave, however, continued to calmly observe the Head Goblin.

"Bill Weasley was convinced that you posed no threat to Gringotts. He also vouched for you, that you would cause no 'issues' for us during your visit." He explained. I saw Dave flash a grateful smile to Bill who looked slightly embarrassed by this revelation. "He also suggested that I should contact our offices in Australia to confirm his confidence in you. Along with getting some factual information on you and your family."

"I followed his advice and received a full report on you and your family from them." He advised Dave. "You might be interested to know that while they regard you as one of the most significant dangers to Gringotts. They also regard you and your family amongst our biggest and most important customers." He reported. Dave bowed his head slightly to the Head Goblin at this compliment, but he didn't say anything. The rest of us were more than a little surprised at this information. After a few moments, the Head Goblin continued on.

"In their report, they provided a complete breakdown on all of your rather interesting abilities." He stated as he watched Dave very intently, "Or as I suspect, the ones they know about at least." He added. Once more Dave was silent and merely watched the Head Goblin.

"The report also covered the tests that they put you through, to discern if you had indeed stolen any of our secrets of metal work. Along with the demonstrations that you had given to them as well." He said still watching Dave for any type of reaction. "I must confess it was fascinating reading." The Head Goblin added as his eyes seemed to come alive at his memory of the report.

Looking around at the others who were present I'm sure that we were all having the same thoughts, that we would all like to be able to read THAT report. Dave, however, was still just calmly watching the Head Goblin with no sign of any outward reaction.

"I would like to know if you would consent to a demonstration of your unique abilities for me." The Head Goblin enquired. This request caused a stir of excitement not only from those of us in the vault. But also from the goblins who were outside in the tunnel.

Dave, however, didn't react past an inclination of his head, to indicate his acceptance of the request. He then closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he did this Bill, and the goblins both looked a little surprised for a moment. Then Dave opened his eyes and smiled at the Head Goblin. This reaction wasn't expected by the Head Goblin, but it did arouse his curiosity.

"Do Gringotts employees get bonuses for the treasures that they discover?" Dave asked the Head Goblin, with a sly sort of look on his face.

"They do indeed." The Head Goblin replied. His expression indicated that he had already caught on to what Dave was in the process of doing. He seemed only too happy to follow along and watch as it unfolded.

Dave smiled at this answer and calmly walked over to Bill. He whispered something into Bill's ear. This caused Bill to look very shocked and even slightly worried at what Dave had said to him.

The Head Goblin was openly smiling at what he had just witnessed. He moved to stand in front of Bill and caught his attention.

"Speak Bill Weasley, and fear not for your words." The Head Goblin intoned formally. Bill looked (if possible) even more startled at this development. Clearing his suddenly dry throat, Bill spoke up.

"I believe that if we tunnelled into the wall opposite this vault door, we would find something to our benefit." He advised The Head Goblin.

"Would we indeed?" The Head Goblin asked with a look of disbelief and curiosity. "How far would we need to tunnel?" He asked Bill.

Bill cast a slightly nervous glance at Dave, who merely smiled and nodded in return. "15 meters," Bill told the Head Goblin in an apprehensive voice.

The Head Goblin inclined his head to Bill and with surprising agility jumped across the tunnel to land on the far side. He positioned himself directly opposite the vault door and turned to look at Bill.

"15 meters directly into the wall from this point?" He asked Bill.

"Yes," Bill replied after a nervous glance at Dave (who had only smiled in return).

Acknowledging Bill's answer, The Head Goblin placed his hands on the wall of the tunnel and began to speak rapidly in Gobbledegook. After a few minutes, The Head Goblin stepped to one side and watched as the section of wall he had just been standing in front of turned into sand and flowed into the tunnel. The flow of sand disappeared over the edge of the rock walkway, between it and the track for the carts.

When the flow of sand had ended the goblins quickly cast some charms to allow everyone to cross to the other side of the tunnel. We all eagerly followed Bill, Dave and the assembled Goblins to meet up with the Head Goblin and follow him into the newly made tunnel.

As we approached the end of the tunnel, we could clearly see something in the rock. Both Bill and The Head Goblin seemed to recognise what it was, and they seemed to be quite excited about it as well. When the Head Goblin reached the end of the tunnel, he again placed his hands on the rock at various points and once more spoke rapidly in Gobbledegook.

Once more the rock turned to sand and flowed out of the tunnel. This time however only a small amount was removed, as the Head Goblin was merely clearing it out of the way to uncover more of what we had seen earlier.

When he stepped back, we could see running from one side of the tunnel to the other were several veins of gold. They looked to be as thick as a broom handle, but in places, they were almost as thick as a man's leg.

"I thank you for this information Bill." The Head Goblin said to Bill in a pleased tone of voice. "I'll personally ensure that you receive the usual bonus for this find." He advised him.

"Thank you," Bill said inclining his head in acknowledgement.

"Do you know how far this vein runs?" He asked Bill.

Looking slightly alarmed Bill turned to Dave and had a quick whispered conversation. While this was going on the Head Goblin had politely turned his back and was regarding the gold before him.

Bill cleared his throat again briefly to gain the attention of the Head Goblin. "It goes up for another 200m" Bill informed the Head Goblin, "It also continues on down at the angle shown for just over a mile." He added.

The Head Goblin's eyes widened at this news, and for a brief moment, he had a look of excitement and hunger on his face. The expression quickly disappeared, however. It changed to one that almost looked like he was impressed with the find.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention." He said to both Bill and Dave. Both of them acknowledged the compliment. Dave placed his hand on the vein of gold, and his face then had a blank look for a moment, after which he again whispered in Bill's ear. Bill listened and then again addressed the Head Goblin.

"Below the lower end of this vein is a layer of exceptionally tough granite." Bill reported, "Underneath that layer of granite is an underground river. So, care should be taken not to cause any unnecessary damage to it." He advised.

"Thank you, Bill." The Head Goblin replied, "I will ensure that the appropriate steps are taken."

"I would also like to thank you for your demonstration, Auror Webb." He said formally. "It was most enlightening."

Dave smiled as he acknowledged the compliment. "Your welcome." He replied.

"You do indeed possess very unique skills, as was reported." The Head Goblin said regarding Dave with something close to approval, "Were these the skills you used to locate the gold that Mr Arthur Weasley deposited today?" He enquired.

"Yes, they were the main skills used." Dave replied, "Although I did have to use some different ones to bring it up closer to the surface to allow Uncle Arthur to dig it out of the ground." Dave explained.

"I see." The Head Goblin replied thoughtfully as he carefully watched Dave. "I do believe that I would like to offer you a job here at Gringotts Auror Webb. If you are interested, that is."

This caused a few startled reactions from our group. Although Bill didn't look surprised at all. If anything, he seemed slightly smug at having predicted this.

"Thank you for your very kind and generous offer." Dave replied, "It is very tempting. However, I do not wish to be the cause of Gringotts breaking International Wizarding law."

At this reply, the Head Goblin's eyes widened in surprise for a few moments.

"So, the stories are true then?" He enquired of Dave.

"Yes, they are," Dave replied almost sadly. I was itching to know what stories the Head Goblin was referring to. The looks on the faces of the others distinctly showed that they were in agreement with me as well.

"Indeed?" The Head Goblin replied looking both surprised and slightly awed as well. "Well, I thank you for your candour and honesty. If the subject is ever raised with us, rest assured that the Goblins would vote for the removal of such restrictions."

This reply looked to catch Dave off guard for a moment. "I thank you for your support and vote of confidence," Dave replied warmly.

"While I cannot work for your great establishment, I do fully support friendly and mutually beneficial relations between Gringotts and both the Australian and British Ministries of Magic," Dave told the Head Goblin while casting his eyes onto his father and Arthur. The Head Goblin caught Dave's meaning loud and clear, and he smiled in agreement.

"Mutually beneficial endeavours are something that we will happily agree to." The Head Goblin replied with a slight inclination of his head to Dave, Ivan and Arthur. "We are also pleased to support the 'recent endeavours', and we believe that have already begun to bear fruit?" He enquired.

"Indeed, they have," Arthur replied. "They have already lead to the capture of some key members of the Lestrange family organisation," Arthur told him.

"That is good news." The Head Goblin replied. "Hopefully all our future endeavours are as fruitful." He stated.

"Agreed." Arthur and Ivan replied together. Dave only smiled his reply.

The Head Goblin then turned to Bill. "Mr Weasley if you have any other 'tunnelling suggestions' to make…" He said with a sidelong look to Dave, "Please feel free to do so. As long as you tell me first." He advised.

"I certainly will," Bill replied looking oddly relieved.

We then headed back to Harry's vault where the books and photo albums that we had placed near the door were collected by the goblins so that they could be 'checked out'. Splitting up into carts, we began our ride back up to the surface.

On arrival in the lobby, we were met by an official-looking goblin who handed a selection of documents to the Head Goblin. After a quick glance at the papers, The Head Goblin passed them to Ivan.

"We have located the vault into which your father's wages were paid, based on the account number you provided." He advised Ivan.

"That is excellent news," Ivan replied excitedly. "Can you tell me which vault it is?"

"Certainly." The Head Goblin replied as he quickly glanced at the parchment in his hands, "It was vault 687." He answered. As he did so, Harry looked like he might explode. Arthur, Bill, Ginny and Ron also appeared to be extremely excited. I have to admit that my excitement was also rising.

"That's my parent's personal vault," Harry exclaimed as his excitement got the better of him.

"Your parent's vault?" Ivan asked looking very startled. "Are you sure?" He enquired.

"Yes." Harry, Arthur, Bill, Ron, Ginny and I all answered together. This seemed to rattle Ivan and Dave both. They were both looking very wild-eyed and shocked just now.

"Excuse me." Harry asked the Head Goblin, "Has Vault 687 always been in the Potter family?" He asked him.

"No." The Head Goblin answered. This answer took the wind right out of Harry's sails and brought the rest of us down to earth with a thud also.

"Vault 687, is not a hereditary vault. So its ownership changes from time to time." He explained to Harry. "The Potter family are merely the latest custodians of it." He advised.

"I see." A very dejected Harry replied. "Do you know how long my family have had ownership of that vault?" He asked.

"Before your father, we cannot say just now." The Head Goblin replied, "Our records look to have been affected magically somehow. We are endeavouring to confirm that information for you all, however." He told us.

"Do you know what happened to the contents of Vault 687, after my father's conviction?" Ivan asked while watching the Head Goblin closely.

"We know that it was transferred to another vault within Gringotts." The Head Goblin replied, "However, at this time we cannot say which one, as that information also looks to have been affected magically."

"I see." Ivan replied with his disappointment clear, "Was it taken by the Ministry of the day?" He asked.

"It wasn't." The Head Goblin replied quite confidently. Seeing the questioning looks that were directed at him, he explained further. "The destination of the contents of the vault isn't listed, but the details of the Goblins who performed the transfer of the contents is still shown." He said as he indicated the stack of parchment in Ivan's hands.

"I can confidently say Minister, that your father's family must be amongst the oldest Wizarding families in Briton. As the team of goblins listed only looked after the vaults for the very oldest of wizarding families. Both hereditary vaults and personal ones as well." He advised.

"Another interesting fact is that for the number of team members listed to have been involved, it must have been a significant transaction." He explained.

"Well, that is some fascinating news," Ivan remarked thoughtfully. "Anything else that you can find out about the vault or the transaction that occurred would be very gratefully received." He advised the Head Goblin.

"We will endeavour to do all that we can to locate the full story for you Minister." The Head Goblin replied.

That 'full story' was to prove to be very enlightening, and we were all eager to find it out.

"Thank you." Ivan and Harry replied at almost the same time.

"There is also a character reference in that collection of parchment that I think you might like to see." The Head Goblin advised Ivan.

Hearing this Ivan quickly located the document in question and read through it. The expression on his face told us of its contents long before his voice did, however.

Clearing his throat, Ivan read from the document:

 _"I have known him, and his family since the time of his birth. His family are a credit to the wizarding world, and he has made his parents justifiably proud of him."_

"It is signed by Henry Potter," Ivan said with a touch of sadness as he returned the document to the others.

The last glimmers of hope died in Harry's eyes. Ivan and Dave also looked like they were reliving an all too familiar form of heartache as well.

The goblins had also picked up on this change in the mood, and they took their leave of our group politely and returned to their other tasks. They very quickly and efficiently checked out the items we had removed from Harry's family vault. These were placed into a magically expanded Gringotts bag. I then put that bag into my own beaded bag.

Our group made our way to the door of Gringotts for a quick trip into Diagon Alley, as Ivan wished to visit Mr Ollivander if he was able to do so.

As I watched Harry and Dave lead the way to the front door, they looked to have lost a great deal of their previous energy and enthusiasm. Even Ron seemed to be feeling down.

Glancing at Bill, I could see him watching the boys with a concerned look on his face. Ginny also looked to be mirroring Bill's concerns.


	55. Ambushes and Interviews

The three boys had just made it down the front steps and into the street out the front of Gringotts when Bill's voice called out for them to duck. I looked at where he was pointing and saw two people drawing their wands and pointing them at the group. Ivan quickly dispatched the two with some very quick stunners of the type Dave had demonstrated previously at the Burrow.

Only one of the two was able to get a stunner off at the boys and Harry was able to quickly block it. They then began to make their way back up the steps when another two attackers appeared, one of them raised his wand and pointed it at their backs. As he did so a familiar looking brownish hex was launched from it. The moment the Hex left his wand, Dave turned to face him, and in a repeat of his duelling session with Auror Graves, he caught the spell and sent it back to his attacker.

The difference being that this time the spell that he sent back was a much darker brown and had been duplicated. As both attackers were struck by the same dark brown hex. They fell to the ground screaming and in undeniable agony. From where I was standing they looked to be getting attacked by their own bogeys, but they were much larger than the bat bogeys that I had seen Ginny produce before.

While this had been happening both Ivan and Arthur had their mirror phones out and were calling in reinforcements. Ivan was calling Dave's team while Arthur was calling in Gawain and his Aurors. Bill and Arthur were trying to direct Ginny and me away from the battle in the street. The three boys were still at the base of the steps, only now they were standing back to back and were fighting off multiple sets of attackers. Their attackers looked to be coming at them from all sides. Yet the response from the boys seemed to be very restrained and measured. The reason for this didn't become clearer until afterwards.

Dave's team along with Pepper, Percy, George and Charlie, began arriving. Most of them were appearing further out from where the boys were. This enabled them to be able to engage the bulk of the attackers from behind. Fireball and Shelly, however, appeared right next to their father. Gawain, Greg, Walt and Faye Apparated next to us at about the same time also.

Ivan exchanged a quick blank look with Fireball and Shelly. They both then grabbed Gawain and disappeared. Very shortly afterwards Gawain re-appeared with Harry and Ron in tow.

"Why did you pull us out of there?" Ron angrily demanded of Gawain.

"He did so at my request," Ivan told him in a tone that indicated that no arguments were to be entered into. "You and Harry look to be the main targets of this attack. As such we need to deny you to the enemy." He explained.

"You expect us to hide?" Harry almost snapped at Ivan.

"No, I expect you to do your job and play your part." Ivan coolly advised him.

During this exchange, Gawain had been looking around and was assessing the situation. When he turned to look over his shoulder into the street the light of comprehension dawned on him, he then displayed a vicious grin. One that put me in mind of a dragon that has just realised that it was free to pursue its prey.

"Trainee Auror Potter and Weasley." He snapped. Both Harry and Ron were caught completely off guard by this comment. They both quickly faced Gawain and gave him their full attention, however. "Haven't you realised yet what is going on here?" He asked them. Both of the boys still looked to be a little confused as to what Gawain was getting at.

"You are not being taken out of this fight." Gawain told them, "You're about to be thrown fully into it." He explained as he pointed over his shoulder into the street.

As I looked to where he was pointing, I had to do a double take to fully realise what it was that I was seeing. In the middle of the street were the three boys still fighting with the same measured response as before. But Harry and Ron were visibly standing next to us on the steps.

"What?" Harry remarked.

"Those three are out there in the street to draw the attention and fire of the enemy." Gawain explained while pointing to Dave and his sisters, "This leaves the rest of us free to HUNT THEM ALL DOWN." He instructed Harry and Ron with an iron resolve mixed with eagerness in his voice. Harry's and then Ron's expression indicated that they now understood what was going on.

"Where do we start?" Harry asked trying to hide a grin.

"Rooftops?" Gawain enquired of Ivan.

"Rooftops sounds good to me," Ivan replied calmly as he held out some earpieces. We all quickly took one and were assigned to teams of three. We then took the fight to those that were firing on the 'boys' in the street.

It was a very different approach to how I had experienced battle before. Watching Gawain and his Aurors as well as Dave's team, they did everything that they could to not engage 'head on' with their opponents. When they did so, it seemed to be only to hold them in place for others to move into position behind them.

As strange as I found it I couldn't argue with its effectiveness. In a much shorter time than what I thought possible we had neutralised and secured all of the attackers. As each attacker was taken out, they were securely bound and thoroughly searched for weapons and wands.

To Dave's and Gawain's disbelief, none of the attackers looked to have been carrying a backup wand. This led the two of them to believe that they were not 'professionals'. When they were all gathered together in the street, we realised that there was a sizeable number of them. In all 27 attackers had been captured and secured, the only exceptions were the two who were still on the ground screaming and being attacked by their own bogeys. As we got closer to them, I realised that their bogeys were roughly shaped like an eagle.

When Dave cancelled the Hex, I also noticed that unlike the Bat-Bogey Hex, this 'Eagle Bogey Hex' left the faces of the two attackers a literal bloody mess. Several of us found it difficult to look at the remains of the faces of the two in the street. Dave, however, seemed to be immune to their cries of pain.

"Who sent you?" He asked them in a calm and dispassionate tone of voice.

The two of them made sounds like they might have been attempting to speak, but the sounds were completely unintelligible. I'm still not sure if that was from the damage inflicted by their own bogeys or if it was because of their extended bout of screaming.

"Let's get them cleaned up and out of here." Gawain advised Dave, "In case there are any more around. We can question them properly back at the office." He suggested. After a quick glance at Gawain, Dave agreed. He then cleaned up the blood from the faces of the two attackers. When this had been done, we could see the damage that had been done by the Hex.

Dave then reassembled the bits of bloody flesh of the two who were on the ground and re-joined the pieces into a single complete nose again. Once this had been done the scars left behind were very clear to see. I looked over at Ginny and saw her go very pale at witnessing the results of this Hex that she had viewed at such close range last Thursday at the Burrow.

Gawain's Aurors along with some of Dave's team then began taking the prisoners back to the Ministry. Dave and Gawain were searching the two Dave had just healed. During this search, some familiar looking throwing knives were uncovered.

"Do you want to take these?" Dave asked Gawain.

"For the time being, until we know more about them I'm happy for you to secure them in those cases that you use," Gawain replied.

"Understood," Dave answered as he and Shelly quickly had them secured in the clear cases and secured in the box that he pulled out of his wallet.

"I will let Kingsley know what we did with those knives," Gawain told Dave. Dave nodded his agreement and with that Gawain took the two prisoners and Apparated away to the Ministry.

"Was that the Eagle Bogey Hex that you used on them?" Ginny asked Dave in a small frightened voice. She also looked very pale after witnessing the results of the Hex.

"Yes, it was," Dave answered her calmly.

"That was the same Hex that you changed my Hex into on the day we first met you?" She asked in a small voice, "It could have done that to me?"

"It was the same Hex," Dave replied calmly. Everyone looked to be a little surprised at how calmly he answered that question. "But it would not have done that to you." He explained.

"It wouldn't have?" Ginny asked confusedly. "Why?"

"Because I was a guest at your house." Dave explained, "It would have gotten VERY close to you, but it would never have touched you." He told her.

Ginny and indeed the rest of us were all looking at Dave in amazement, but we also all had questions about his response.

"While your actions on that day angered me more than you could have possibly known at the time" Dave explained, "I hadn't forgotten that I was a guest in your father's house. I certainly hadn't forgotten whose house it was, that I was a guest in also." He told her in a gentle voice. But it also perfectly conveyed his feelings on the matter.

"I understand," Ginny told him as she went and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry." She apologised to him.

"There is nothing to be sorry for Ginny." Dave told her with a smile as he returned her hug, "We were both a little blunt that day. Besides we have already taken care of it." He said with a chuckle.

"We can discuss this further back at the Burrow," Ivan suggested, and Arthur readily agreed. "We don't know if there are any more of them lurking nearby." He advised us.

We all then quickly apparated away.

Arriving at the Burrow, we were met by a clearly worried Molly who quickly located Arthur and checked to see if he was alright. Sandra likewise did the same with Ivan, Fleur with Bill. Gabrielle wasn't far behind in finding Dave and also checking that he wasn't injured. They were all a little startled by the sudden departure of Dave's team.

Once Molly has checked over Arthur she moved on to check over Ginny, me and then Ron. Then Molly and Sandra both checked Harry to make sure he was ok as well. This seemed to surprise Harry and amuse Ron and Dave.

It was only once the girls had gotten everyone back into the Burrow's kitchen and were able to assure themselves that their 'kids' were safe and sound, did the scolding actually begin. Ivan looked to be well used to this and calmly took it in his stride and started to explain what had occurred and what they did about it.

Bill and Arthur also looked to quickly follow Ivan's lead in the explanations. The snag in this plan, however, proved to be Gabrielle. She was becoming rather upset, and a little angry as the story of the attack unfolded. Partway through the story, Dave's mirror phone buzzed with a message, after reading it Dave had a smile on his face (this turned out to not be a good move on his part).

"Gawain tells us that the individuals who were behind the attack earlier, are known members of various gangs of 'snatchers' as he calls them," Dave informed us all. "The two who had their own Hex sent back at them are now singing like proverbial canaries. They are giving Gawain and his team all sorts of useful information. Gawain sends his thanks for such a lovely gift." He advised with a smile.

"All in all, a good morning's work." He stated happily. This appeared to be the wrong thing to say to an already unhappy Gabrielle.

"So you zink zat being attacked and maybe injured or worse is a good zing?" She snapped at a shocked Dave. "Why were you not taken away like 'arry and Ron?" She demanded.

"I was doing my job," Dave replied calmly. Although it was evident, he was surprised by the passion and heat in her voice.

"Ez it your job to be a target for le malfaiteur?" She demanded.

"Le malfaiteur?" Dave asked with a slightly puzzled look. I did notice the effect this look had on Gabrielle, and she had to focus for a moment to keep her anger on Dave.

"Et means criminal or bad guy." Fleur translated for Dave. She too was showing signs of being equally amused and angry with him just now. The play of emotions across her face was almost as entertaining as the ones on Gabrielle's.

"Merci," Dave replied smiling at her (and with a few chuckles from the assembled group) before he returned his attention back to Gabrielle.

"Yes. Sometimes it is." Dave explained to a very shocked Gabrielle. "During an attack or an ambush like we just experienced, it is standard procedure to get the main targets of the attack removed from the scene as quickly as possible."

"This is done to both deny the attackers a 'success' as well as frustrating them into making mistakes." He said as he held Gabrielle's eyes with his own.

"In the case of today's attack, the primary targets had a special significance, so the need to keep them out of the main 'line of fire' was much higher than usual." He explained, "As I wasn't one of the primary targets it was my job to stay behind and with some of my teammates draw the fire of the attackers to keep them pinned in place."

This statement proved to be too much for Gabrielle.

"Why do you not consider yourself to be special? Why?" She almost pleaded, "As you are VERY special to moi." She exclaimed with tears running down her cheeks, as she made to move for the door. While she was significantly closer to the door than Dave was, she never made it that far.

Once more displaying 'enhanced movement' (as I later found out) Dave quickly positioned himself in front of an amazed Gabrielle.

"Will you give me a few moments to explain? Please?" He calmly requested of her, "It is important." He added as he briefly held her in his arms for a few moments. When he released her from his embrace, he once again looked directly into her eyes while wiping away her tears. When she gave him a brief nod, he again smiled at her and said simply, "Merci." This generated a small smile that was quickly banished from Gabrielle's face. Although Fleur and her parents had evidently seen it and shared a secret smile amongst themselves.

"This has nothing whatsoever to do with personal feelings." Dave advised her with a gentle smile, "While it means more to me than you can know, that you consider me to be special. This is bigger than that." He explained to her with another smile and a kiss. This time Gabrielle didn't banish the smile from her face.

"What those attackers were aiming for today was, trying to destroy hope." He advised her, "Far more than any physical damage or injuries that they might have inflicted on any of us. They were trying to destroy hope."

"Because if they managed to kill or injure even a single member of the 'golden trio', they would have very efficiently brought back the atmosphere of fear and worry that the Death Eaters had previously tried so hard to create." He explained to her. This comment also brought several thoughtful looks on the faces of Harry and Ron, as well as myself (as I was later told).

"By showing that Harry, Ron or Hermione could be injured or killed they would have been saying to the Wizarding population of Britain 'See what we can do to your heroes, imagine what we can do to you'."

"Whether they like it or not, Hermione, Ron and Harry are living breathing symbols of hope. As such they are potent weapons for both good as well as evil." Dave explained to Gabrielle as he looked up and took in the crowd in the Burrow's kitchen. He paid particular attention to Harry, Ron and me. He held his gaze on each of us until we acknowledged the message that he was trying to impart to us. After a few brief moments of thought, we all got 'the message'.

"Hope may not have the power of love, but it isn't far behind," Dave explained to Gabrielle and the rest of us. "For with it, people will tackle a seemingly impossible task over and over again. They may not succeed the first or even the tenth time that they try. But as long as that hope is there, they will keep on trying."

"Ultimately that's what Harry, Ron and Hermione represent," Dave told her pointing at the three of us in turn. "They represent that there can be a better tomorrow for all. It may be a bloody long, hard, frustrating and winding road to get there. But with hope in their hearts, people will be willing to try it."

"If we didn't defend it and allowed that hope to die, then all the sacrifice, pain and suffering that everyone recently went through would have been basically for naught." He explained with passion beginning to show in his voice. "Taking into consideration what just the people in this room have sacrificed, I wasn't willing to let that happen." He said with an iron resolve showing. His statement clearly showed that he listed his brother amongst those sacrifices, and I could see him not allowing Jimmy's death to be in vain.

"Does that explain to you why we all did what we did?" Dave asked her as he finished drying the tears on her cheeks.

"Oui." She answered as she burrowed her way into Dave's arms and just held him for several moments. I'm not sure who enjoyed that hug more. But it certainly did bring out several sets of smiles in the room.

"Do you know why our unit's insignia is a Lantern and a Shield?" He asked Gabrielle.

"Non." She replied as she made herself comfortable cuddling up to Dave. Dave looked up at the others in the room to see if any of us had an idea that we were willing to share.

"Is it because that one of your main tasks is to restore people's hope?" I asked before I could help myself.

Dave smiled brilliantly at me before he replied. "That's precisely it Hermione." He replied happily.

"Our unit is concerned with getting people to once again hope, to believe that things can be improved. The muggles call it the 'hearts and minds' approach." He explained, "We teach and train people who are in the area where we are operating. We teach them to believe again, in the rule of law, along with their institutions. But most importantly we get them to have hope, and we do all that we can to fan the fires of that hope."

"The shield is there because we also protect those who are working with us (as well as those who can't protect themselves) while they work on rebuilding their part of the world." He advised her.

"I'm very proud to serve in a unit that has this as its goal and reason for existence." He told Gabrielle with a smile and a kiss.

"While I will do everything in my power…" he said as we all felt (physically and magically) a tremendous surge of magical energy around us. Dave's eyes looked almost like they were glowing as he was saying this to Gabrielle, "…to live up to the promise that I made to you. I cannot and will not back away from my responsibilities to my team and my role within it." He told her with a serious note to his voice. The conviction on that statement also couldn't be ignored either.

Gabrielle looked into Dave's eyes for several moments before she seemed to find what she was looking for. She then gave Dave a very loving smile and pulled his face down for several kisses and a hug.

After Dave's explanation of his view of the world, we all had things to think over. I think this incident along with the attack brought home to me, Ron and Harry that our part in the downfall of Tom Riddle Jnr would indeed follow us around for the rest of our lives. Irrespective of if we wanted it to or not.

Molly was the first one to join Dave and Gabrielle in their embrace. She was quickly joined by Sandra, Apolline, Fleur, Ginny, me and Audrey. Even Dave's sisters and cousin joined in with a roll of their eyes and a good-natured giggle between them. Although I did notice that Cassy made sure that Charlie also came up with her so that she could cuddle him as well.

Once Charlie was up, the other boys quickly joined in as well. I think the only thing stopping the other members of Dave's team joining in was that we were so close to the kitchen door that they couldn't get in.

It was a beautiful moment. Of course, George had to ruin it by putting a charmed rubber snake down the back of Audrey's top and then trying to pin the blame on Ron. This quickly caused the 'group hug' to break up, and we all returned to our original positions. Leaving Dave in the middle of the group.

"Why was it a good thing for them to keep on attacking you in the street like that?" Ginny asked Dave.

"For them to attack us like that, they had to tell us where they were," Dave replied with a small smile. Seeing the look of confusion on Ginny's face, he thought for a moment.

"How about a simplified visual demonstration?" He suggested.

"Ok," Ginny replied happily. I did notice that Ron also was paying more attention with a demonstration on offer.

"Harry, you're the closest. Do you want to help me with this?" Dave asked.

"Sure, I'm game." Was Harry's reply as he extracted himself from Ginny's arms.

"Excellent." Dave replied happily, "Let's make this a fair demonstration, then shall we?" He suggested just before he altered his size and build to match that of Harry.

As he did this the room fell silent. We were all staring at the two of them in wonder. Even Harry looked to be caught off guard. Sandra was speechless as she looked at the two of them. She glanced at Ivan only to see him looking with puzzlement at Dave and Harry. He was also a little confused at the reaction of the others in the room.

Now that Dave was the same size and build as Harry they were almost indistinguishable from each other. The only differences being their eye colour, Harry's scar and glasses along with their clothes.

"Did you only change your size, Dave?" Arthur asked as he continued to look at the two boys.

"Along with build and weight to match Harry." Dave replied with a slightly worried look, "Why? Did I lose something?" He asked as he put his hands on his face and checked his nose, eyebrows, hair and ears. This caused several of us to burst into laughter at Dave's actions.

"No, you didn't forget anything," Molly told Dave while she too was looking at him in wonder while smiling at the pair of them.

"You sure?" Dave asked. "Everyone's looking at me as though there is something wrong with my appearance," Dave replied.

"Hey…" Harry began to reply before Ginny quickly stamped on his foot while trying not to laugh at the situation. But there was also a gleam showing in her eyes that indicated that she had made up her mind about something.

"Everything is fine Dave," Fleur told him with a smile on her face. "Continue on" She suggested and then once Dave's back was turned she looked to Bill with an expression on her face that clearly showed how close she was to entirely lose control of the smile that wanted to escape and take over her face.

"If you say so," Dave replied with a look of suspicion at the assembled crowd. By the time his gaze returned to Fleur, she had managed to get herself more under control, and she merely returned his look.

"Ok Harry, stand about an arm's length behind me," Dave instructed as he turned his back to Harry.

"Let's assume that Harry is out to cause me harm." Dave suggested, "I'm vaguely aware of his plans but have no proof that I can act on. I also do not know what he looks like. So even if I'm actively searching for him, I'm unsure where exactly to look for him." He explained as he reached out with his arms as though searching.

"Now, if Harry were to attack me I'd instantly have more information than I do now." He said as he turned to Harry, "Grab a fistful of my hair Harry." He instructed as he then faced away from Harry. Shrugging Harry stepped forward and reached out with his right hand and grabbed a good handful of Dave's hair on top of his head.

"Ok now that Harry has 'attacked' me, he has given me some excellent information," Dave told us with a small smile. "Who do you think has the 'upper hand' in a situation like this?" He asked Ginny.

"Harry does." She replied.

"Why?" Dave asked her.

"He can pull on your hair causing you pain, maybe even causing you to fall over." She suggested.

"Ok, some valid points there. But they can also be easily countered." Dave replied with an evil grin beginning to show. "To counter the pain that Harry may cause by grabbing my hair I can do this." He said as he reached up and placed his hands so that they covered Harry's hands on top of his head.

"By holding Harry's hand to my head, I stop him from causing me pain by pulling on my hair," Dave explained. "I've also learnt more about Harry in the process."

"What do you think I have learnt?" Dave asked Ginny.

"How soft his hands are?" She offered with a chuckle at Harry's expression. The rest of us also had a laugh at poor Harry.

"While you are indeed correct, they are very soft. Almost tender." Dave replied with his evil grin on full display. Harry looked to be about to protest, but Ginny silenced him with a look. "That isn't what I was thinking of. Any other thoughts?"

"No," Ginny replied as she was carefully watching Dave.

"Ok then, let's run through what I have learnt from Harry grabbing me like this," Dave suggested. "From placing my hands-on top of the one that Harry used to grab me, I can tell that he grabbed me with his right hand," Dave explained.

"How?" Ron asked with his curiosity in high gear.

"By the position of his thumb and his knuckles," Dave explained as he pointed out where Harry's thumb and knuckles were located. "If he had grabbed me with his left hand the thumb would be on the other side. Unless he is built very differently to everyone else that is." Dave added with a chuckle.

"I can also obviously tell that he is behind me." He said with a look like he was stating 'the bleeding obvious'. "But from the angle of his wrist and forearm I can also make a good guess as to the angle of his arm and from that, I can make a guess as to his height and thus how far behind me he is," Dave explained.

All of us in the room (the exceptions were Dave's family and team) were now starting to show 'the light of comprehension' as we later found out it was called.

"With that information, I can plan my response," Dave advised.

"What sort of response can you offer?" Ginny asked a moment before Ron did.

"Well, I can either chose to turn like this with my elbow out," Dave said as he turned to his right and placed his bent elbow on Harry's straight one. "Doing that would easily break Harry's elbow, and that would most likely cause him to let go," Dave explained to Ginny as he returned to his original position.

"Or I can turn the opposite direction and bring my hands up to Harry's face like this…" He said as he placed one hand under Harry's chin and mimed pushing upwards and back. "Or I can turn and duck like this coming to stand under Harry's armpit and then simply stand up." He suggested as he did just that and stood up slightly. This caused Harry an amount of discomfort, and he also had to change position into a distinctly uncomfortable and unbalanced stance.

Dave then allowed Harry to move back to a more comfortable stance. He then stood back after making sure that he was okay (which he was).

"Each time an opponent launches an attack on you, it creates a situation that is a mixture of both danger and opportunity," Dave explained. "The danger is there because there is an element of risk in any type of attack. But the opportunity is there because you have the chance to learn more about your opponent, or opponents as the case may be."

"Those people today presented an opportunity that we didn't want to pass up," Dave advised. "I certainly didn't want to waste it by letting them get away." He added with a certain hungry gleam in his eye.

"So, we used the opportunity that presented itself. After first ensuring the safety of the primary targets that is." He said with a smile at Harry and Ron.

"That opportunity was to further draw them out, so we could gather up as many as possible of them." He explained. "That's why it was a 'good' thing for them to attack us in the street like that." He added with a smile at Ginny.

"Mind you, having said that I wouldn't have objected if they had just shown up and turned themselves in. But alas that doesn't seem to happen much these days." He chuckled.

"It is important to remember, that unless they are over very quickly, Ambushes can work 'both ways'." He instructed us, as he did so Dave looked to both Harry and Ron for confirmation that they understood what it was that he was trying to say.

"Those attackers thought that they had their targets pinned down in the street." He explained, "But because we were able to set up a solid and measured defence very quickly, we were able to turn the tables on them and effectively pin them in place."

"That then gave us a chance to call in re-enforcements and go after them." He added with a grin.

"Here endeth the lesson," Ivan said with a chuckle as everyone turned to look at him.

"Sorry." Ivan said with a grin, "It was starting to sound too much like a lecture from the academy." He added as Sandra indicated with her agreement.

"We don't want to put everyone through an academy type lecture on Ambushes now do we?" Sandra asked Dave with an enquiring look.

"Sorry about that." Dave apologised, "I get carried away sometimes." He said sheepishly.

"It's ok, it was actually quite interesting." Harry replied as he got in one last look at Dave before he returned to his 'normal' size.

"Thank you, Harry," Dave replied with a smile that Harry happily returned. He then focused his attention on Gabrielle. "I'm sorry that I made you upset earlier." He told her with a tender expression on his face.

"I just wanted you to know, that what we all did wasn't the result of some rash decision and that there were solid reasons for it." He explained.

"Merci," Gabrielle replied as she took in Dave's face. "It does mean a lot to moi zat you took ze time to explain it." She told him.

"Merci," Dave replied, and they both had a laugh and a cuddle. "I think maybe you might want to go and wash your face now." He suggested as Gabrielle looked for a mirror or similar to check herself.

"As you look a bit of a fright," Dave told her with a VERY cheeky grin. Gabrielle and Fleur both looked shocked for a moment until they registered the grin on Dave's face. Gabrielle then kissed Dave on the cheek, and I heard her say to him, "I'll get you for zat." As she was displaying her own cheeky grin on her face.

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't at least try." Was Dave's very cheeky reply. This seemed to delight Gabrielle as she left the room with a satisfied little smile on her face. Fleur and Apolline had both caught this exchange as well, and they were also showing their amusement at it.

We all then began to discuss our finds from the visit to Gringotts. Dave once more extracted his laptop and recorded the new and confirmed findings. When he opened it I could see a brief look of concern cross Sandra's face until she realised that she had closed the folder of Emma's favourite photos. Dave didn't seem to pick up on this as he opened up the family history application that he used. While he was doing this us girls shared a few secret smiles amongst us. Even Harry and Ron shared some chuckles.

While Dave was entering the new data into his laptop and cross-referencing it with existing information (and repeating the process for the newly confirmed information), the subject of gold came up. As Molly asked Arthur how the goblins had valued the gold that Arthur had deposited.

"They valued the gold at 2.52 million Galleons," Arthur reported very calmly as he watched Molly for her reaction. We all turned our attention to Molly to see what she would do. But she just sat there with a stunned look on her face. Even Dave momentarily took his focus away from his laptop to watch Molly with a 'professional eye'.

Eventually, she got herself under control and was looking at Arthur with a delighted smile on her face. Bill then spoke up and with a devilish grin on his face remarked, "Tell her what they offered you to buy the raw nuggets for dad."

Molly looked at Bill curiously and then returned her attention back to Arthur who was by now grinning openly at his wife. "They offered me 3 million Galleons." He told her happily.

"Offered?" Molly asked with a disbelieving look at Arthur. "You didn't turn them down did you?" She enquired.

"Quite the reverse," Ivan reported while chuckling at a blushing Arthur. "He jumped to his feet and exclaimed '3 million Galleons!' at the top of his lungs." He said as we all had a laugh at the thought.

"The goblins then thought that Arthur had seen through their attempt to get the raw gold for cheaper than it was worth and upped their offer to 3.2 million Galleons," Ivan told us while smiling brilliantly.

When Molly heard this, she did fall off her chair, and Arthur then rushed over to help her up. She quickly embraced Arthur in a fierce hug and then proceeded to hug all of her children, she included Harry and me in that category also. Molly then turned her sights on Dave who had gone back to typing on his laptop with a contented little smile on his face.

Molly pulled Dave out of his chair and gave him a firm squeeze also. Dave happily returned it. "Thank you." She told him simply. "You are very welcome Aunty," Dave replied with a brilliant smile.

When Molly and then Arthur had finished with him, they allowed Dave to get back to his laptop. The lull in the conversation gave me a chance to ask Bill something that had caught my attention at Gringotts.

"Bill, why were you so nervous to tell The Head Goblin about the gold that Dave clearly knew about?" I asked him.

"The tunnels under Gringotts have been thoroughly searched by some of the goblins most celebrated 'diviners' over the centuries." He told us, "To suggest that there might be undiscovered gold in or close by those tunnels is like questioning their abilities." He explained.

"That is never good for your health or employment prospects." He cautioned.

"I see." I replied, "So if Dave had been wrong, we could have all been in quite a bit of bother then?" I asked.

"That would be an understatement," Bill replied with a nervous chuckle.

"How sure were you about the gold being there Dave?" I enquired.

"Very sure." He replied in a distracted manner as he was still focused on his laptop. "That particular vein had been annoying me ever since we arrived at Harry's family vault." He said as though it explained everything (in his view anyway).

"What do you mean it was 'annoying' you?" Ginny asked before I could.

"Large deposits of certain types of metals and occasionally gemstones, set up either vibrations or echoes which can be felt. Even without the use of any spells." He explained, "The closer you get the stronger they get. It can be bloody annoying at times. A bit like a buzzing in your ears or the pressure in your head from a headache." He said in an offhanded manner that left us all stunned.

"Why wasn't the gold in Harry's family vault annoying you then?" Ginny asked.

"It was, just not as much as the gold across the tunnel." Dave replied without looking up, "Natural, unprocessed gold always gives off a much stronger vibration. All the metals and gem deposits are like that. He explained to looks of disbelief.

"What sort of magic enables you to do that?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Mostly the energies commonly associated with Goblins." He replied, "Although sorcery and even 'traditional' magic can be used to replicate the effect as well."

"So, what was it that you did when The Head Goblin asked for a demonstration?" Bill asked Dave full of curiosity.

"I cast a charm to better lock in the closest point that the vein of gold came to, compared to where we were standing." He replied.

"Is that the same charm that the goblins themselves use?" Bill enquired.

"Similar." Dave replied, "I don't speak Gobbledegook, so it can't be the same one." He chuckled. "But I do have one advantage over the goblins," Dave told us.

"What is that?" Bill asked.

"There is more of me than a typical goblin." Dave said with a laugh, "So when the echo comes back I have a much bigger body area to detect it with. That gives me a much better idea of where the gold is. I can also detect gold further away for the same reason."

"Well, at least there is some good out of you being such a lump." Fireball remarked as we all had a laugh at Dave.

Dave very maturely stuck his tongue out at his sister and returned to his laptop.

"So what is 'the usual' bonus for finding gold like that?" I asked Bill. After a moment's thought, he replied, "10% of the value of the raw gold."

"How much gold do you think would be in that vein, Dave?" Bill asked.

Dave closed his eyes briefly and then casually replied, "A little over two tonnes."

This caused Bill to nearly choke on his cup of tea while Fleur fell off her chair. Ron and Harry quickly went to help Bill out, while Ginny and Fireball helped Fleur up. After they both got themselves sorted, they went over to Dave and yanked him out of his chair. This time Bill hugged the stuffing out of an amazed but amused Dave.

When he had finished, he handed him over to Fleur. While Fleur was doing her best to hug the stuffing out of Dave, Gabrielle entered the room. Clearing her throat, she asked with a mischievous smile, "What ez ze meaning of zis?"

When she said that Dave almost leapt out of Fleur's arms, to her great amusement and turned to face Gabrielle. None of us helped Dave's case at all as we were too busy laughing at him.

"Why 'as my loving sœur suddenly decided to attack my le petit ami?" She asked with a playful smile. Fleur then told Gabrielle exactly why she and Bill had both been attacking Dave. This brought a brilliant smile to Gabrielle's face, and she then decided to 'attack' Dave herself.

In his defence, Dave did seem to enjoy Gabrielle's attack more than the others. She was undoubtedly the only one that he returned the kisses too (which was a good thing for him).

Kingsley chose this moment to arrive at the burrow and was showing his amusement with the scene that he was presented with. "I heard that there was some action out the front of Gringotts today." He remarked as Dave and Gabrielle were startled apart. "But I was under the impression that it was 'action' of a different sort." He added with a grin at Dave.

"I mean I could have been misinformed, and you two are simply demonstrating what really happened?" He suggested with a wicked little smile at the two of them. We all had a laugh at the looks on their faces.

Arthur and Ivan then quickly filled in Kingsley on what had been learnt at Gringotts and what happened in the street also.

"I thank you for the 'agreement' that you were able to engineer Dave." Kingsley replied sincerely, "Are there any chances of other finds that could also be used to further improve our ties with the goblins?" He asked.

"Yes, there are indeed," Dave replied.

"Oh? How many?" Kingsley asked with an eager expression.

"On the way to Harry's vault, I felt 3 definite solid echoes." Dave explained, "I'd also be willing to bet that there were another 2 a little further on as well."

"There could well be more as there are a good many of faint echoes and vibrations also. But I would have to get closer to them to be sure." He offered. "The ones I just mentioned would be close in size to the one we uncovered today." He advised.

"That is fantastic news." Kingsley replied, "At least 5 more 'peace offerings' that we can use to secure better relations with the goblins." He said as his thoughts began to distract him.

"Bill might need a bigger vault, by the sounds of it." Ivan chuckled to Bill who had gone slightly pale once he had recognised the implications of what Dave had just suggested. Fleur also looked to be a little shocked, but she quickly recovered and smiled a thank you at Dave before returning her attention to Bill.

Harry had been looking at Kingsley with concern showing on his face since Ivan and Arthur had informed him of just what Harry had told the Goblins. Eventually, his discomfort reached a point where he had to do something about it.

"Excuse me, Minister." Harry said as both Ivan and Kingsley turned to look at him, "You're not angry with me for telling the goblins what I did? About what we took and why?" He asked.

Kingsley smiled at Harry before replying. "No Harry I'm not." He said looking at Harry with approval, "I had fully expected you to tell the goblins of what you took from Gringotts, sooner or later." He explained to Harry's surprise.

"By giving you the opportunity to personally tell the goblins what it was that you took from them and more importantly the why of it, it gave you a chance to begin to rebuild trust with them."

"When Hermione showed the goblins proof of what you had done with Hufflepuffs cup it would have confirmed your story also. As I'm very positive that the goblins would have been able to feel the traces that the Horcrux had left behind."

"I think I understand sir," Harry replied in a thoughtful voice.

"You can ask Bill if you don't believe me." Kingsley suggested, "But from the way that Arthur and Ivan explained the encounter I would hazard a guess that the goblins are significantly more relaxed about all three of you visiting Gringotts from now on."

Harry looked at Bill (as did Ron and I) to see what his view of the situation was.

"I do believe that Kingsley is correct here Harry." He replied, "I could see the tension and suspicion leave The Head Goblin when you mentioned that you were placing a great deal of trust in him. Especially by telling him a secret that the Ministry hadn't shared with them." He explained.

This statement made me feel much better about venturing into Gringotts again. I was later to find out that both Ron and Harry had very similar feelings of relief.

Our conversation continued until Luna, and her father Xenophilius arrived to carry out the interview of Ivan while I was to get a chance to interview Kingsley.

Xenophilius looked to be overjoyed at the chance to be part of the interview of a Minister of Magic for the Quibbler. Ivan for his part seemed happy to be the subject of the interview, and he also expressed his sincere thanks to Xenophilius for supporting Kingsley in getting the information on the missing family members out to the wizarding public.

Xenophilius became even more delighted and was nearly overcome with joy when Ivan signed up the Australian Magical Embassy to a subscription of the Quibbler. While the paperwork was being filled out (Xenophilius always seemed to have subscription forms on him), Luna came across to be formally introduced to Dave and his team. I do have to admit that I was looking forward to seeing how these two unique individuals would get along.

As she was shaking hands with Dave, Luna casually remarked, "You're wearing your correct face today." With a smile on her face as she was intently studying Dave's, "I must say it suits you much better than that other one."

"That other one was just so boring." She told him as Dave's sisters and Cassy were struggling to contain themselves.

"Thank you," Dave replied a little puzzled, as Luna comment had caught him off guard. "It was a face and form created to be so unremarkable that people wouldn't notice me. Or if they did, they would forget me very quickly." He explained.

"How could they forget you?" Luna asked with her own puzzled expression, "Your glow is a hard thing to forget."

"Glow?" Dave and his sisters asked at the same time.

"Yes, your glow." Luna replied, "It surrounds you." She said as she regarded Dave quite openly for several long moments. Dave was intrigued by Luna's comments, as were Dave's sisters. But Gabrielle was beginning to show signs of annoyance at the attention Luna was giving Dave. Ginny and I both quickly assured Gabrielle that she had no cause to be worried about Luna.

"Although much like Harry & Ginny, and Ron & Hermione, it does seem to be strongest when you're standing next to your life partner." She explained very calmly as she indicated a bright red Gabrielle who was managing to look happy, smug and embarrassed all at the same time.

With that simple statement Luna had managed to cause Harry, Ginny, Ron, me and Dave to all display significant blushes as well. Although the look than Ron gave me on hearing this did make my knees go a little weak and cause my heart to flutter quite a bit. Ginny later confessed to me, at having almost exactly the same feelings (about Harry, not Ron). Molly looked to be over the moon with this discovery. Sandra and Apolline also both seemed to be pleased with it as well. Fleur was displaying a mysterious little smile as she looked at Dave and Gabrielle, but when she looked to Dave's sisters, it changed to a slightly evil grin (which they returned).

Luna, however, was oblivious to the embarrassment that she had just caused. "Oh good, I can see you are all practising your blushing." She exclaimed happily, "Blushing is very good for keeping Wrackspurts away." She told us.

"Wrack…" Dave began to ask before Ginny stepped on his foot and told him to be quiet. Showing a small amount of good sense Dave dropped his question and turned back to Luna only to find her once more intently looking at him.

"You're not really all here yet, are you?" She asked Dave with a concerned look on her face. "Just like that other one who is in there with you. You both seem to be missing something." She advised with her eyes focused intently on Dave's.

Sandra, Molly, Apolline and Fleur looked to have been quite shocked by this statement. However, Dave's sisters and cousin all looked like someone had released a tickling Hex on them.

"Oh, I think I'm going to love her," Fireball exclaimed (while trying to get her breath back). She was also smiling broadly at Luna. Luna returned Fireball's smile and then continued her conversation with Dave.

"Do not worry yourself so much about what it is that you are missing." Luna advised Dave, "Concentrate instead on what it is that you DO have instead." She told him in an authoritative voice.

"We are not defined by what we are missing. We are defined by how we use what we DO have." She instructed him. As always Luna's comments gave everyone pause to think. Dave especially seemed to have been handed a great deal to think about.

Eventually, he smiled warmly at Luna and thanked her for her advice, and he promised to carefully think about it. Luna looked to be very pleased with this. She was then introduced to the rest of Dave's family and team. They were all delighted to be properly presented to her.

Now that the introductions had been completed we all got ourselves seated at the tables. I was able to explain my plan to Luna and Xenophilius. Unsurprisingly they were very supportive of it and happily offered several excellent suggestions to improve it. Their recommendations were immediately taken on board and incorporated into the plan.

With the plan now agreed upon we moved onto the interviews. Both Kingsley and Ivan looked to be enjoying these interviews far more than they had expected. They were also some of the strangest interviews that I have ever witnessed.

Officially Luna and Xenophilius were interviewing Ivan, while I was interviewing Kingsley. Unofficially Ginny was assisting me with my interview, and we were both swapping questions with Luna and Xenophilius. The resulting articles were viewed favourably by all involved as they enabled us to get the message out about the activities of the previous administrations at the Ministry. They also gave a great deal more information about the rescue efforts that had been carried out and why they were done the way that they were. Kingsley was also able to explain the actions of the 'Order of the Pheonix' and what they had been doing to resist the efforts of Tom Riddle Jnr and his Death Eaters. The interviews also gave the readers an excellent 'portrait' of the two Ministers regarding both their goals and ambitions but also their personalities as well.

No one seemed surprised when Luna and Xenophilius were later awarded the 'Best interview of the year' award by the Magical Reporters Association. My interview with Kingsley was also mentioned as an excellent piece of reporting, but as I was not a 'carded' reporter I couldn't be considered for the awards. Luna and her father, however, made me an award of their own design to 'make up' for that fact.

It is a beautiful creation, and it still hangs proudly on the wall in my office. It is frequently commented upon by visitors to my office and has initiated many very productive conversations over the years.

After the interviews, Bill gave Dave back his copy of the report that he was requested to read. He pronounced it correct in all the details of what was done and why. He also advised Dave that he had no issues with it, Dave was happy to hear this.

Julian next gave Dave the copy of his report that he had been requested to read. On it, he had marked a few items that he wished to ask Dave about. Dave was very willing to answer Julian's questions, and once he had the answers he was after, Julian was content with what was written in those locations.

Julian did have two minor edits that he requested. After reading them, Dave was only too happy to make the required changes. It was when he went to make those changes on the report that I felt my blood pressure begin to rise.

Dave pulled out his 'master copy' of the report and quickly edited it to make the requested changes. The text just seemed to re-arrange itself on the page to accommodate the changes. Once he had done this he looked up from his report to see me, Ron, Harry and Ginny staring at him with murder clearly written in our eyes.

"What have I done now?" He asked with some worry showing in his voice.

"How in the name of Merlin's saggy Y-fronts did you do that?" Ginny snapped at him before I could. Dave's parents looked to have amused expressions on their faces.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Those changes to your report," Ginny demanded.

"Ah… That." Dave replied.

"Yes." Ginny snapped, "THAT!"

"In traditional magic, it is called the editing charm," Dave replied rather calmly. "It's quite handy for documents that you have written."

"I can see that." Ginny replied with heavy sarcasm, "It could be REALLY useful at school don't you think?" She asked Dave with a dangerous look that he picked up on.

"It certainly was for me." He replied with a slight smile at Ginny as he caught on, "The incantation for it is 'Recensere Notitia' and before you ask it will only work on things that you have written yourself. Either manually or magically." He added as he saw Ginny's internal temperature begin to rise. I think my own must have been on the rise also as I noticed Ron watching me with a careful eye.

"What do you use for documents that you haven't written?" Harry asked Dave with an eager look in his eyes.

"Izzy," Dave replied with a smile at his specialist forger. Izzy smiled brilliantly back at him, and we all had a laugh at this exchange between them. "In all seriousness, once your own document has been 'locked' it can't be easily edited even by you. Editing someone else's document without the edits being visible, that is a highly specialised area of magic. That is only one of many reasons why we are so blessed to have Izzy on our team."

"To lock your document to stop editing the incantation is 'Certa Notitia'," Dave advised as he cast the spell in question on his report. It seemed to shimmer slightly for a moment. "Once that is done the report is able to be submitted." He advised as he got up from his seat and began to head off to his tent.

"Where are you going?" Gabrielle asked.

"Just to my tent to notify Drunkmouse that I'm submitting a formal report." Dave advised, "You can come along if you wish." He added with a little smile. Gabrielle quickly took up Dave's offer, and they headed off to his tent together.

"Why do you two look as though you're about to explode?" Molly asked Sandra and Ivan with her own amusement clear to see. As they both looked as though they were about to suffer an injury from the struggle of trying not to laugh.

"Our children are an endless source of entertainment," Sandra remarked with a wide smile on her face. Seeing the looks of confusion on the faces of the crowd she explained further, "Dave didn't need to get Julian's and Apolline's approval for his report." She said as looks of understanding dawned on the Delacour's along with some knowing smiles.

"He is required to give them a copy of the section of it that covered the events that related to Gabrielle, but he doesn't need to get their feedback," Sandra explained as her laughter got the better of her.

"I think that he is trying to make a 'good impression' as they say." Ivan chuckled, and there were several other sets of laughter around the table.

"You mean he zinks zat saving my Gabrielle's life, and fixing her heart isn't enough to make a good impression?" Julian asked clearly very amused.

"Maybe you just make 'im nervous Papa," Fleur suggested with a naughty sounding laugh.

When Apolline saw the mischievous smile that lit up her husband's face she smiled in return, "Be nice to him Mon Cher." She chided him gently, "Despite all that he has done and achieved he is still only a young man."

"As you wish, Mon Cher," Julian replied as he shared a wink with Ivan and Sandra. They all then had a good laugh at the situation.


	56. Coming Clean

**AN: Just a quick note here to say thank you to all of you who had let me know about the formatting problem with the recent chapters. I have no idea as to the cause of the issue. It might have been because I tried to upload while sitting in an airport lounge while I was travelling for work I don't know. But thank you for the heads up.**

 **Now that I have managed to get a recent exam out of the way for work I'm hoping to get some more chapters posted soon. Once again thank you for following along with this my first fanfic story and I hope it continues to entertain you.**

 **This chapter will hopefully answer some questions I have been getting regarding certain characters. Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Following the interviews of the two Minister of Magic (and the revelation of the 'editing charm'), we all turned our attention to lunch. As we were all hungry, especially after the battle out the front of Gringotts.

During lunch, Xenophilius entertained everyone with his stories about the strange creatures that he believed in. Even more entertaining was his reaction to learning that Dave's family had several groups of Bunyips living on their various properties. Apparently, even to Xenophilius, Bunyips were creatures only of myth and legend.

He pressed Ivan for answers to his almost inexhaustible supply of questions, he was visibly delighted with each and every response. Luna looked to be enjoying herself only slightly less than her father.

Eventually, Luna steered the conversation to a topic that she apparently wanted to know more about. This proved to be the topic of Sandra growing up in a country so far from her family and her home. Initially, Sandra was a little taken aback by the question, but once she recognised the honest curiosity in Luna, she responded in kind. When she had warmed to the topic, I glanced over at Molly to see her with tears in her eyes as Sandra described her heartbreak at being kicked out and disowned by her family. Then the added hurt of having to move to the far side of the world.

Apparently, her only source of comfort during this time was the kindness shown to her by the distant relative who had rescued her (she couldn't at the time recall who it was). Then by the compassion and understanding of the wonderful red-headed gentleman who helped her out of the country. She now knew this to be Arthur's father. When Sandra was explaining this part of the story, it was Arthur's turn to have tears in his eyes. But they were tears of pride, for his father's compassion and kindness. The rest of the Weasley family were displaying similar emotions.

Sandra also explained how she had been able to keep in touch with her brothers, Fabian and Gideon. Apparently, as the realisation grew that Sandra would be considered a Squib by the family, they had formulated a plan to stay in touch through the muggle mail. This was to enable them to communicate in the event of Sandra being forced to go and live with muggles. None of them knew when they made this plan, that her family would actively disown her and cut her off completely. At the same time, they didn't want to get into an extended argument with their parents and family about their plans either. So, they just chose to tell no one.

This proved to be fortuitous because once Sandra had been kicked out of the family no mention of her was permitted. Anyone who refused had their memory modified to remove all trace of her. Fabian and Gideon complied with the families wishes on the surface. Behind the collective backs of the family, however, they did everything that they could to support their big sister. They had all agreed early on to make no mention of other family members to each other, this was done with the aim of limiting any pain that might be caused by mentioning names of people who had supported Sandra being cast out.

Sandra recalled the joy she felt when she was able to tell her brothers that she had learned that while she couldn't do traditional magic, she could perform Sorcery, House Elf magic, as well as the Healing Magic of the Mind and Soul. She hoped that this news would encourage her family to allow her to 'return to the fold'.

Sadly, when her brothers raised the possibility of someone being able to do those forms of 'magic' with the family, they were severely punished, for even suggesting that it might be possible for someone to be able to do those forms of magic. She told us that she could actually sense their heartache in their letter as they told her of the family's reaction.

We also learned of Sandra's initial reaction to meeting Douglas and Lilian for the first time. While she was still deeply hurt by her family kicking her out, she knew that she had just met and been welcomed into a new family that would love and support her wholeheartedly.

Sandra's description of meeting Ivan for the first time also brought a good deal of laughter to us all. The way she told it, Ivan had apparently just come in from the beach, where he had been surfing for most of the morning. He was still quite wet, carrying his surfboard and dressed only in his 'board shorts'.

She told us that she had no idea what the object was that Ivan was carrying (this turned out to be his surfboard). When she asked him about it he was dumbfounded, he couldn't comprehend the fact that someone wouldn't know what a surfboard was. To rectify this, he immediately offered to teach her how to use it. When she replied that she didn't know how to swim, Ivan was by all reports both shocked and horrified that she didn't know how to do that either.

The next thing she knew Ivan was marching her off to see one of his many sisters to see if they had a bathing suit that she could borrow. In short order she found herself dressed in a rather modest bathing suit and having her very first swimming lesson in a convenient and sheltered rock pool.

This story brought smiles to all of us gathered around the table. Ivan and Sandra also shared some absolutely adorable looks between them during the telling of the story too.

"Was that when you decided to 'set your cap' for Uncle Ivan?" Ginny asked Sandra to several sets of laughter.

"I may have subconsciously done so." Sandra replied with a mysterious little smile on her face, "But I think I didn't admit those sorts of thoughts to myself until after I saw him in his Quidditch uniform and in action on the pitch." She chuckled at a now blushing Ivan.

"Was he a 'keeper'?" Ginny asked with a sly smile to both me and Ron.

"Yes, he was actually." She chuckled, "In both respects." She added as she drew Ivan into a hug and a kiss.

"How about you Uncle Ivan. When did you 'set your cap' for Aunty Sandra?" Ginny asked with her eyes alight with curiosity. "Was it when you saw her in play Quidditch?"

"Sort of," Ivan replied with a chuckle at the slightly horrified expression on Sandra's face. "She had just fallen backwards off a broom and landed flat on her back in a mud puddle." He explained before having to laugh.

"The look of determination on her face as she dragged herself out of that puddle and took off after the broom that had just deposited her there was absolutely adorable." He told us as he smiled very fondly at Sandra.

"When was that?" I had to ask them.

"It would have been in our first year at school together," Ivan replied as Sandra nodded in agreement.

"When did you tell her about how you felt?" Ginny asked with her eyes full of mischief.

"It wasn't for another three years," Sandra told us before she had to laugh at the sheepish expression on Ivan's face. "Even then he only admitted that he 'liked' me and the embarrassment from that looked like it was about to kill him." She recalled with a joyous laugh at her husband. "Eventually in our final year of school, he officially asked me out. Although I did have to enlist the help of his sisters to enable him to 'get the message'." She explained with an evil chuckle.

"What took you so long?" Audrey asked Ivan as she was getting caught up in the story. "Did you have to fight off her other suitors first?" She enquired just as Sandra burst into more laughter.

"I never had any suiters during my time at school." She told us once she got herself under control. "I was all skinny legs, knobby knees and skinned elbows." She explained to us as we all looked at her in disbelief. "Even in my school photos, I looked a mess."

"I was what is called a 'late bloomer'. So, it wasn't until much later that other boys began to notice me in that way." She said still wiping tears from her eyes while looking at us all staring at her. "We all go through that awkward phase where we would do anything to hide photographic proof of it ever occurring. Don't we?" She asked us all.

"I know I have hidden those photos away." I had to admit with my ears glowing.

"Me too," Ron replied.

"Don't worry Ron, I know where they are hidden," George assured him. Much to Ron's horror, and my delight, as they still make me laugh when I look at them (I feel I must add here a thank you to George for such a wonderful birthday present as those albums).

"I'm lucky in that respect, my 'family' never kept or purchased my school photos," Harry admitted with a mixture of resentment, embarrassment and relief.

"Be thankful for that." Dave advised him, "As you really wouldn't want anyone to see them." He assured Harry in an offhand manner.

"How would you know about Harry's school photos?" Ginny asked Dave as the rest of us registered just what he had said. Even Dave's parents and sisters were looking at him wanting an explanation of that remark.

After looking around at the questioning faces that were directed at him, Dave recognised that he wasn't going to escape this question.

"I came across Harry's school records and photos as part of some background research I was doing on him," Dave replied to a visibly stunned table. "I wanted to know more about him, so I set out to see what factual information I could learn." He explained apparently hoping that this would be enough to satisfy us.

It wasn't.

"Just what sort of research were you doing?" Ginny asked Dave with a very intent look on her face. The rest of the Weasley's were also displaying similar expressions. The Delacour's looked to be curious as well. I'm told that I was showing a similar emotion myself.

Taking in the questioning expressions of those around him Dave replied, "I can see that I'm not going to escape without the full story. Am I." He said with a trace of embarrassment.

"No, you're not," Ginny told him firmly. But also with eagerness in her voice and hunger in her eyes.

Dave smiled at Ginny and took another mouthful of his drink. He then sat back in his chair and was gathering his thoughts when Gabrielle took possession of his free hand and gave him a look of encouragement.

"You could say that I grew up with a 'certain view' of the Potter family." Dave began with a sheepish grin at Harry. For his reply, Harry gave Dave an understanding smile, along with a questioning expression. "As I grew older and began to experience firsthand, the unique challenges that were a direct result of certain past events that view began to change, to one of resentment. At a personal level."

"Over time that resentment began to change into an extreme dislike." He explained, "I'm told that discussions on the topic of the Potter family tended to lead to angry outbursts from me at times." He said with embarrassment. Dave's sisters were indicating their agreement while Ivan and Sandra were displaying knowing but sympathetic expressions.

"When I began to go through puberty, I experienced the first 'level up' episode that could be called very bad." Dave explained, "It was while I was recovering from that experience that my feelings about the Potter's began to take a rather dark turn. Especially when I was told that it was extremely likely that I would have to endure episodes like the one I had just gone through for the rest of my natural life."

"How old were you when zat 'appened?" Fleur asked Dave.

"He was 11," Sandra answered, and the sadness could still be seen in her eyes. Dave nodded in agreement.

I had a burning desire to ask Dave about these 'level up' episodes that we had heard mention of. Sandra must have been able to sense what was that I wanted to ask. As she caught my gaze and gave me a small shake of her head, to indicate that now wasn't the time for those questions. I nodded in agreement, and I could read the gratitude in her eyes.

"During my recovery, Emma and I had many conversations around what was happening to me and what we thought were the reasons why it was happening," Dave said looking at his and Gabrielle's hands. "We also talked about the Potter family and their role in this situation." I could see Harry shift in his seat visibly uncomfortable at this, statement, but he was still focused on Dave and his story.

"Emma began to get rather alarmed at the intensity of my responses about the Potter's, as well as my views as to what should be done about the situation." Dave explained, "Eventually she took steps to stop my thoughts from going too far down the path that they had started on."

"We had a rather 'intense' discussion about the situation," Dave recalled with a small half smile. There were some understanding expressions on display from the married men at the table. "Emma told me in no uncertain terms that she wasn't going to stand by and watch me turn into another 'Mad Malfoy' over those 'Bloody Potter's' as she had taken to calling them."

"She was very firm about it and very successfully got her point across to me," Dave explained with an embarrassed look at Harry. Harry acknowledged Dave's look, he didn't judge him for it, but he did indicate that he wanted Dave to continue on with the story.

Ron, however, had noticed something that the rest of us had missed. "Mad Malfoy?" He asked Dave with genuine curiosity.

"I think I mentioned once before that Australia and New Zealand get a lot of 'escapees' from the 'old world'?" Dave asked him.

"You did," Ron replied with more enthusiasm than he usually showed in most conversations.

"Well because of that we have representatives from virtually all of the 'old' wizarding families from the UK in our countries," Dave explained. "Including a good selection from the so-called 'Sacred 28' families. We even have a good selection of representatives from 'old' families from other regions of the world as well." He added.

"In this case, the Malfoy in question was Mathias Malfoy. He would have been an uncle to the Brutus Malfoy that we heard about at Ollivanders." Dave advised us. Those of us who hadn't been with the boys at Ollivanders requested to be told what they had learnt about Brutus Malfoy.

There were a few chuckles when the story was retold, even Ivan couldn't completely hide that the corners of his mouth were twitching into a smile. It was also quite interesting to get confirmation of a group of families that could be eliminated from our search. Dave then continued on with the story.

"He was kicked out of his family for being a 'true' Squib as he was unable to make a connection to any sort of magical energy. Luckily for him though he realised that his family's offer of a small house in the country, was a ruse. He instead took off with the money that they had provided him and made his way to Australia."

"He eventually settled into life in his new country, but he never fully let go of the anger he had towards his family for throwing him out. Eventually, he met a young lady, who like him, was supposedly a squib. But she could actually perform the House Elf style of magic. The two settled down, and he went to work in her father's bakery and catering business." Dave explained.

Ron meanwhile almost had his eyes bulging out of his head. "You're telling me that a Malfoy actually had to work for a living?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes, he did," Dave replied very simply. "He and his wife both worked extremely hard, and they built the business up to be one of the most successful magical catering operations in the country." He explained.

"In fact, Grandma Webb is great mates with the mother of the current head of the Malfoy's in Australia." Dave told us, "They are her favourite caterers and are used for most of our large family events. Including her upcoming 90th Birthday party." He told us to looks of disbelief.

"So, you mean that at your Grandmother's 90th Birthday we are going to be served by members of the Malfoy family?" Ron asked with an almost beatific look on his face.

"More than likely, as they often have several of their grandkids or nephews and nieces in their employ for larger events." Dave told him, "But I do feel the need to let you know, that comparing the Malfoy's here to the ones at home, is more akin to comparing chalk and cheese."

"The Australian Malfoy's are a very down to earth, loving and caring family. They are also VERY open about their dislike of their 'cousins' back in the UK." Dave told him with a serious note to his voice. "Mathias's brush with the 'caring' side of his family knocked all the pompous, pureblood crap right out of him. He passed this 'adjusted' attitude onto his children." Dave explained.

This new information seemed to fascinate Ron (as well as the rest of us). He did, however, convey his understanding of what Dave was trying to tell him.

"What happened to 'Mad Malfoy' that had Emma concerned?" I asked Dave.

"For a very long time, he let his anger at his family eat away at him. It turned him into a rather bitter old man in many respects. It wasn't until the arrival of his first grandkids that his attitude began to change along with his disposition." He replied.

"Before he died he was able to regain almost all of his former good nature, but he had lost a great many years in the bitterness of his anger at his family," Dave explained. "Emma didn't want me to end up going down that same path." He said with his own embarrassment showing.

"I think she was also trying to get the message across to me that it is dangerous to let your own anger to make your decisions for you."

"As decisions based on your own anger and preconceptions almost always turn out to be wrong in some significant way." He added with another sheepish look at Harry. "Mostly because you end up seeing what you want to see. Not what is actually there in front of you."

"What did she do, to get you to change your views?" Harry asked, "As you clearly don't harbour those sorts of thoughts anymore. Going by the conversation we had in your tent the day after your arrival, you had apparently been advocating in favour of my family no longer being a threat to yours?" He asked with his eyes alight with a desire to know.

"The first thing Emma 'encouraged' me to do was to read, and in a lot of cases re-read all of the information that Grandpa had collected on your family." Dave explained, "But she also wanted me to make my own notes of information that either supported my views or counted against them."

"During that work, I was forced to take a long hard look at myself and the views and preconceptions that I was carrying around with me." Dave admitted, "In the end, I was left with the inescapable conclusion that I didn't like what I found inside myself. Even so, it wasn't an easy thing to admit." He said in a way that reminded me of a man confessing his sins.

Looking around I could see everyone was regarding Dave with understanding and even approval. Dave, however, was very clearly embarrassed in telling this story, but I think it was his honest embarrassment that made it even more meaningful.

"By the time I had finished going through Grandpa's information on your family, I had a rather thick file of my own. Although as far as I knew at the time, it contained information on people who were long since dead."

"It was around this time that I finished school and had my encounter with the shark at the surfing titles. During the time I was in the hospital with Emma, we had a great many conversations that dealt with your family and what I had learnt. I think Emma was pleased that my views were beginning to retreat from their former darker position. But she was still not pleased with my thoughts as they were." He explained.

"When I was finally able to escape from the hospital full time, I was at a point where I was improved in regards to my earlier position and views on the Potter's. However, I still had quite a way to go on my journey towards fully letting go of my anger at what was happening to me."

"Finding myself in a position where the only real job option available to me was that of being an Auror wasn't something that I had expected. It was Emma who pointed out a potential silver lining in the situation to me, however." Dave explained with a lopsided grin.

"Was it that you could use what you would learn about investigations to find out more about those 'Bloody Potter's'?" Ginny asked Dave with a cheeky grin at both Dave and Harry. Harry happily returned her smile while Dave did so somewhat sheepishly.

"Almost word for word," Dave replied. Ginny seemed to be very pleased with herself at this.

"While I was at the Auror Academy I read a fascinating newspaper article about the resurrection of an old interschool magical tournament in Europe," Dave said with a knowing grin at Harry. Ginny, Ron and me immediately also grinned at Harry eager to see his reaction. He was displaying his own look of embarrassment.

"It became even more fascinating when I read an article that was in the afternoon paper the day after my birthday. Because this article listed the people, who had been named as the four champions in a tournament designed for three."

"Imagine my surprise when one of the named champions was listed as a Harry James Potter," Dave said with a look of wicked delight at Harry. "Even more interesting was the names that were listed as the parents of this Harry James Potter. They were names I recognised and knew very well." He added.

"I discussed this development with Emma, and we both came to the conclusion that this was a wonderful birthday present for me," Dave said with a bit of a chuckle at Harry's rather surprised response. "Because I now had a chance to investigate a 'living breathing' representative of those 'bloody Potter's'." He explained with a laugh at Harry's expression.

"We even had a bet on the outcome not only of the tournament. But also what I would find out about this Mr Harry James Potter." Dave chuckled.

"Did you bet on Harry winning the tournament?" Ginny asked with a look of evil glee in her eyes. She then had a good laugh at the look on Dave's face and that of his family.

"Ah…. No." Was Dave's reply. Harry tried to look disappointed at this, but he didn't quite carry it off.

"Who did you bet on then?" She asked.

"I put my jelly beans on Cedric Diggory," Dave answered.

"Who did Emma bet on?" Ginny asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" Dave replied as he looked over at a now grinning Fleur. There were a few chuckles at this news.

"Why didn't you bet on Fleur?" Ginny asked, "I'm sure all your sisters did."

"You're right they did. Along with virtually all the blokes in my Auror class." He replied with a chuckle as Fleur looked both a little surprised as well as pleased. She gave Dave a questioning look and indicated that she wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"We had a group of 8 women in our Auror class who were all either half Veela or part Veela." Dave explained, "Once they realised that one of the champions was also part Veela they pulled out all stops to convince as many of their classmates to support you as well." He chuckled.

"How many were in your class?" I had to ask Dave.

"We had twenty in total. 11 women and 9 men." Dave replied.

"Who did the other three women support?" Ginny asked just before I could. Dave's only reply was to roll his eyes over to Harry. We all had to laugh at this, along with Harry's expression.

"How many of the blokes supported Fleur?" Bill asked Dave.

"Seven of them did." He replied, "There was only me who supported Cedric, and Stan who supported Victor."

"So, the three girls who supported Harry ended up with all the jelly beans then?" Ginny asked.

"No." Dave replied, "They had to share them with me as the official results that we saw, recorded the tournament as a draw." Dave replied with a look of understanding and support at Harry.

"As it should have," Harry replied with a note of finality in his voice.

"Agreed." Quite a few of us replied.

"So, what did you do now that you knew about Harry competing in the tournament?" Molly asked.

"I contacted Uncle Dave Blanks (Cassy's dad) who was serving as the Legal Attaché in our London Embassy at the time to see what he could find out about Harry for me." Dave replied, "As I guessed correctly, that he would have received an invitation to attend the tournament at Hogwarts."

"Once he knew why I had asked, Uncle Dave readily agreed to 'make a few enquiries' for me. Not only at Hogwarts, but also in the Ministry as well as in Magical London."

"While he was waiting for the date of the first task to arrive Uncle Dave spent some time in Diagon Alley. It was there that he was able to 'play the tourist' as he called it and basically interviewed several people who claimed to know you quite well." Dave reported.

"Who did he manage to interview?" Harry asked, his own interest in the story looked to be getting the better of him.

"Of the ones that he spoke to, the people that he considered 'reliable' sources were, Florean Fortescue the Ice Cream maker and old Tom Abbott who ran the Leaky Cauldron," Dave said as he watched Harry's face. "You had by all reports, apparently spent several weeks living on your own in Diagon Alley in the summer of 1993. Virtually every report agreed that a good deal of that time was spent eating Ice Cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour." Dave informed us.

Harry looked a little surprised and even slightly impressed at this. "Correct I did." He replied, "The Ice Cream Sundaes were my favourite ones." He admitted.

"What did they say about me?" Harry asked as he intently watched Dave for an answer.

"They both reported that you were a charming, kind, humble and a very likeable young man. That you were a delight to be around and very easy to talk to and get along with." Dave told Harry, "Naturally at the time reading these reports was more than a little infuriating." Dave said with a rueful expression. Harry had a good laugh at this, and so did the rest of us.

"What was Emma's reaction to them?" Ginny asked, "As I'm sure you showed them to her?" She enquired.

"Correct, I did." Dave replied, "I'm sure that you can guess her reply also." Dave said with a resigned look.

"Told you so!" Ginny stated with a very smug look on her face as all the ladies had a laugh at Dave.

"Close enough." Dave answered, "She also lectured me a bit about judging others based on the past actions of their ancestors. That one hit very close to home and forced me to look more closely at myself and what I believed."

"The next set of reports that came in were around the time of the first task. Here I thought that I had found what I was looking for." Dave said with an evil grin at Ron and Ginny, "As my Uncle had overheard a very heated conversation between a red-headed boy and a fiery red-headed girl."

"Their discussion was apparently about Mr Harry James Potter and his eternal need for glory and the spotlight of the press," Dave reported as Ron turned an interesting shade of red and Ginny was struggling to get control of her own blush. "The 'red-headed lad' as my Uncle recorded him was apparently Harry's dorm mate for the duration of his time at school and had formed a somewhat critical opinion of young Mister Potter. Was the gist of my Uncle's report on the overheard conversation."

"The fiery red-headed young girl was equally passionate in her defence of young Mister Potter," Dave said just as Ginny started to lose her battle against her own blushing. Harry found this to be very amusing. "Although Uncle Dave did suggest discounting her arguments as she was clearly biased in her views of Mister Potter most likely due to her infatuation with him," Dave added as Ginny turned almost the same shade of red as Ron.

Her family swiftly offered her their 'support' for the predicament that she found herself in. Once the laughter had died down, Dave was able to continue on.

"At last, I felt that I had a chance to secure an interview with someone who would tell me the unvarnished 'truth' about this Mister Potter," Dave told us while giving Harry a guilty look. "Uncle Dave also felt the same way as he made a note to track down and speak to the 'red-headed lad' after the completion of the first task."

"The next lines of the report ran, 'The red-headed lad's views on Mister Potter appeared to have suffered a significant correction during the first task. As at the completion of the first task he was of the opinion that Mister Potter was indeed his friend. Not only had their friendship been sorted out, but the 'red-headed lad' was now of the belief that Mr Potter's life was indeed in danger, simply from being entered in the tournament against his will. My Uncle seemed to think it might have been the fact that the first task involved dragons that led to this change in the views of the 'red-headed lad'." Dave chuckled at the VERY embarrassed look on Ron's face. I did notice that Ron was quite adorable when he blushed like that.

"After abandoning his attempt to speak to 'the red-headed lad,' Uncle Dave circulated among the other dignitaries at the event. He avoided the then Minister Fudge as he knew him to be a 'bag of hot air' from personal experience." Dave said, as there were some knowing smiles and laughs around the table. "During this time he heard some rumours that it was suspected that the champions had known about the Dragons before the first task. To learn more about this Uncle Dave headed off to speak to the Dragon keepers."

"He soon learned that there was an Australian working with the Dragon keepers, so he sought him out."

"That would have been Liam Canterbury," Charlie suggested to Dave.

"Correct." Dave replied, "When he found Liam he was able to have a great chat with him."

"Liam passed onto Uncle Dave a rather interesting story. Apparently, the Headmasters for both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were caught spying on the dragons before the first task." Dave reported with a questioning look at Harry, "The Hogwarts groundskeeper was also frequently seen making 'calf eyes' at the dragons as well." Harry, Ron and I all had a laugh about this as we well remembered Norbert or Norberta as she should rightfully be called.

"A short time later Uncle Dave had a chat with someone who he initially thought was dad's old mate Mad-Eye Moody. This Mad-Eye impersonator told him that he had overheard young Harry tell Cedric about the dragons."

"This put my views about the 'bloody Potter's' into doubt as it was a decent and honourable thing to do. Especially as Harry apparently knew that the other champions also knew about the dragons." Dave remarked with a look of theatrical frustration on his face. Harry was grinning at him, however. "Naturally Emma made sure to point this out to me. Several times." Dave informed us, as we all had a laugh.

"Before the second task was carried out, I was able to go through the numerous newspaper and magazine articles that had been written about the various champions and other related characters," Dave reported gleefully grinning at Harry, as Harry put his head on the table and covered it with his hands and groaned. Ginny seemed to find this rather amusing.

"Don't worry Harry, my own family is only all too aware that what is often written in the news media only has a passing acquaintance with the truth," Dave told him.

"Sorting out the facts from the bull…, I mean dragon dung." Dave said after a quick glance at the disapproving expression on his mother's face, "Was one of the first tasks that needed to be done with them. When that had been done, there wasn't much in those articles that could be used."

"Annoyingly what was there, and that could be independently confirmed, painted a picture of Harry as a decent kind of bloke."

"Naturally at that time, this news frustrated and annoyed me no end," Dave said with a chuckle. There were quite a few smiles around the table at this remark.

"But it didn't frustrate or annoy Emma?" Ginny gleefully asked.

"Not in the slightest." Dave said with a resigned look, "She was thoroughly enjoying this investigation of mine. As she could see it was forcing me to look at, as well as challenge long-held views, and pre-conceptions that I had been carrying around. Emma also strongly 'suggested' to me that if the opportunity ever arose to talk with this Harry James Potter, I should take it and have a good chat with him." Dave explained with a slightly sheepish look at Harry. For their part, Harry and Ginny were both grinning at Dave.

"Even so I was still determined to keep on looking for 'the truth'. I kept on telling myself it was still out there somewhere."

"Then the second task was held," Dave remarked, and once more he had that overly dramatic look of frustration on his face. "Harry actions during that task struck very close to home as you might say," Dave said as he switched to a serious look on his face as he regarded Harry.

"My family have all been involved with Surf Lifesaving back home since my Grandpa and even longer through Grandma's family. So, we have an intimate knowledge of the dangers of water-related activities (magical and muggle) and the accidents that are all too frequently linked to those activities."

"Harry's actions in that particular task couldn't be interpreted in any other way. Only someone who was genuinely concerned about others and had a deep desire to see that no harm would come to them would have done what he did."

I noticed that as Dave was saying this to Harry, the other members of Dave's family who were present were showing their agreement with him and were also regarding Harry approvingly. Harry was trying his best not to blush.

"By the rules of the tournament the 'hostages' might not have been in any danger, but Harry most assuredly was," Dave said as he held Harry in his gaze.

"Why do you say that the hostages not in any danger?" Ginny asked Dave.

"They were not in any danger because the magical sleep that they were put under not only kept them from drowning. It also protected the hostages from the extreme cold in the lake and from any risk of 'the bends' from being so far underwater for so long." Dave explained.

"The bends?" Arthur asked Dave.

"It is a condition that occurs when a human body is exposed to higher than normal pressures for a long period of time. There is a build-up of excesses gasses that are dissolved in the blood." He explained, "Given the amount of time Harry spent underwater and the reported depth that he went down to, there was a genuine and significant risk that as he came back up to the surface, he would have experienced bubbles of excess nitrogen gas forming in his blood as the pressure was released."

"Not even the use of Gillyweed is guaranteed to protect against such a scenario."

"So when Harry stayed down at the bottom of the lake to ensure that Ron, Cho, Hermione…" He said as he turned to look at me, "and Fleur's little sister…" He began to say as a thought hit him and his eyes opened wide, and he quickly turned to look at Gabrielle with an expression of surprise and delight on his face.

"Oui, I was Fleur's 'ostage at ze bottom of ze lake." She told him with a beautiful smile.

"The name of Fleur's hostage was never reported in the articles that I read," Dave said while still gazing at Gabrielle's beaming face. He then held his hand out to Harry across the table and said "Thank-you." With genuine warmth to Harry as they shook hands. Ginny and everyone else around the table, were all delighted at this.

Harry was trying his best not to be embarrassed by this, but at the same time, he did look to be somewhat amused by it.

"So, what happened after the second task with your investigation?" Ginny asked Dave as she prodded him to continue on with the story.

"Well, as I was being forced to consider the idea that Harry was actually a decent bloke I wanted to know more about him and his background. Past what was often bandied about in the press as I was willing to bet that wasn't correct." Dave remarked with an amused glance at Harry.

Harry was nodding in agreement with Dave, but he also had a slight look of concern on his face. I was very sure that Dave picked up on this as he seemed to hesitate slightly before continuing on. I also got the impression that he was leaving out a great deal about what it was that he was going to say.

"Looking into Harry's background and upbringing was a real eye-opener for me." Dave began as he continued to carefully watch Harry's face. "To say I was shocked would have been an understatement," Dave stated. Molly began to watch Harry rather closely herself, as she had her own suspicions about how the Dursley's had treated Harry. But as he had never spoken directly about his treatment she had nothing to confirm her fears with.

The looks on the faces of both Harry and Dave hinted very strongly that they were communicating without speaking. Apparently, they had done this once before when they met for the first time. My suspicions were proved to be correct when Dave next spoke.

"As you wish," Dave replied in response to an unspoken request from Harry. This agreement seemed to cause Harry to relax and let out a sigh of relief. Ginny, however, was displaying a look like she was determined to get to the bottom of what the two boys had discussed.

"I will say, however, that for you to turn out as you have despite what you went through growing up. You must have the heart of a dragon and the soul of an angel." Dave stated as his eyes went entirely golden and he stared at Harry for several long moments. This made Harry more than a little uncomfortable, but he held Dave's gaze and calmly returned it.

When Dave's eyes returned to normal, he gave Harry a look that clearly conveyed his approval and respect. This pushed Harry over the edge and caused him to blush with embarrassment. Ginny clearly enjoyed seeing Harry blush, but like the rest of us, she dearly wanted to know more about what Harry went through while growing up. Harry indicated for Dave to continue with his story.

"With this new information, there was no way I could possibly hold onto the preconceptions that I had been carrying around with me previously," Dave explained. "I also felt compelled to pass this information onto Jimmy, Dad and Grandpa. That proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated." He said with a nervous little laugh.

"That's an understatement," Sandra remarked as she looked fondly at Dave. There were a few amused looks on the faces of Dave's family at this comment.

"Jimmy seemed to be willing to consider the new information that I had uncovered about Harry." Dave reported, "He certainly took it and carefully read through it. When he had finished, he didn't disagree with me, but I think Jimmy needed to get it all sorted out in his own head first before he would say anything openly."

"Dad was a little bit more stubborn than Jimmy," Dave said as he grinned at his father who had the grace to look a little embarrassed, "But with Dad, I could cheat." Dave chuckled.

"He means he got me to read his report before he showed it to his father," Sandra told us.

"Correct, I did. That way when dad got frustrated with what I had written, as I knew he would. Mum would be prepared for the discussion that would inevitably occur."

"I think it only took Dad about 3 months to come around to my viewpoint," Dave said as he regarded his father rather smugly. Ivan found himself on the receiving end of some good-natured teasing at this point.

"With Grandpa, I followed a similar tactic. I got Grandma and Great Grandma on my side before I tried to raise the subject with him. Sadly, Grandpa was rather more stubborn than either dad or Jimmy."

"Yes, we all frequently heard just how stubborn he was," Shelly said with a mysterious little smile on her face.

"For quite some time it strained our relationship, sometimes quite badly when I tried to discuss this with him," Dave said, and the pain in his eyes at recalling these memories was obvious to see.

"It wasn't until after I was accepted into the Australasian Auror Service, did Grandpa very reluctantly admit that there might be a remote possibility that Harry might not be as 'evil' as his ancestors." He reported as he looked at his parents with sorrow in his eyes.

"Those first four months of service I bounced around our region so often I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Grandpa or Emma or anyone. When I did eventually get back home and was again able to see my family I was informed by my spies…" He said as he was interrupted

"He means his Grandma and Great Grandma," Sandra told us to several sets of chuckles…

"That Grandpa had actually read through my report and hadn't been able to poke any holes in it," Dave stated happily. "He wouldn't admit this to me or anyone else though." He added with a chuckle.

"It wasn't until just before his passing did Grandpa tell me that he thought that I might 'be onto something'. This delighted me in a way I never expected." Dave said as his eyes went rather distant for a time. "Sorry about that, Grandpa wanted to tell me something." He said with a smile on his face. I could make a good guess as to what it was, and the others looked like could as well.

"After Grandpa passed away and Jimmy and I took up the role of caring for his soul I was absolutely delighted to discover that I could still talk to him. We hadn't expected this, and at the time I couldn't allow him to see through my eyes or use my voice like I can now. But I could at least relay messages back and forwards."

"Although Grandma took some convincing that I couldn't pass her kisses onto him." He said with a laugh. I couldn't help but laugh at that comment myself. Several of the others also had the same response as well.

"With Grandpa now as my 'captive audience' so to speak I was able to take my time and get my point of view across to him," Dave reported.

"You mean, you nagged him, don't you?" Ivan asked with a cheeky grin.

"That's one definition." Dave replied loftily with his own cheeky grin, "Eventually I think Grandpa began to come around and started to consider my arguments objectively. Especially once I was sent to the UK with Jimmy's team. As it gave me the chance to do some snooping of my own."

"Snooping?" George asked Dave with a twinkle in his eye, "I thought you said it was an investigation."

"It was still an investigation." Dave explained quickly, "Snooping is merely a different way to describe it." Dave replied with a cheeky look in his eyes.

"Where and when did you do your snooping?" Harry asked Dave.

"Not long after our arrival here we got word about a Kiwi family that had been taken only two blocks from the New Zealand Magical Embassy." Dave told us with a sombre look about him, "We tracked their supposed whereabouts to an area of Surrey called Little Whinging." He said as he watched Harry's face for his reaction.

"There were four possible locations in the area where they could have been taken. So we split up to conduct surveillance on them all. One of those locations was a supposedly abandoned factory across the street from St. Grogory's Primary School. This was the one I was assigned to check out along with Mick and Fireball."

"That's my old school," Harry said in surprise.

"I know." Dave answered, "Given the openness of the immediate area the only place to conduct covert surveillance with any real chance of success was from inside the school itself. So I needed to devise a ruse that would enable me to spend as much of the day as possible inside the school itself."

"Given the number of wards and alarms around the building we were interested in, setting up magical surveillance would have taken far too long and a muggle style one would have been too obvious to be effective. So an old-fashioned stakeout was the only viable option in the time we had available to us."

"The decision was made for me to enter the school. Then use a ruse to spend as much time as possible in the spare front office, and watch the building over the road. With the aim of trying to either identify our targets, or someone who worked there that we could use as a way in."

"Walking to the front door of the school I had the idea of impersonating a Government Investigator to see what information I could get my hands on. Then take my own sweet time going over that information in that spare front office."

"Who did you tell them you were investigating?" Harry asked Dave.

"Vernon Dursley," Dave said with an evil grin.

"What!" Harry asked as he tried to hide his laughter. "What did you say you were investigating him for?" He wanted to know.

"I never explicitly told them why." Dave replied smugly, "Headmistress Roemmele thought I was investigating him for some big government contract that his company was bidding for. While some of the teachers thought I was looking into his past taxes."

"The school nurse thought that I was from 'social services' and was investigating his conduct as a parent," Dave told Harry with a deadly serious look on his face. "It was the school nurse who was the most helpful actually. She provided me with a great deal of information. So much, so that had I truly been from social services, Vernon Dursley would have found himself in a world of hurt."

"What sort of information did you find out?" Molly tried to ask. But Dave and Harry were once more communicating silently. Harry looked to be almost pleading with Dave. After several moments they ended their conversation.

"If that is your preference Harry, I will abide by it," Dave replied with an inclination of his head to Harry. "The forms, however, have already been filled out and only require your signature, and to be turned over to the muggles should you change your mind," Dave advised him. Harry looked to be VERY surprised by this.

"Many long nights on very boring stakeouts, Harry," Dave replied with a grin. "I needed something to occupy my time after I had finished my letters to Emma and Abe. Filling out that paperwork was almost therapeutic in many ways."

"I see," Harry answered. "Is that how you got my school photos?" He asked.

"Correct," Dave replied. "The school nurse kept them as a way of tracking your progress over the years, and she happily gave me a copy of them. Especially when I told her that I would use them to fill out the paperwork I mentioned earlier."

"May I see them?" He asked Dave.

"Certainly." Was Dave reply. He then extracted his wallet and removed from it a huge file. It was bigger than a phone book. Harry's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head when he saw it.

Dave slid the file over to Harry. "Is this all about me?" He asked Dave a little fearful.

"Yes," Dave answered simply.

"Why does it say Target Information File?" Ginny asked Dave as she was eagerly looking at the folder that Dave had given to Harry.

Looking slightly embarrassed at the question, Dave answered. "When I started this file on Harry I used the process and structure that we would utilise when we are hunting a hostile target." He explained. There were several looks of surprise at this news.

"If I'm honest, I would say that at that time deep down, I harboured a secret hope that I would be issued a hunting licence with Harry's name on it." He admitted with an embarrassed look at Harry.

This really rattled Harry for a few moments until he could read in Dave's expression that he no longer harboured those thoughts. After focusing on Dave's face for several moments during which I'm sure they were again talking with each other, Harry turned his focus to the file that Dave had given him. While looking through it, Harry became quite alarmed at the information that it contained.

"I would certainly hate to try and hide from someone who had this sort of information on me," Harry admitted to Dave.

"Let's hope you never need to," Dave replied while giving Harry a cheeky grin. Harry returned his smile after a moment of surprise.

"Where are the photos?" Ginny asked Dave with her eyes alight with mischief.

"The pocket inside the back cover," Dave replied as Ginny grabbed the file out of Harry's hands flipped to the back of the report and dug out the photos.

As she got out the first photo, the smile that appeared on her face was tinged with sadness as she realised how thin Harry looked. Especially when compared with the other kids in the class photos. The few pictures of Harry at school events also visibly showed him being underweight.

Molly also looked to have immediately picked up on that fact as well. Each photo she looked at only made her angrier. Eventually, she looked at Dave, and the rage in her expression was evident.

"Is it only Harry that can sign those muggle forms you filled in?" She asked Dave. Sandra, Apolline and Dave's sisters who had been looking over her shoulder also were of the same opinion as her going from their expression.

"Harry or his guardians are the ones who should sign the forms in question," Dave replied in a calm voice as he looked at Harry. "Given that they are about his so-called guardians, that leaves just Harry," Dave stated.

"However any 'concerned citizen' who knows Harry could potentially sign them," Dave advised. "But I do think that this really should be Harry's decision."

After considering Harry for several moment's Molly reluctantly agreed. Everyone else looked like they would happily sign the forms and submit them. But they all also agreed to abide by Harry's wishes. I think this touched Harry more than he cared to admit.

"When did you finally manage to convince your Grandfather about your views on Harry?" Ron asked Dave.

"I didn't." Dave replied, "Harry convinced him the day they met." He stated. This was news to those of us who were not in the tent that day.

"Stubborn bugger," Ron replied under his breath. When he realised that everyone else had heard him, he turned an unusual shade of red.

"That he is," Dave replied with a chuckle. "That he is. Then again if he weren't, he wouldn't have lived as long as he did." He explained. Ron (and the others) looked to accept this answer.

"How about you Dave?" I had to ask, "How are you dealing with what you have learnt? Since you started this journey that you described to us?"

Dave thought for a few moments. "I'm still trying to work everything out." He replied thoughtfully.

"If I can figure out the why of it, I think that will help a great deal."

"Have you had any more 'level ups' as you called them since you started on this journey?" I enquired, as I was very curious in his answer. Several of the others also looked to be interested in his answer to this question.

"Yes, several." He replied with a bit of a haunted look in his eyes.

"Do you still blame the Potter's for them?" I asked him.

"Not fully." Dave replied with a slight trace of embarrassment, "But I do frequently call them all sorts of names while they are occurring." He told us with a guilty look at Harry.

"What are they like? What actually happens?" I asked before I caught myself.

"Painful." He eventually admitted, "Even the mild ones I would happily swap for someone performing the Cruciatus curse on me." He stated. Looking up to his parents I could clearly see the anguish on their face that fully confirmed Dave's reply.

As someone who had personally experienced the full force of the Cruciatus curse, I couldn't believe that a person would willingly accept that as an alternative. These level ups must genuinely be terrible for Dave.

"What 'appens when you 'ave a bad one?" Gabrielle asked Dave. She was displaying a mixture of interest and concern. I could tell that he didn't want to answer her. But she definitely seemed to have a hold over him that no one else did as he didn't avoid her question. She smiled encouragement to him, and Dave eventually answered.

"I usually end up screaming for a day or two straight. My magic and my body go wild, almost out of control during the 'level up'. Then I take several days to recover." He said looking at his hands on the table. Gabrielle wrapped her arms around him and just held him tight to her.

"When did you last have a 'bad one'?" Harry asked Dave.

"Just after Christmas in 96," Sandra replied. "He lost his voice for almost a week. Even with his accelerated healing, it took three days before he could get out of bed and walk again." She told us as she looked at Dave.

"When did he last have one?" Molly asked.

"Just before Christmas last year," Sandra told us. "It was a minor one, and he was only 'out of action' for around two day's total."

"So, they occur once a year?" I asked Dave.

"Every 8-12 months." He replied. "Although they do seem to be getting more frequent and more intense lately."

"What can be done about them?" Molly asked.

"Nothing. As no one, we have spoken to knows the 'why' of them or even what exactly is happening to me when they do occur." Dave told us. "All that can be done is to have a safe, soundproof location with some very significant wards on it so that I don't hurt anyone during them. As my magic goes haywire for a time when they happen."

"Zere must be somezing zat can be done?" Gabrielle asked Dave. The answer she got was a pleading look from him that clearly showed that he dearly wished that there was. She hugged him tighter to herself in reply.

No one knew what to say next. There was an awkward silence for a few moments until Kingsley spoke up.

"The warehouse that you mentioned you were watching. Did it contain the people you were looking for?" Kingsley asked Dave with an intense look on his face

"It did," Dave replied when Gabrielle released him from her hug.

"And then some," Mick added with a small chuckle. Seeing Kingsley's questioning look, Mick explained further. "We retrieved 237 people from that building who were being held there against their will."

"237?" Arthur asked in shock, "How many people were there guarding them?" He wanted to know.

"There were only about 17 guards," Mick replied.

"Why so few?" This time the question was from Kingsley.

"Because the prisoners were kept chained to the walls in their cells at all times," Mick replied with a deceptively calm voice. Only his eyes betrayed his thoughts.

"What did you do with the guards?" Kingsley asked.

"Syd convinced most of them to surrender," Mick answered with an amused expression on his face. Everyone turned to Dave for an explanation.

"I was able to impersonate an individual who we had observed coming and going from the building. When I got inside, I reported back on what I saw. I was also able to disable most of their alarm wards. This enabled the others to get into position to raid it." Dave explained.

"When I saw one of them start to beat a young girl who had knocked over her toilet bucket accidentally I reacted rather forcefully to create a diversion for the others."

"A diversion?" Fireball asked showing her amusement at the description. Most of Dave's team shared her amusement. "That's one way to describe it I suppose." She stated as Dave started to blush.

"When the rest of us got in there we found 7 of them already neutralised. Syd was in the process of 'dealing' with one of them, and all the rest were begging us to arrest them so that they could get away from Syd." She chuckled.

"What did you do to them?" Ron asked. Dave's only reply was a thoroughly evil grin.

"Whatever it was, they were all very talkative and extremely co-operative with Torquemada and his team," Mick explained to us all.

"As long as we promised to keep Dave away from them that is," Shelly explained to several sets of chuckles. Bill and Charlie seemed to approve of this judging by the grins on their faces.


	57. Inner Demons (Fleur's POV)

After our extended lunch, Luna and Xenophilius headed off home to get the interviews of the two Ministers ready for print. She promised to show Hermione the layout for the full article before it was published. The rest of us began our preparations to better secure my parents' home. Kingsley headed off home as he mentioned that he had some work that needed to be completed before the 'festivities' on Wednesday morning. As it had been several days since we had brought Maman and Papa to the burrow, it was decided to do a scout of the area around the house first to make sure it was safe. This turned out to be a prudent decision.

When we were all dressed in our Bunyip Fur armour and had our earpieces in, we gathered in Dave's tent ready for the trip to my parents. I was once more guiding Dave to my parents just as before.

However, this time once Dave 'established the link' as he called it his eyes widened in alarm and he quickly asked me to let go of the door and his hand. As I did so, I had a momentary glimpse of the back of someone who was looking over at my parents' house. As soon as I had let go of Dave's hand and the door handle, the door itself was quickly shrunk down in size to almost that of half the size of a sugar cube.

"That was close," Dave remarked with a look of relief on his face.

"What is it?" Mick asked Dave.

"There is a watcher right where I was going to open the door," Dave replied. Very quickly the demeanour of everyone in Dave's tent changed. Maman and Papa, in particular, looked to be very eager to confront this 'watcher'.

"Why didn't you just break the connection instead of shrinking the door?" Hermione asked.

"They are close enough to the door to hear it if I broke the connection just now." Dave replied, "Besides we will need this doorway soon enough." He added with a grin.

"What's the plan?" Mick asked echoing the thoughts of everyone in the tent.

"We surprise and capture them of course." Dave replied with a chuckle, "As I'm sure that there will be more than one watcher involved."

"Come and take a look at where I have the doorway positioned. The watcher is about a meter directly in front of it." Dave suggested, "Then take Rowdy, Bill and Monsieur Delacour with you to your tent. Make a doorway in a position where you can quickly surprise this joker."

"Makes sense." Mick agreed as he came up to place his hand on the shrunken doorway to 'have a look'. Before he moved off to his tent, however, Dave called to Shelly. "Come and have a look also, then take Abby, Cassy and Madame Delacour with you to your tent and make a separate doorway over near the rose garden that this watcher keeps on looking at. As from the way this person keeps on looking at that particular garden, I'm willing to bet that there is another group watching from that area."

Shelly nodded in agreement and then she also had a look and moved off to her tent with the other three following her. Jono was the next one that Dave called up.

"Take a look and then take, Guz, Olly, Percy, Charlie, Izzy and Gabrielle with you and pick a spot on the other side of the house. I don't think that there is anyone there judging from how these groups are positioned. But don't take any chances. If no one is present do a quick scout of the area and be ready to act as a reserve for Shelly's group. The rest of us will come through my door once Mick and co have cleared the area."

"No worries skipper." Jono replied as he too had a quick 'look' at the door before taking the others with him to his tent.

Once everyone was in position and ready, Mick gave the command to open the doors and step through. The watchers who were located around my parents place never had a chance. Papa stunned the one who was in front of Dave's door. We were later to find out that Maman very quickly took out both the watchers who had positioned themselves in her beloved Rose garden. From all reports, Shelly and Abby were very impressed with her 'methods'.

When they later reported this to Dave, he also seemed quite impressed, for he remarked that he hoped Gabrielle would develop a set of 'fangs' like her mother. This seemed to amuse everyone especially when Gabrielle replied, "'ow do you know zat I don't 'ave a set already?" With her own wicked little grin.

"We can always hope," Dave replied as he gave her a kiss before we all headed off to the house. The watchers were secured and placed in the basement while we got ourselves organised.

The first order of business was to get a 'doormat' in place around my parents' home. As it was much bigger than the Burrow, we separated into teams, and each of us did a portion of it. The doormat was done first as both Mick and Jono believed that the three watchers that we had already captured were only part of the surveillance team. Dave (and the rest of his team) agreed with them. It was decided that the early warning from a doormat was a higher priority than the new wards.

With all of us split into teams the doormat was very quickly constructed around the house and out to a distance of a mile. Once that was done, a quick but thorough scouting of the area was done. It was pronounced to be clear, much to our relief.

Next was the booby-trapping of the apparition points that we used. Maman and Papa actually had one location for family and friends and another for more formal occasions. Both of these were booby-trapped, and a new booby-trapped one was created as well. All of these apparition points were given a passcode also.

While members of Dave's team were getting ready to install the cameras and TV, Dave was discussing the installation of a permanent doorway with my parents. They were very eager to have one, to no one's surprise. The hardest decision was where to place the doorway. Maman was keen to use the scullery as was done at the Burrow and Shell Cottage. But her scullery door had glass panels in it. This apparently made it unsuitable for a doorway.

In the end, the door to the china cupboard was chosen. Dave made it into a permanent doorway and tested it by opening a doorway to his parent's place. We were all looking into the kitchen that was visible on the other side when Dave prepared to step through it.

"Where are you going?" Gabrielle asked him.

"I need to make a key for your parents so that they can visit when we are in Australia." He advised us, "It is much simpler to make that sort of key from my parent's side of the doorway."

"Ah, ok," Gabrielle replied with a smile.

"I won't be very long at all." Dave replied as he went through the doorway, "Once I have made the key I will knock on the door and say 'Auror Webb requesting entrance'." He told us, and when we acknowledged this he closed the door, and we could hear it click. Less than a minute later he knocked on the door, and Papa opened it, leaving his own key in the door as Dave had earlier requested.

As the door opened, I could see a key still in the door on Dave's side. He requested that Maman and Papa both remove the key on their side of the door together and then on his side of the door together. This left them with two keys each. They were then requested to place both of their keys together, to make a single key each.

"You both now can open a doorway to my parent's place." Dave advised them, "If you are agreeable Dad will cast the required charm to add your Talismans to our family wards. This will ensure both of you, along with Gabrielle will have safe passage through them." He told us.

"Merci." Papa replied, "We 'ave no objections to your father casting ze charm. But what about Fleur?" He enquired.

"She is already granted safe passage through our wards because of her link to Bill's Talisman. As his family's Talismans are already linked to ours," Ivan replied with a smile.

"Ah… I see." Papa replied also smiling. "Then, by all means, please proceed." He requested.

Ivan then cast the required charm, and his Talisman and that of his family glowed briefly along with my parents and Gabrielle's. Gabrielle had a strange but beautiful little smile on her face as her Talisman glowed. Dave also looked to be very happy with this as well.

We were then shown how to link our keys to one another. Bill and I quickly connected our keys to Maman and Papa as well as to Molly and Arthur. George, Percy and Audrey also promptly linked their keys to Molly and Arthur as well.

Gabrielle then headed off to her room so that she could begin to pack for her trip to Australia. She was also going to try and find the surfing magazine that had Dave on the cover. As she was required to turn it over to Maman. So that Maman, Sandra and Molly could 'check it out' before the rest of us got to see it. Maman went along with her, supposedly to help, but I strongly suggest she was also imparting some 'motherly advice' to her for her trip. My suspicions were later proven to be correct, but more on that later.

As the best locations of the cameras were being discussed, the newly installed doormat was triggered. Dave and his team along with Ivan, Papa, Arthur and Bill were all instantly alert. The TV was hastily set up and connected to the doormat charm so that we could see where the intruder was located. Strangely enough, the intruder was heading to the area where Dave had made his doorway earlier.

Mick, Jono and Papa were quickly dispatched to capture the intruder once he was a reasonable distance inside the boundaries of our property. According to Abby having Papa being the one to catch the intruder when they are well on to our property would give us a much stronger case under French Law, when they all were eventually handed over to Jean-Luc's Aurors. Watching the dots for the three of them approach the intruder was strangely exciting. When the red dot changed to a Red X (with none of the Blue dot indicating injuries), we were all delighted as well as relieved.

As soon as the Red X appeared Mick called in to advise Dave that this intruder was a 'known face' and that he strongly suggested we call for Jean-Luc and his colleagues immediately. Dave agreed, and Jean-Luc was quickly contacted, thankfully we caught him at an opportune time as he was able to come and collect the 'watchers' almost immediately. Once Dave laid his eyes on the most recent captive he had a thoughtful expression for a moment.

"You're correct, Mick," Dave agreed, "He does look very familiar. That report Jean-Luc showed us contained a photo that looks very much like this joker." He stated confidently. After the rest of Dave's team had a look at him, they were inclined to agree with him.

When Jean-Luc did arrive, he had four other Aurors with him. They quickly secured all four of the watchers that we had captured. Jean-Luc agreed with Mick and Dave that one of them looked very familiar and he promised to double check the report he gave Dave and his team recently and report back with his findings. After a quick kiss and a hug from Shelly (this got him some good-natured ribbing from his fellow Aurors) he left to take the prisoners back to the French Ministry.

Molly, Arthur, Ivan and Sandra then headed back to the Burrow as the girls wanted to get a start on dinner. While Ivan and Arthur wanted some time to have a chat just amongst themselves. Given the group of us currently at my parents, there were more than enough willing hands for the work that needed to be done. They made use of the newly installed doorway and travelled back to the Burrow.

Once they were gone, I helped Dave with the installation of the TV, along with Shelly, Fireball and Ginny. It didn't take long to be installed and secured in place. Once that had been done we headed off to collect Gabrielle and Maman so that we could assist with the work that was being done on the wards outside.

As we were walking through the house to Gabrielle's room, we were sharing jokes and suggestions on activities to do in Australia. It was when we came around a corner into the entrance hall that I suddenly felt Dave go cold as Ice. The goose pimples on him were like they were made from steel and they resembled a cheese grater, his whole body had locked up, and he also began to shake after a few moments.

I looked at Dave to ask him what was wrong and it was then that I noticed a look of abject horror on his face. Following the line of his eyes, I looked over to where he was looking. Only to see a wall of solid mirrors, at this point I felt my own blood run cold, as I had completely forgotten about all the mirrors in the entrance hall.

I think Shelly and Cassy noticed this at the same time as me, as they began to swear. As they were doing so, I moved to position myself in between Dave and the mirror. However, it was too late, and the damage had already been done. He was completely unresponsive to me. Shelly and Fireball stepped in to see if they could get a response out of him. Neither of them could.

Fireball tried to reach him through the link that she shared with him, as well as through her Talisman. The only thing that she could determine was that Dave had been frightened by something so utterly, that he was nearly catatonic. She didn't believe that she could make contact with him in this state. But she suggested that Gabrielle might be able to, as she admitted that Gabrielle appeared to have a far stronger connection to Dave than she did herself.

I was about to take off for Gabrielle's room when we heard and then spotted her and Maman come running down the stairs. Gabrielle's face was white, and she wore an expression of fear and worry.

"What 'as 'appened to Dave?" She almost demanded, "I could feel zat somezing terrified 'im." She stated.

"We came around ze corner, and Dave saw himself in the mirrors on ze wall," I told her, and she quickly looked around to see them. Then both she and Maman looked horrified as they too had forgotten about those mirrors. Looking at them it was clear that they were both reminded of the demonstration that Ivan had given us back at the Burrow.

"We need to get Dave out of here and into a room with no mirrors. Somewhere we can sit him down and try to calm him down." Shelly requested. Gabrielle acknowledged her request and then tried to talk to Dave.

She managed to pull his head down so that he was looking her in the eyes. However, there was no recognition in his eyes at all. She tried to talk to him but got no response to her questions. She even tried kissing him, and there were a few smiles at this, but Dave didn't respond to that either.

"Can you lead him away from here?" Shelly asked Gabrielle.

"I'll try." She replied as she took both of Dave's hands in her own and started to lead him away to a nearby sitting room. While she was directing him the rest of us quickly checked out the sitting room to make sure that there were no mirrors in it. Thankfully there were none.

When Gabrielle brought Dave into the room, Shelly directed her to a set of chairs that had been placed facing each other. Once Dave was seated Shelly instructed Gabrielle in what she needed to do.

"Place your right hand on Dave's Talisman," Shelly instructed her as she dug Dave's Talisman out from under his shirt. Once more we saw the shark tooth and rings that were on it. Maman hadn't seen them previously, and her face was full of questions. I had to quickly advise her that I would tell her about them later.

"With your left hand, take Dave's right hand and place it on your Talisman." She instructed, "Then you will need to call to Dave, much like he called to you before we started our attempt to heal you."

"I can do zat," Gabrielle replied confidently as she placed Dave's hand on her Talisman and her own on his.

"One more thing Gabrielle, when you call to Dave be aware and careful of your thoughts. As he will be able to 'feel' your feelings towards him." She advised.

"Would zat 'ave been ze case when Dave called to me?" Gabrielle asked Shelly with a tender look on her face.

"Yes, it would have," Shelly replied as Gabrielle's face displayed a brilliant smile and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes for a few moments before she got herself under control. She then composed herself, closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on calling to Dave.

As she did so, we could see her Talisman begin to have a solid glow. After a few moments, Dave's Talisman started to have a dim glow as well. When this happened, we were all rather excited and looked to Shelly for an explanation.

"She has made contact with Dave, and he has responded." Shelly replied, "However it would appear that he is still very unsettled from whatever it was that he saw in the mirror. When she calms him down, the glow on Dave's Talisman should match hers. When that happens, he should be able to return to us." She explained. All of us carefully watched the glow of Dave's Talisman. Slowly it gained in brightness until eventually, it matched the brilliance of Gabrielle's. Very soon after that, we could see awareness and comprehension once more on Dave's face. The colour slowly returned to his skin as well, Shelly then reported that he was no longer cold to the touch.

Gabrielle opened her eyes and smiled brilliantly at Dave, the look of gratitude and affection on Dave's face was undeniably heart-warming. Gabrielle quickly pulled Dave into a fierce embrace that he seemed extremely happy to return. I could hear Gabrielle whisper to Dave 'Welcome back', as she pulled him into her arms.

Once Gabrielle released Dave from her embrace I looked around at the others in the room. Maman and Ginny were showing relief. While Shelly and Fireball were displaying looks of profound respect on their faces. Maman also noticed this, and it seemed to please her.

"I'm terribly sorry about that," Dave told us in a small voice as he tried to hide his immense embarrassment. "I have some trouble with mirrors, and I didn't expect to see one there. It caught me off guard." He explained. We could see that he was still trembling from his earlier experience.

"You don't have to explain, and you have nothing to be sorry about," Maman told him. The rest of us quickly added our agreement to her statement.

"How…" Dave began to ask.

"Your Papa demonstrated to us the challenge that you face from mirrors," Gabrielle told him. As soon as she said this, I knew that it was the wrong thing to say. As Dave's eyes went wide with both shock and fear. This was quickly replaced with a frightening look of very intense shame and self-loathing that took over his face. When that happened, he almost seemed to retreat into himself.

He got up from the chair and began to head for the door, but Gabrielle displayed an unusual level of agility and quickly put herself in front of him and stopped him.

"Just where do you zink zat you are going off too?" She almost demanded of him. "Don't you know zat eet is very rude to leave when a lady ez talking to you." She chided him gently. Her attempt at humour didn't appear to have registered on Dave as he wouldn't meet her eyes. His shame was so intense it was an almost physical presence in the room.

Once more he tried to get passed Gabrielle, and he almost made it to the door before she raised her hand (without a wand in it), and with a small gesture, the door slammed closed then locked itself. She then grabbed Dave's arm in a manner that looked to be uncomfortable (to Dave) and 'directed' him back to the couch. She threw him on it and then straddled his lap so that she was facing him. This very effectively pinned him in place and left her in 'control' of his movements.

Maman was very surprised by this display from Gabrielle, and she looked to Shelly and Fireball for an explanation. They both seemed a little surprised but also impressed.

"I'm guessing that Dave has been teaching her some 'tricks' during their many 'discussions'," Shelly remarked to Maman. They both had an amused expression on their faces as we all turned our attention back to Gabrielle and Dave who were having a rather 'intense' conversation on the couch. They were both entirely focused on the other that I think that they had forgotten that the rest of us were there.

"You know?" We heard Dave ask Gabrielle in a small voice that clearly showed the self-loathing and embarrassment that he felt because of his condition.

"Oui, I do." She replied with a very intense look in her eyes, "I told you in Paris, zat I had all ze information zat I needed to know about you to make zat decision." She told him very firmly.

"But…" Dave tried to respond.

"I do not care about zese illusions zat you zink you see when you look in ze mirror." She stated, "I 'ave seen ze real you and nozing can ever replace zat in my mind." She told him.

"Are you sure…" Dave said before Gabrielle cut him off.

"Oui. I am." She told him with a smile, "If you do not believe me, let my eyes be your mirror." She said as Dave raised his eyes to meet hers. Once Gabrielle had Dave's gaze, she held onto it and didn't let go. "Zey will 'appily show you ze vérité."

Dave opened his mouth to say something to Gabrielle, but she placed her fingers on his lips. She had a cheeky smile on her face when she did this.

"I'm not interested in what you 'ave to say on zis subject." She told him firmly but gently, "You are going to listen to moi on zis." She instructed him. I was almost positive that I saw the ghost of a smile on Dave's face at this comment.

"I know which one ez ze true Dave." She told him with a confident look, "Zere is somezing else zat you need to know also." She said with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Seeing the questioning look on Dave's face, she continued on.

"You are **mine** David Fabian Gideon Webb, and I do not intend to ever let you go." She told him in a very commanding tone. "Let me show you why." She said as she again placed Dave's hand on her Talisman and her own on his Talisman.

They then both closed their eyes and rested their foreheads against each other. We noticed that their breathing also slowed a great deal as well. This alarmed us for a moment until Shelly went to check on them.

"She has brought Dave into her soul." She reported with a look of wonder and awe on her face.

"She what?" Maman asked in fright.

"She has brought Dave into her soul, just like he did with her back at the Burrow," Shelly stated.

"Isn't zat…" Maman tried to say before Shelly replied, "Gabrielle has absolutely nothing to fear from Dave." She reported with a chuckle, "She has him almost completely wrapped around her little finger. Dave would sooner cut off his right arm than do anything that might hurt Gabrielle." She explained as she smiled brilliantly at Gabrielle.

Shelly then moved over to her brother and placed her hand on the back of his neck. As she did so, she had to fight back her laughter.

"What ez so funny?" I just had to ask her.

"Gabrielle is giving Dave a very stern 'talking too' just now," Shelly reported with a wonderful smile. We all had a laugh at that comment. "She is telling him in no uncertain terms that what he thinks he sees in the mirror is a lie. She has also told him that there is nothing he can do to convince her otherwise."

"Because of where this conversation is taking place, Dave knows that she can't lie to him. That seems to be having a significant impact on Dave." Shelly reported sounding impressed, "She is one smart woman." She added once more regarding Gabrielle with a look of approval and respect.

"Have you noticed their Talismans?" Fireball asked us with a look of wonder on her face. We all quickly took more notice of them and saw a bright pulsating glow from them both. Soon after this Dave's Talisman noticeably dimmed, and Gabrielle's one glowed all the brighter to make up for it. Both of their Talismans continued to pulsate in Harmony when this occurred.

We noticed that both Dave and Gabrielle had some tears running down their cheeks. Their tears landed together on the rings that were on Dave's Talisman. Strangely their tears didn't run straight off them, they just sat there on the rings as though they were waiting for something. The 'excess' glow from Gabrielle's Talisman slowly seeping into Dave's Talisman was the next thing that we witnessed. We were all astounded by this as none of us had seen or indeed heard of something like this occurring before. Indeed even Sandra had to go and 'look it up' to confirm the specifics of what was happening when she was informed as to what had occurred.

The glow from Gabrielle's Talisman that seeped into Dave's gradually returned Dave's Talisman to its previous state. While the glow from Gabrielle's Talisman was flowing into Dave's, we also saw the rings on Dave's Talisman begin to 'accept' the glow just as his Talisman was. As the rings both started to glow, the tears sitting on them looked to be absorbed into the rings themselves.

"What is happening? What are those rings?" Maman asked.

"Zey are 'is and Emma's wedding rings," I told her. Maman's eyes widened in surprise at this news. "Anneaux de mariage?" She asked.

"Oui." I told her, "Dave made zem from some hospital spoons, his tears and Emma's 'air." I said as I pointed to the different rings indicating the different stones. It was then that I noticed that the larger of the two rings looked different than before.

"What has happened to Dave's ring?" I asked Shelly and Fireball. They both quickly examined the ring, when they straightened up they were both smiling brilliantly.

"Well?" I asked, moments before Maman demanded an answer of them.

"Dave's wedding ring is now a mixture of Black Opal and Yellow Sapphire," Fireball reported happily.

"What does that mean?" Ginny asked her eyes alight with curiosity.

"I will need to check with mum to be sure, but I do believe that the charms and wards that are present on those rings have begun to acknowledge and accept Gabrielle. Along with her feelings and intentions towards Dave." Fireball explained.

"Haven't zeir Talismans already done zat?" Maman asked.

"You are correct, they have. But the charms on those rings have an extra set of very different but also intensely personal and special enchantments on them." Shelly answered cryptically with a sly grin.

"You mean that Emma has effectively given her approval?" I asked as understanding dawned on me.

"Correct." Shelly and Fireball answered in unison. We all had brilliant smiles on our faces at this.

"It's going to be very interesting to watch this relationship unfold and develop." Fireball remarked with a brilliant smile on her face. Shelly was indicating her agreement, even Ginny was showing more interest than I thought she would have. I have to be honest here and admit that I was also looking forward to seeing how things would work out between those two.

We continued to watch the two of them until they both 'returned'. When they did, Gabrielle had a brilliant smile on her face. Dave nevertheless still looked very shaken (indeed he was still trembling) and a little distressed. The look of self-loathing however was gone from his face. Indeed Dave was looking at Gabrielle with hope visibly showing in his eyes.

"See, I told you zat zere was nozing zat you could show moi, zat would cause moi to run away." She told him with a glorious smile and a tender kiss. Tears could be seen in Dave's eyes. Gabrielle quickly pulled Dave into a fierce embrace and held his head to her chest as he began to cry out his shame and embarrassment over his condition. She rested her head on his and just held him and whispered support to him while she ran her fingers through his hair.

As she was doing this, I noticed that both Shelly and Fireball were looking at Dave and Gabrielle and that their eyes were solid gold. They were both displaying looks of most profound admiration for Gabrielle, along with love and affection for her also. When Gabrielle noticed them looking at her, she blushed deeply while still holding protectively onto her Dave.

I was about to ask Shelly what was going on when she held her hands out to Maman and me. Fireball held her hand out to Ginny. When I took Shelly's hand, I was very startled to see that the room around me had disappeared and that while I could see Gabrielle and Dave, there was something very different about them. It was then that I heard Shelly's voice in my mind telling me 'Look at their hearts.'

I did as she instructed and I was surprised to realise that I could see both of their hearts clearly. Indeed not only could I see their hearts clearly, but I could also tell that the energy surrounding their hearts was beating in perfect harmony with each other. A few moments later the view changed and I was once more looking at the world through my own eyes.

"What does zat mean?" Maman asked them still showing her own sense of wonder at what we had all just seen.

Shelly and Fireball smiled at us and then Shelly quietly said, "We see the same thing when we look at our parents, Aunty Molly & Uncle Arthur also display that same trait." She added while displaying a beautiful smile.

Seeing our looks of confusion Fireball continued to explain to Maman, "You & Julian also show the same trait as do Bill and Fleur. Even Ginny & Harry, along with Hermione & Ron are also displaying this behaviour also." Fireball explained still smiling brilliantly. I found myself feeling extremely happy and smiling broadly at hearing this. Maman also looked to be delighted with this news. Ginny seemed to be still a little uncertain as to the implication of this discovery. So Shelly explained further.

"When the magical energy that surrounds someone's heart starts to beat in perfect harmony with the magical energy around another's heart like you just saw, it is a sure sign that those two people are either deeply in love with one another. Or they are very close to being so." She explained to Ginny. This brought a look of surprise and delight to Ginny's face and then a bright red blush as well. That caused a few giggles at Ginny's expense, but I do not think that she minded.

"The two people concerned, however, may not have openly made their feelings known to each other as yet." She added with a knowing smile at Gabrielle and Dave.

"It can happen even if they haven't told one another how they feel?" Ginny quickly asked Shelly with a look of hope in her eyes.

"Yes, it can," Shelly advised her with a questioning look. "What is troubling you, Ginny?" She asked.

"It's nothing." Ginny replied, "It's silly." She added as she examined her shoes.

"Ginny?" I enquired as I tried to encourage her to tell us what is on her mind.

Ginny looked at me with her own question plain to see. I did my best to encourage her to give voice to her questions.

"Its just I KNOW how Harry feels about me, and I KNOW how I feel about him." She blurted out, "I just wish that he would actually come out and say it at some point." She said with a wistful note in her voice as she blushed and once more closely examined her shoes.

Maman, Shelly, Fireball and me were all displaying knowing smiles at Ginny's predicament. Even Gabrielle seemed to be understanding her feelings. I walked over to Ginny and put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close.

"Ginny, you were raised in a wonderfully loving and caring family." I told her, "I'm sure you have had people tell you many times zat zey loved you and cared for you?" Ginny nodded in answer to my question.

"How many times do you zink zat Harry has heard zat said about him?" I asked her, "Knowing what you do about how he was raised and 'cared for'."

This gave her pause for several moments as she thought that over in her mind. When she understood what it was that I was trying to tell her, I could see it clearly in her eyes.

"Zese emotions and feelings zat you boz are experiencing are almost entirely new to Harry," I explained, "He is trying to work through zem without ze benefit of a 'father figure' zat he can go to for advice."

"As he has lost zose he would want to go to for advice on zis. His father, Sirius and Remus." I advised her.

"He thinks of Dad as a father figure…" Ginny started to say before she grasped how awkward it would be for Harry to ask her father for advice on his feelings about his only daughter. When the full understanding of this dawned, she even smiled for a moment.

"Zis is a big step for Harry. It will be ze first-time zat he has been open enough wiz, someone, to tell zem how he really feels about zem." I advised her. "But when he says it to you, and he will. It will be because he truly means it and not for other reasons." I explained.

Ginny smiled brilliantly at me and hugged me by way of thanks. When she pulled back from the hug, she was still smiling brightly. She looked at Shelly and Fireball, and they both indicated that they agreed with me.

"Have no fear Ginny." Shelly told her, "Harry only has eyes for you. Otherwise, he would not have been able to link his Talisman to you. Your bond with him is also an honest one. He just has to get over his fear of you spurning his offer of his love. Or worse, laughing at him." She advised.

"I would never…" Ginny protested.

"You know that, but Harry doesn't." Shelly told her, "Men are strange creatures, Ginny. In some ways, they are extremely simple and straightforward. But in others, they are almost incredibly complex. Matters of the heart, tend to be one of these areas."

"To the rest of the known universe, it is painfully obvious how you to feel about each other. But to him, he is frightened that he might scare you away if he tells you how he feels about you."

"I think I understand now," Ginny replied with a grateful look at all of us. We all gave her a hug of support.

We then turned back to Gabrielle only to see her still holding Dave very protectively to her. His tears were running freely down his face and onto her chest where they next ran to her blouse. A large area had already been stained, by his tears but she wasn't concerned in the slightest. She merely smiled brilliantly at Shelly and asked her in a quiet voice, "Does Dave know?"

"No. Not yet. Not fully, but he truly hopes in his heart of hearts that you do too." Shelly replied looking with approval at Gabrielle. This caused all of us to have a small case of the giggles at the similarities in the situation with Ginny & Harry. Fireball was also displaying her approval and admiration of Gabrielle. Maman and I also couldn't keep the smiles off of our faces.

"I zink zat we should give ze two of zem some privacy," Maman suggested. We all quickly agreed and exited the sitting room.

Shelly immediately called her mother to explain what had happened. While she was doing that Maman busied herself putting some sort of covering on the mirrors in the entrance hall. Along with any other mirrors that Dave was likely to encounter.

When Shelly got off her phone, she reported that Sandra was extremely impressed with what Gabrielle had been able to achieve and that she REALLY wanted to have a chat with her. Maman and I quickly agreed as we were also very eager to find out the full story of what had transpired between the two of them.

We headed outside to help the others with the wards. We were asked where Dave and Gabrielle were by just about everyone. This prompted us to gather everyone together and tell them all what had happened to Dave and what Gabrielle had been able to achieve in response to it.

Without exception, ALL of Dave's team were extremely impressed with Gabrielle. You could see their opinion of her rise considerably. Maman and Papa didn't fail to notice this either. Their pride in their little girl was evident for all to see.

My Bill was also showing his pride in Gabrielle as well, as were the rest of his brothers and Hermione. Harry was impressed as well, but he additionally asked after Dave. This seemed to earn him a good number of 'brownie points' with Dave's team and family.

"He still appears to be very shaken by the experience, but I have every faith in Gabrielle that she will bring him around."

There was a murmur of agreement with this. It was decided to leave the two of them alone for now. We concentrated on getting the rest of the charms in place as well as strengthening the wards on my parents' home. Along with getting the camera's installed and connected to the TV.

When that work had been completed, we all headed back to the house for a rest before heading back to the Burrow. Maman, Shelly, Fireball and me went to check on Dave and Gabrielle.

We found the door of the sitting room open and no one inside of it. This surprised us a little, none the less we headed off to the next most logical place to find them. Gabrielle's room.

As we were walking up the stairs, we could hear Gabrielle's laughter ringing out. We all took this to be a good sign, and some hopeful smiles were shared between us all. When we got to the door of Gabrielle's room we found it open and looking inside we could see Dave sitting on the floor of the room with his back against Gabrielle's bed. Gabrielle was sat in Dave's lap, and she looked to be showing him a photo album. Looking at the collection of them on the floor I would say that Gabrielle had shown him quite a few. I was willing to bet however that these were her 'approved albums' and not the ones showing the many embarrassing episodes that she had had in her life. This was later proven to be a correct assumption (one that Maman and I happily corrected).

Gabrielle noticed us first and delivered a genuinely beautiful smile to us. She then told Dave that they had company. When Dave looked up he gave us a small smile, he still looked to be very unsettled, but he was significantly improved compared to his earlier condition.

They both got to their feet. Dave collected the bags that Gabrielle had packed, while Gabrielle grabbed a magazine that had been on her bed. She duly delivered this to Maman who took one look at the cover and smiled. As indeed there was a picture of Dave on his surfboard riding a wave on the cover (along with a photo of someone else). Not knowing much about surfing back then, I was unsure though why his derrière was sticking out as much as it was, however.

Shelly and Fireball also smiled at the image on the cover. Fireball then advised Maman in a quiet voice, "The article about the shark attack is further in the magazine, almost in the middle of it. You don't want to look at those pictures unaware." She advised. Maman indicated her thanks.

Fireball then asked Gabrielle if she had packed anything suitable to go swimming in. This caused a moment of confusion on Gabrielle's face, and she asked why anyone would go swimming in wintertime. Fireball advised her that winters in Australia were far milder than in Europe. She also told her that Australia was so large it covered many different climate zones, including tropical so that it was always possible to find somewhere that was suitable for swimming. Gabrielle thanked her for this information and quickly selected a few pairs of swimwear to take with her. When she showed them to Dave to ask his opinion of them, he promptly blushed. For Gabrielle had selected a bikini to show him that wasn't very modest at all. I firmly believe that she did this on purpose to cause Dave to blush. Thankfully, she had also chosen some more practical sets of swimwear as well.

When Dave had recovered his composure (and the rest of us could stop laughing at him), we all headed back downstairs to the others. Dave's team could tell immediately that their boss wasn't his usual self and they sprang into action to get things organised for him.

Very quickly Bill had opened a doorway back to the Burrow under the direction of Rowdy. Mick and Jono had collected Gabrielle's bags from Dave as well. We all made ready to head back to the Burrow with the exceptions of Dave and Fireball who were going to collect the warrants from the ICW in The Hague.

Just before they went to head over to the apparition point, Gabrielle took Fireball aside for a quick chat.

"Please take care of 'im as ee is still very secoué just now." She requested.

Fireball looked at us for a moment, and Shelly explained, "She means that he is still rather shaken, just now." Fireball indicated her understanding and then smiled back at Gabrielle.

"Don't worry Gabrielle, I'll take good care of him." She advised her. Gabrielle smiled happily at hearing this. "I love him almost as much as you do, after all." She said with an evil little grin on her face that had Gabrielle both blushing and smiling brilliantly at the same time. Maman, Shelly and I also had a good laugh at this exchange. Cassy was grinning as well, but her expression indicated that she definitely had questions that she was going to get answered. One way or another.

"Merci," Gabrielle replied before giving Fireball a hug and then she went and gave Dave a hug and some kisses. The rest of us shared a knowing smile at that scene. We all then watched Dave and Fireball depart. Meeting up with the others, we all travelled back to the Burrow.


	58. Curses and Criminals

Almost the moment that we arrived back at the Burrow Sandra swept Gabrielle, Maman, Molly, Me, Ginny, Audrey and Hermione into Shelly's tent. She also brought in Shelly, Cassy, Izzy and Abby. Looking around I realised that the only girl missing was Fireball. Sandra must have picked up my thoughts as she told me, "We will chat to Jasper later and bring her up to speed on what we learn and discuss here." There was a murmur of agreement from all the ladies present.

Sandra then fixed Gabrielle with a look of such love and approval it was almost embarrassing, "You wonderful, wonderful, woman." She remarked while smiling broadly, "You have my eternal gratitude and affection for what you managed to do for my little boy today." She stated as she swept Gabrielle into a fierce embrace. Gabrielle looked to be very touched by this display of emotion. She gratefully accepted and returned Sandra's embrace.

When Sandra eventually released Gabrielle, she asked her, "Could you please tell us what happened?"

"Oui, I zink zat I can," Gabrielle replied with a serious but confident note in her voice.

"I was packing for ze trip and talking to Maman when I felt my Talisman go Ice Cold. I could also almost make out a voice calling for 'elp." She explained, "As soon as it happened I knew it was Dave that he was in trouble, frightened and asking for me to 'elp 'im."

"Both Maman and I zen went downstairs and found Dave in the entrance hall of our house looking directly at ze wall of mirrors. Fleur, Ginny, Shelly and Fireball were with him. However, he wasn't responding to any of zem."

"I tried to get him to respond to me, but I couldn't get through to him." She explained.

"He didn't even respond to her kisses," Shelly remarked with a sly grin at Gabrielle. There were some chuckles at this statement, and Gabrielle gave Shelly a cheeky smile in return.

"We were able to get Dave into ze sitting room, and Shelly told me how to 'call to' him." She explained, "I followed her instructions, and I was able to locate Dave. He seemed both very happy to see me and also extremely embarrassed," She told us.

"What did you see?" Sandra asked Gabrielle with an almost frightened look on her face.

"I saw Dave being attacked." Was her surprising answer.

"Attacked?" We all asked at almost the same time.

"Oui. Attacked." Gabrielle confirmed.

"What was attacking him?" Sandra asked.

"I wasn't sure at first. But based on what I saw later, I would say that it was a curse of some sort." She explained.

"A curse?" Sandra asked as the colour drained from her face.

"Oui," Gabrielle answered.

Hermione looked like her mind was working on something that we had missed, it soon got to the point that she had to speak up. "What makes you think it was a curse?" She asked her eyes alight with curiosity, "Also what did you see later?"

"Bill 'as been teaching me about curses." Was Gabrielle's surprising answer. I was astonished and so was Maman, as neither of us had known about this.

"Why was Bill teaching you about curses?" I asked Gabrielle.

This question caused Gabrielle to look very embarrassed. She wouldn't meet my eyes or Maman's. Eventually, Maman went and sat next to Gabrielle and put her arms around her shoulders. "Did you ask Bill to teach you about curses?" Maman asked Gabrielle. She responded by nodding her head, but she still wouldn't look Maman in the eyes.

"Were you interested in learning about the curses themselves?" Maman asked her, "Or were you more interested in the counter-curses?" She enquired.

"Counter-curses," Gabrielle asked in a small nervous voice.

"Why did you want to know about counter-curses?" Maman asked Gabrielle as some worry and anger started to show in her voice. It looked to me as though she had already come to her own conclusion as to why Gabrielle would want to know about counter-curses. I was also coming to a conclusion of my own, as to why she might want to know about them. We were soon to learn that both Maman's and my thoughts were the same.

"Gabrielle?" Maman asked her when she didn't answer. "Are you having problems at school? Is that why you wished to know about counter-curses?" Maman asked as she placed her fingers under Gabrielle's chin and raised her head so that she was looking into her eyes.

"Oui," Gabrielle replied with tears in her eyes as she looked at Maman. As she gave this answer, I could see Maman's eyes flash with anger but also at the same time they showed understanding for her daughter. Maman quickly pulled Gabrielle into a fierce embrace.

"What sort of problems are you having at school?" Maman asked Gabrielle.

"Are you having problems with the girls in your year at school?" I asked Gabrielle as memories of my own 'difficulties' at school surfaced in my mind.

Gabrielle looked at me, and I could see in her eyes that I had come to the right answer. "Oui." She replied, "Although it isn't just ze girls in my own year. Many older girls also zink zat I am trying to steal zeir boyfriends." She answered.

"Even when I tell zem zat I am not interested in zeir boyfriends, let alone trying to steal zem, zey will not listen to moi." She answered as she began to cry.

"Are ze girls at school trying to curse you?" Maman asked Gabrielle. Gabrielle nodded in answer.

"What sort of curses are they doing?" I asked her.

"Zey have tried to curse off my hair," Gabrielle replied, "Zey 'ave tried to cut my face or change my skin colour…" She explained before she broke down. Maman again caught her in an embrace.

I wasn't sure that I could trust myself to respond civilly just now. Thankfully Shelly was the next one to speak.

"I have some good news for you then, Gabrielle," Shelly advised her with a smile. Gabrielle looked at her with a question plain on her face. "The talisman you're currently wearing will protect you from many of those sorts of minor hexes and curses." She explained with a brilliant smile. Gabrielle soon was also smiling brilliantly, and Maman and I quickly followed.

"With a little bit of training and practise, your Talisman will also warn you if any of the objects near you are cursed as well," Shelly told her as Gabrielle's expression changed to display a significant amount of relief.

"How will it protect her?" Hermione asked.

"For minor hexes and curses at close range, it will simply reflect the curse back at the person who had cast it." Shelly explained, "For more significant curses the Talisman will warn you so that you can either move or cast a protective shield."

Shelly looked to have a thoughtful look for a moment then she directed a very cheeky grin at her. "You may also have an extra layer of protection on your talisman as well." She advised cryptically, as Sandra, Cassy, Izzy and Abby all began to smile mysteriously.

"What sort of protection?" I asked as my curiosity got the better of me.

"Your Talisman is linked to Dave's." Shelly replied as she smiled brilliantly, "Therefore your Talisman has likely 'learned' from his about detecting 'hostile intent'." She explained.

"Learned?" Maman asked.

"Yes learned," Sandra replied, "Talismans that are linked can pass along 'helpful' knowledge to one another, especially if that knowledge will help keep their 'master' safe." She replied.

"Given Dave's job and past history he has a great deal of… Let's call it, 'practical experience' at detecting hostile thoughts and intentions directed at him." Sandra explained, "I think it is a VERY safe bet to say that his Talisman would have passed that 'knowledge' onto Gabrielle's one."

Gabrielle looked to be pleased to hear this, but she also showed some concern that Dave would have been subjected to this sort of practical experience. She had a question on her face as she looked at Sandra and Shelly.

"Dave may not be able to recognise a woman flirting with him, even if she is extremely blatant about it." Shelly advised with a chuckle, "But if someone directed a hostile thought at him it is a very safe bet he would detect it and respond to it even if he wasn't looking at them at the time." She explained.

"That's how he knew that I was about to try to Hex him wasn't it?" Ginny asked.

"Without being there to witness it, I can't say for sure. But it would be a very safe bet to make." Shelly answered.

"We will make sure to teach you all about how to use your Talismans in this way when you visit." Sandra offered. We were all very interested in learning how to use our Talismans like this.

"We can also show you some 'tricks' that you can use to both better protect yourself and your belongings," Shelly advised Gabrielle. "The catch with these tricks is that they involve the use not only traditional magic but also Sorcery and some other magical energies."

"If you use them at school and they activate I'm very confident that your school will immediately know that someone has used sorcery or another type of magical energy within the school boundaries." She explained, "While the French Ministry allows its citizens to use and learn sorcery they also like to keep a 'close eye' on those that can do so. With that in mind, you need to decide if you want your Ministry to know that you can perform sorcery. Along with some other magical energies if our hunches are correct."

"What will zey do when zey find out?" Maman asked.

"I'm willing to bet that the first thing that they will do (after they have confirmed her ability) will be to offer her a job. They may be rather 'forceful' in this job offer though." Shelly cautioned, "They will also take a very active interest in her schooling and training."

"What sort of 'active interest'?" Maman asked with some slight concern showing.

"They will try to influence her choice of subjects to align with their own desires rather than her own." Shelly advised, "Gabrielle will have an advantage though because the French Ministry doesn't currently have any sorcerers working for them, they won't want to alienate her. So that should encourage them to be better behaved than they have been reported to be in the past."

"They may even try to get her to focus her schooling on sorcery to the exclusion of all other magical energies." She cautioned, "That is to be avoided at all costs though. As you don't want to limit yourself to the study of only one type of magical energy if you have a choice." She advised. I could see Gabrielle and Maman take that advice onboard.

"Merci for zis information," Maman replied, "We will think carefully on zis. It might be advisable to wait and see how Gabrielle handles what she will learn about her abilities when she travels with you to Australie." Maman suggested.

"That is an excellent suggestion Apolline," Sandra replied as she agreed with Maman.

"From what Shelly told me earlier Gabrielle has already begun to receive some instruction in sorcery," Sandra remarked as she looked at a now blushing Gabrielle. "Judging from the description of the event earlier today, she has not only taken to those lessons very well but also some lessons on muggle style 'defensive' skills?" She enquired.

Seeing the questioning looks directed at her by all the ladies present Gabrielle nodded her head and replied, "Oui, Dave has been teaching me some zings." She said with a smile.

"What sort of things?" Sandra asked her.

"Mostly how to reach for and use Sorcery safely. Along wiz ze rules and guidelines on it use." She answered.

"How has he been teaching you?" Shelly asked her, "As we haven't seen you two spend much time together in those sorts of lessons."

Gabrielle was now really blushing, this only caused Maman and I to become more curious.

"Gabrielle?" Maman asked her as a knowing sort of smile formed on her face.

"We mostly talk about zose sorts of zings after we have gone to bed." She explained with a large blush on her cheeks.

"How?" Maman asked, but I already knew the answer to that question.

"We 'talk' about zose zings, with our thoughts." Gabrielle answered with a guilty look, "After you caught us talking on our mirror phones, I suggested to Dave zat we try talking directly wiz our thoughts as no one would be able to hear us 'talking' zat way." She explained.

"I see," Maman said with a very amused look on her face.

"It does make sense." Sandra agreed, "It would also explain how she has been able to learn the amount she has in such a short period of time."

"Pardon?" Maman asked.

"To close a door using sorcery is a simple thing. To be able to operate the lock on it is rather more difficult." She explained, "If Dave is indeed teaching her mainly via their thoughts, it would be a great deal more efficient than via the usual methods."

"Just as talking in that manner is quicker and more efficient, so is teaching. The only reason it isn't done more often is that it is rare to find a teacher and student with such a strong connection." She told us with a brilliant smile at Gabrielle.

"It is comforting to know zat she is putting her new abilities to use," Maman remarked with a wicked little grin at Sandra. They both shared a chuckle at Gabrielle's expense.

"Now that we know how Gabrielle has gained some knowledge of curses, can she tell us what she saw 'later on' that made her so sure that it was a curse?" Hermione enquired. This question brought the conversation back on track and returned a concerned look to Gabrielle's face.

"Yes, I think I would very much like to know that also." Sandra requested of Gabrielle with a supportive smile. "Did you see this other thing while you were calling to Dave? Or after?" She asked.

"After," Gabrielle replied once more looking a little embarrassed.

"You mean when you brought Dave into your soul?" Sandra asked Gabrielle with a very intense look in her eyes.

"Oui." She replied.

"How did you manage to do that?" Hermione wanted to know, "As when Dave did it to you, we were told that it was very difficult and dangerous." She stated.

"You are correct Hermione, it is." Sandra answered, "But in Gabrielle's case she has a certain advantage. Firstly because Dave had previously brought her into his soul, their souls have already met and will 'know' each other. Secondly, because their first such experience was a pleasant one their souls would be 'happy' to meet again. They may even have directly assisted Gabrielle in her attempt." She explained.

"Thirdly, because of their Talismans being linked to one another." She advised, "They would also have been able to provide a degree of guidance and assistance as well."

"How did you manage to take Dave into your soul?" Sandra asked her.

"I simply reached out and asked him to follow me," Gabrielle replied.

"Follow you where?" Sandra asked.

"I asked him to follow me to see 'me'." She replied with a shy smile.

"I see." Sandra answered, "Why did you take him into your soul?" She asked as she watched Gabrielle very closely.

"I wished, and needed to tell him certain things in a way where he knew that I couldn't lie to him." She replied with a shy smile.

"Is that so..." Sandra answered as she returned Gabrielle's smile, "Are you willing to tell us what you told him?" She asked.

"Non," Gabrielle answered while trying to hide her blushing.

"I thought as much." Sandra chuckled, "Can you tell us what it was that you saw, that made you so sure that it was a curse that was attacking my son?" She asked. As she asked this Gabrielle became visibly very uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure if Dave intended for me to see all of what it was that I saw or not." Gabrielle told Sandra, "But I do know that he is aware that I saw and experienced all of it." She answered with a concerned look on her face.

"Did Dave make any requests of you about what you saw?" Sandra asked with an understanding and supporting smile.

"Non," Gabrielle answered.

"Did you see what Dave sees when he looks in the mirror?" Sandra asked with both hope and fear in her voice. Gabrielle couldn't reply verbally, so she simply nodded. Sandra looked very startled by this. "Was it at all like what my husband showed you?" She asked hesitantly.

"Non," She answered, and for a moment there was relief showing on Sandra's face until Gabrielle continued on, "It was worse." She stated with tears showing in her eyes.

"Worse?" Sandra gasped as all the colour faded from her face. "How?" She almost pleaded.

Gabrielle looked to be struggling with some compelling emotions. On the one hand, she didn't want to betray what she saw as Dave's trust in her for showing her what he did. On the other hand, she desperately wanted to give Sandra the information that she now had, in the hope that she might be able to use it to help her son.

"I can feel and see your struggle, Gabrielle." Sandra advised after a few moments, "And I applaud you more than you can know, for thinking of Dave's feelings in this, the way that you are."

"But I would like to beg of you to please share this information with us." Sandra pleaded, "To the best of my knowledge you are the only person that Dave has shared this information with. The more we know about how he is affected, the more likely it is that we can help him." She advised.

Sandra and Gabrielle shared a long look for several moments. During this time I suspected that they were having a silent conversation and this seemed to be confirmed when Gabrielle eventually nodded her head in agreement with something that was said. The look of gratitude on Sandra's face when this happened was overwhelming, and she quickly got up and embraced Gabrielle. I could hear her whispering 'thank you' to her also.

When Sandra returned to her seat she looked at us all, "I know none of you would do anything to hurt my son. But I would ask that we all agree to not discuss with others what we are about to learn without Gabrielle's approval." She requested.

We all quickly agreed to this and Gabrielle looked quite shocked at the trust that Sandra was placing in her.

"Before we begin I would like to request of you Gabrielle that we share what we learn with Dave's other sisters, his father along with his Grandmother a Great Grandmother as well." She requested.

"Oui. Agreed." Gabrielle replied before she took a deep breath and continued on.

"Dave doesn't see a static image like his Papa does when he sees himself in a mirror." She began, "He sees a moving image zat changes."

"Ze image zat he sees is zat of his flesh decaying and falling off of his body before his eyes." She explained as tears ran freely down her cheeks. Maman put her arms around Gabrielle and held her tight, "Not only can he see zis but he can feel it happening to him as well."

I wasn't sure what it was that I was expecting to hear. But I was very sure that it wasn't what I had just heard. To call it frightening would be an understatement. Looking at the others in the room I'm confident that they were in the same boat as me.

Sandra had gone paler than I thought it was possible to go. Molly seemed to be genuinely concerned for her sister. She reached out to offer her some comfort, and I fully expected her to break down in her sister's arms. But she was made of very stern stuff and didn't crack. She did, however, look to be thankful for her sister's support.

"Ze worst part of it zough is zat he can hear ze voices of his family while zis is happening to him." She explained, and the pain and anguish in her voice were evident for us all to hear.

"Could you make out what these voices were saying?" Sandra asked in an almost frightened voice herself.

"Oui, I could," Gabrielle replied with her heart showing in her eyes, as she clearly knew that this information would cause pain to Sandra and her family. After a few moments, Sandra requested for Gabrielle to continue on. "He could hear ze voices of his family rejecting him. Rejecting him utterly." She told us before she broke down in tears.

"Was my voice one of the ones that Dave could hear?" Sandra asked with unshed tears in her eyes. When Gabrielle nodded in the affirmative Sandra did break down and start to cry. Molly was quickly at her side and enfolded her in one of her hugs. Shelly and Cassy were soon at her side also.

The rest of didn't know what to do. We sat in silence just giving Gabrielle and Sandra time to allow their emotions to run their course. This proved to be the right decision, when they had both gotten themselves under control again they did seem calmer and stronger for their earlier release of emotions.

"How is it that you didn't show fear or horror at the sight of what Dave shared with you?" Sandra asked Gabrielle. This caused the colour to return to Gabrielle's cheeks, and she started to look a little embarrassed.

"Somehow I knew zat if I showed any fear it would have destroyed him." Gabrielle replied with a serious note to her voice, "Also as horrible as what he showed me was, it was nothing compared to ze despair zat I could see in his eyes." She explained.

"All I could zink of was zat I wanted to remove zat despair and replace it with hope and happiness." She stated.

Sandra smiled brilliantly at Gabrielle when she heard this. "I do believe that Shelly was right." She said as she looked at Gabrielle with admiration and affection, "You truly do love him. Don't you?" She enquired of a now brilliantly blushing but smiling Gabrielle.

"I think that is answer enough," Sandra said with a chuckle and a smile. We all had a laugh at this exchange. "I might be a little biased in this decision, but I do think that you have good taste," Sandra said with a laugh.

"As well as enjoying a good challenge," Cassy remarked to several sets of chuckles.

"Don't worry, if all else fails, I know where Dave keeps his surfboards." Shelly offered. When she said this all of us just had to laugh. Not only at the expression on Gabrielle's face but also on Sandra's. When the laughter died down Sandra got the conversation moving again.

"What was it about what Dave showed you, that made you think it was a curse?" Sandra asked.

"It was ze feeling zat it gave me, as well as what I could see 'around ze edges' also." She explained, "It felt very much like it was being imposed on Dave from an outside source."

Sandra sat deep in thought for several moments before she came to a decision. "Gabrielle, would you agree to share this information with Bill?" She asked.

"If you are both agreeable I would very much like you to share your memories with Bill and me, of both when you called to Dave and when he showed you what he sees." She requested.

Gabrielle looked surprised for a few moments before she too reached a decision. "I know Dave has a great deal of respect and trust for Bill so I would be happy to agree to zis." She answered as Sandra again embraced her and then quickly left the tent in search of my Bill.

When she returned shortly after with him in tow, Bill had a wary look on his face as he took in the crowd assembled in Shelly's tent.

"I fell like I have done something wrong and have been called before the council of elders to explain myself." He chuckled a little nervously.

"You may well have," I replied cheekily. Seeing how cute Bill looked when he was this confused I decided to take pity on him and got straight to the point, "Is it true that you have been teaching Gabrielle about counter-curses so she can better protect herself at school?" I asked him.

The fact that he had the good grace to blush was more than enough of an answer for Maman and me. We both got up and hugged him. "Why didn't you say anything?" I asked him.

"She asked me not to, as she was very embarrassed about the situation," Bill replied.

"I see," Maman replied, she then turned to Gabrielle, "Was this the real reason behind your request to go and see Fleur and Bill?" She asked.

"Oui," Gabrielle answered with her own blush on display.

"Why didn't you say anything to me about zis?" Maman asked her.

"I didn't want to trouble you, wiz, it." Gabrielle replied, "I 'ad 'oped zat Bill would be able to teach me enough so zat I could 'andle it on my own." She stated.

"Zat is very admirable Gabrielle." Maman replied, "However, it is also a parents job to assist her children with life's challenges."

"Merci, Maman," Gabrielle said gratefully as she once more hugged Maman.

"Is that what all of this is about?" Bill asked as he pointed to the gathered crowd in Shelly's tent.

"No, actually it isn't Bill." Sandra answered, "But it is part of it." She advised him. Bill turned to regard her with an openly questioning look on his face.

"Earlier today during the events at the Delacour residence Gabrielle uncovered some new information about Dave's condition," Sandra advised him, "This information has lead Gabrielle to believe that Dave is being affected by a curse in some way." She explained to an equally shocked and curious Bill.

"If you are agreeable we would like to share with you Gabrielle's memories of these events so that you can better offer your advice." She explained. Before Bill could respond, however, she held up her hand and continued on, "I do need to warn you though that one of the memories that Gabrielle has to share is of what Dave sees when he looks in the mirror."

"It is unpleasant in the extreme." She cautioned him, "Far worse apparently than what my husband shared with you."

"I'm willing to view these memories," Bill replied confidently.

"Thank you, Bill," Sandra said with genuine gratitude.

She then held out her hands to both Bill and Gabrielle. Bill and then Gabrielle each took the others hand as well, this caused the three of them to make a small ring. They all closed their eyes and began to view the memories that Gabrielle was willing to share.

We could tell when Gabrielle shared the memory of what Dave sees in the mirror. As Bill went deathly pale and Sandra had tears running down her cheeks.

When they had finished viewing the memories and returned, Bill was looking very unsettled and also concerned. Sandra also seemed to be shocked by what she had just witnessed. When she had composed herself, she turned to Bill.

"It is a curse isn't it?" She asked, apparently dreading the answer.

"Yes. Yes, I do believe it is." Bill replied in his professional voice that he uses when he is still trying to get things sorted out in his own mind.

"What sort is it?" Sandra asked.

"I'm not sure just now." Bill replied thoughtfully, "Do you have a similar memory from your husband and maybe your father-in-law?" He asked.

"I do." Sandra replied, "I will happily share them if you think they will help."

"I believe that they will," Bill replied. Sandra agreed, and then she and Bill quickly held hands, while she shared her memories with him.

After viewing them, Bill had a look of profound sorrow in his eyes as he regarded Sandra. "What is it?" Sandra almost begged him, "What did you see?"

"It is my professional opinion that your father-in-law, husband and sons are indeed subject to a curse," Bill informed her. "Not only a curse but an adaptive curse."

"An adaptive curse?" Sandra asked with an almost terrified look in her eyes.

"Yes." Bill answered, "It seems to get stronger with each male in your husbands family."

"I could see traces of the same adaptive curse in all three of those memories, and it was getting stronger in each one." He explained, "There seemed to be a jump between your husband and Dave, but I would be willing to bet that a similar memory from your eldest son would fit neatly into the gap that I detected."

"What do you think the curse is doing to them?" She asked, watching Bill very intently.

"Based on what I have just seen, I would say that the curse is aiming to end the male line of your husbands family," Bill told her.

"WHAT!, How?" She asked in disbelief.

"To be 100% completely sure about this we would need to examine Dave directly. Going from only a set of memories isn't the best way to do this." Bill advised.

Sandra looked at my Bill for a long moment with her worry clearly showing on her face as she thought about what he had just told her. Eventually she nodded in agreement and asked for Bill to continue.

"Firstly it appears as though it is causing the number of male children born into your husband's family to be artificially low. While increasing the number of female children to be born." Bill explained.

"That explains quite a few things." Sandra mused.

"In the male members of your husband's family, it mostly seems to be attacking their own sense of self-worth. This would tend to make the males in your husband's family almost reckless with their own safety." He explained, "As they would automatically see themselves as being the most expendable and least likely to be missed."

"They would also struggle to attach any sense of value to their own life." Bill advised, "This, of course, will get stronger with each male in your husband's family. Meaning…"

"That Dave is affected more than my husband by this curse," Sandra stated, and Bill nodded in agreement.

When he made this statement, I could see recognition of its accuracy show in the eyes of Sandra, as well as Shelly, Cassy, Izzy and Abby. Strangely Audrey also seemed to show a degree of this recognition as well. I wasn't the only one watching their faces, however. Gabrielle had been observing them carefully as well. She began to look very concerned following their reactions to this revelation.

"I also have a suspicion that the female members of your husband's family may also be affected but in a slightly different way." Bill offered, "But to confirm this I would need to view a similar type memory from one of your daughters and one of Ivan's sisters."

"You can view my memories of when I look in a mirror if it helps my family." Shelly immediately offered.

"Mine too." Cassy also offered.

Bill indicated his thanks, and they all quickly joined hands with Bill and Sandra. We all were eager to learn what Bill would discover but also slightly apprehensive at the same time. When they did finish sharing memories, Bill had a troubled expression.

"What did you see?" Sandra asked.

"I could see the same curse that is affecting your husband and son." Bill replied, "It is substantially weakened, however. I believe that its only real effect on the female members of your husband's family will be to make male offspring an uncommon occurrence."

"That's both a relief and a worry," Sandra replied while her mind worked through what Bill had advised.

"It would also mean that 'our boys' are indeed kind of unique." Shelly chuckled, "But we don't want to tell them that." She added to some slightly forced grins from Sandra and Cassy.

"I would strongly suggest that you get Nat and Craig to investigate this." Bill advised, "As they might be able to learn more about this curse than I have been able to."

"If Gabrielle agrees I will happily get them involved," Sandra replied as she looked at Gabrielle for her permission. Gabrielle quickly granted her permission.

"There is something else that I noticed," Bill advised Sandra. We all turned our attention to Bill. "It would seem that the curse is affecting your husband and sons awareness of the opposite sex,"

"Pardon?" Sandra asked him while looking like she had been caught completely off guard.

"It's making them rather oblivious to certain types of attention from women," Shelly stated confidently as she looked to Bill for confirmation.

"Correct." Bill replied, "It would seem that Dave isn't entirely to blame for his being as 'thick as two planks' about women." Bill chuckled a little nervously.

"Why would it do that?" Sandra asked almost to herself.

"If they never formed an attachment to a partner, they would never get the chance to start a family," Molly said as she looked to Bill to see if she was on the right track. He indicated his agreement with her. "That would be almost the same as if they had died, regarding continuing the family line." She stated with a look of worry at her sister.

"Zat is horrible." I blurted out before I could help myself, "Who would do such a thing."

"That I can't answer with any degree of certainty." Bill replied deep in thought, "But if I had to make a guess I would say it is most likely connected to Dave's Grandfather being cast out of his family." He suggested.

"I wouldn't want to bet against that idea," Shelly also remarked with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

"There is one small silver lining here though," Bill advised, as he became the focus of all of our attention. "The curse is being 'blunted' in a significant manner by your family's love for one another." Seeing the question on Sandra's face, he continued on.

"Curses by their very nature are incapable of understanding love and sacrifice." He explained, "The virtually limitless love in your family seems to be holding the worst effects of this curse at bay currently."

"Although if Dave or your husband were to lose their sense of 'fun' or 'humour', their lives would indeed be in grave peril." He told us, "Without their current 'love of life' for want of a better term I believe that they would already be dead." He stated.

"So after he lost both Jimmy and Emma when he withdrew from everyone and threw himself into his work and personally took on just about every risky operation there was. That wasn't just his grief?" Sandra asked, "It was this curse getting a better hold on him?"

"Without being there to witness it myself, I can't say. But it would align with what I could see." Bill informed her.

Gabrielle, in particular, seemed to be visibly concerned by this news. Shelly then stepped up and put her arm around her shoulders, "We will just have to step up our pranks on him." She suggested with an evil grin, "Just to make sure that he knows that we really do love him." She added with an innocent expression that fooled no one. Gabrielle did appear to be grateful to her none the less.

"There is something else that I also noticed," Bill advised Sandra. "This adaptive curse is linked to yet another adaptive curse."

"Another one?" Sandra almost wailed.

"Yes, another one." Bill replied, "But this other curse isn't targeted on your father-in-law or his descendants."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"If my earlier guess is correct then the other adaptive curse would be targeted on those who actually performed the casting out of your father-in-law from his family." Bill told her, "Along with their descendants."

"It's trying to wipe them all out?" Sandra asked.

"Yes. That is my best guess at this point in time." Bill stated confidently.

"Who…" Sandra asked just as Ginny spoke up.

"Harry." She stated directly in a small almost frightened voice.

"Pardon?" Sandra asked her.

"I believe that Harry is the target of that other adaptive curse that Bill mentioned." She told us as her worry became plain on her face.

"Do you mean because Harry's Grandfather and Great Grandfather were involved with Dave's Grandfather being cast out?" Molly asked while she closely watched Ginny's face. "Or do you think it is because there is a connection by blood between them like you were telling me about the other night?"

"Because Ginny you need to accept that, just because they look…" Molly tried to advise her, before Ginny cut her off.

"I know that there isn't any proven link between them currently." Ginny stated quite firmly, "But my heart and my gut are telling me that there is. We just haven't found it yet."

"What makes you say that?" Sandra asked her, "Other than the physical similarities that is."

"I can't put my finger on it precisely." Ginny said with a thoughtful look, "But their mannerisms are so similar, even their expressions are almost a mirror of each other." Sandra looked as though she was about to say something but Ginny continued on.

"Back at Gringotts, when we were in Harry's family vault there was a section that only Harry could enter. Neither Ron nor I could go into it. But Dave could." She told us. This caused a significant reaction from Bill. He seemed to be very startled by it.

"If it was a blood ward that was in that vault, it might not mean anything." Sandra advised her, "As I have seen Dave pass through blood wards before that should have stopped him."

"Dave said the same thing." Ginny replied, "But I just know that there is a connection between the two of them." She stated with a surprising degree of conviction.

"Ginny could be onto something." Bill suggested, "As the wards used in the hereditary family vaults in Gringotts are not just simple blood wards." He told us.

"Their exact composition is a closely guarded secret by the goblins. But I could ask the head goblin if it were possible for Dave to pass through one of them if he wasn't supposed to." He offered.

Ginny had a wild look of hope in her eyes. Sandra, however, looked more cautious.

"That might be an avenue worth exploring." Sandra agreed, "But please keep it between us only, as I do not wish to get my family's collective hope up without very significant proof." She requested.

"Agreed," Bill replied, and Sandra smiled gratefully at him and embraced him warmly.

"There is something else also…" Ginny offered as we all regarded her with questioning looks. "Do you know that Dave can't easily impersonate Harry like he did with me the day after we first met," Ginny told us.

"What do you mean he can't easily impersonate Harry?" Sandra quickly asked her.

"Harry and I were asking him how he went about impersonating people. Like he usually does, he went to do a demonstration to explain it." Ginny explained, "He went to impersonate Harry as an example. But he soon found that he couldn't easily hold Harry's features in his head to use for the change."

"He couldn't 'model' Harry?" Shelly asked with a very focused look on her face as she carefully examined Ginny's face.

"Yes, now that I think about it. That's the term that Dave used." Ginny agreed.

"That's unheard of." Shelly exclaimed, "I've seen Dave successfully impersonate someone who he had only seen out of the corner of his eye for a split second." She stated confidently.

"It might be unheard of, but it still needs to be investigated," Sandra instructed Shelly, it almost sounded like a direct order the way she said it. "When we know the 'why' behind this it might provide us with critical information that we currently lack."

"I would strongly advise you to speak to Daniel and ask him, what it would take for someone of his abilities to have an issue like this." She requested, "As he is one of the few who can mirror Dave's ability in this area."

"I'll get him on the phone later tonight," Shelly promised. Sandra seemed happy with this.

"Who ez zis Daniel?" Gabrielle asked.

"Master Yoda," Cassy answered with a smile on her face. "Like Dave, he was an undercover specialist for most of his active service career before he began teaching at the Auror Academy."

"Ah, merci," Gabrielle replied with a smile.

"Ginny, was Dave able to impersonate Harry in the end?" Sandra asked her.

"He could, however it wasn't as convincing as others that I have seen him do. He told us that it was the most difficult one that he had ever done. He also mentioned that he found it difficult to hold it for any length of time." She told us, "Even when he went to do it again it was still immensely challenging for him."

"That is very interesting." Sandra mused, then she had a thoughtful expression for a few moments before she spoke to Shelly with a serious note in her voice, "Make sure that you let Daniel know about that also." She requested.

Shelly nodded in agreement, but before she could reply her mirror phone rang. She glanced at it and just by her smile I could guess who it was on the other end.

"Bonjour." She said happily as she answered her phone. Although her smile was quickly replaced with her Auror face as she listened intently for several moments. "She is with me now in my tent, I will ask her for you." She said into her mirror phone.

"Aunty Molly, Jean-Luc is on the phone he is requesting permission to visit to speak with you. He and his boss have some news for you." She informed us. "Is this ok?"

"Certainly, it is," Molly answered with curiosity in her eyes.

"Aunty Molly has said that it is ok for you both to visit." She told him, "Do you have your key with you?" She asked with a sly smile at her mum (Sandra smiled knowingly back at her).

"See you soon then." She told him before ending the call. Shelly then quickly crossed to the doorway in her tent and waited. Very soon there was a knock at her door, and the voice of Jean-Luc could be heard requesting entrance. He and Lionel were quickly admitted to Shelly's tent.

After some very quick greetings, both Jean-Luc and Lionel turned to Molly with brilliant smiles on their faces.

"We have some wonderful news for you." Jean-Luc told Molly while still smiling, "The people that were captured earlier today at Delacour Manor were indeed in the employ of the French assassin that we had discussed earlier. It turns out that the wannabe assassins name is Balthasar Gérard."

"One of the watchers you captured is, in fact, Balthasar's beloved younger brother, Léon," Jean-Luc exclaimed. "Léon was able to put us in touch with his older brother Balthasar." There were some excited smiles in the room as we all listened to this news.

"We have just come from a meeting with Balthasar, where he surrendered himself to us so that his younger brother would be spared the death penalty for his part in a conspiracy to commit murder," Lionel told Molly as he smiled so large he was in danger of splitting his head in two.

The whole tent erupted in celebration at this news. We must have made a great deal of noise as the others quickly arrived in Shelly's tent to see what all the commotion was. Once they were told the news that we had just heard they also promptly joined in with the celebrations.

Molly was enthusiastically hugging everyone present. Jean-Luc and Lionel were accorded special hugs, as was Papa for we learned that he was the one who had actually stunned and captured the younger brother of this mysterious assassin.

"Did this Balthasar have any more information on the contract that has been placed on Molly? Or those who have 'expressed interest' in it?" Mick asked once the celebrations quietened down somewhat.

"Oui, he did," Lionel told us. "Apparently the news of the 'financial difficulties' of the Lestrange family spread much faster than any of us realised or expected through the criminal underworld." He told us.

"This rapidly reduced interest in the contract on Molly," Lionel said beaming at us all. Both Arthur and Molly were also smiling brilliantly at this, along with their family. "Even those who previously had indicated an interest in the contract and were beginning to put their plans in motion apparently walked away once they learned that their chances of being paid had basically evaporated."

My cheeks were beginning to hurt from all the smiling I was doing, but I didn't care. I hadn't been this happy for quite some time.

"So, was this Balthasar the only one still actively pursuing the contract on my Molly?" Arthur asked.

"Sadly, he was not." Lionel told us, "There is an Italian assassin who is actively pursuing the contact in competition with our now captured Frenchman."

"Who is it?" Ivan asked Lionel.

"We are not 100% sure at this point. We only really know the 'name' that she goes by, 'La Rosa'." Lionel advised us.

"The Rose," Rowdy stated surprising everyone, by breaking his typical silence. He must have enjoyed the effect of his random statements as he was grinning at the rest of his team.

"Correct." Jean-Luc replied, "We believe that she is the same person indicated in the files you gave us. About the only thing we are sure of right now is her motivation for taking the contract."

"Which is?" Ivan enquired.

"She is after Dave's head, or at least the head of the alias he used. Apparently, it is related to an incident that occurred in the Marcelle region not long after he arrived in France," Lionel told us with a severe expression once more on his face. The faces of Dave's family and his fellow team members all hardened into looks of grim resolve at this news.

"What incident? And what makes her think that this contract will get her closer to Dave?" Ivan asked.

"She believes, that the Lestrange family has information that will lead her to Dave." Lionel replied, "She is hoping that by fulfilling this contract she will get access to this information." He explained.

"As to the incident involved, we do not know at this point. We have put out 'feelers' to 'La Rosa' offering her information if she will talk to us, but it may take some time before she replies." Lionel explained, "One reason I am here, is to ask if there were any incidents in that region involving Dave that we do not currently know about?" Lionel inquired.

All eyes were quickly on Shelly and Mick. "I don't believe so, all the incidents from that time have been written up formally, and copies of those reports have handed to your ministry." Shelly told them both, "Likewise with the prisoners both Magical and Muggle, they have all been handed over as well."

"Merci." Lionel replied, "We will begin to go back over them to look for any clues that might lead us to the identity of this person."

"Have you reached out to the Italian Ministry also to see if they know the identity of this person?" Ivan asked Lionel.

"Oui, we have." He replied, "They hope to have an answer for us shortly. We will inform you as soon as we know more ourselves."

"Thank you," Ivan said as he shook hands warmly with Lionel.

"You are most welcome Minister." He replied, "I must now get back to ze office to write up the arrest reports on our latest catch." He remarked with an eager light in his eyes.

"Won't you stay for dinner?" Molly asked him.

"Sadly, I cannot at this time." He replied, "But Jean-Luc is most welcome to stay if he wishes since I was apparently the cause of him missing his last 'dinner date' with his future in-laws." He remarked with a chuckle at a now brilliantly smiling Jean-Luc and Shelly.

"Another time then," Molly suggested as she once more hugged Lionel.

"I would be honoured." He replied before taking his leave of us and returning back through the door in Shelly's tent.

"Just what sort of incidents did your team cause in Marcelle when you first arrived?" Julian asked Shelly with an inquisitive look.

"We ran a few operations to secure and better control the area around where we set up our main base." She replied.

"What sort of operations?" He asked.

"Mostly taking out local criminal elements, both magical and muggle. As we knew that we would be bringing those that we rescued from the UK to that location and we wanted to make it as safe for them as possible." She explained.

"What sort of criminals were they?" Arthur asked.

"Mostly smugglers and black marketers for the magical criminals, for the muggles they were mostly drug dealers and thugs." She replied.

"Weren't you worried about new criminals just moving back in?" Arthur asked her.

"Zat is where ze beauty of their plan comes in," Jean-Luc said with a chuckle. "They replaced zose criminals with 'criminals' of zeir own." He explained and then laughed at our expressions.

"We brought with us some of Drunkmouse's mob to 'manage' the criminal networks we had just taken over, for all intents and purposes." Shelly explained, "This gave us good contacts with other local criminals along with access to the information that they had."

"That's a different approach," Arthur remarked with an amused expression as he thought over the idea.

"It's one we have used many times in the past." Shelly answered with a smile at Jean-Luc, "I believe that the French Ministry has even got some 'honourable criminals' of their own now working alongside Drunkmouse's ones to learn how they operate." She chuckled.

"Oui, we do." He answered, "From all reports, they are most impressed with how devious your 'honourable criminals' actually are."

"We might have to try the same thing here." Arthur mused.

"Actually, we already have set up something similar here," Shelly told us with an almost embarrassed look at Arthur.

"Really?" He asked with a look that was part amusement and part concern.

"Yes, just about all the pickpockets, petty thieves and thugs in Diagon Alley actually work for us currently." She admitted.

"What!" we all exclaimed.

"It kind of happened by accident." Shelly explained, "After Jimmy and Dave setup their supposed 'protection racket' on George's shop, they realised that they needed to make themselves more credible with the local criminals."

"So, they kind of moved in on their operations as well. This resulted in turning all the local criminals into a very effective intelligence gathering team. Because they paid them more for accurate, factual information that they provided us than they did for any stolen goods that they offered."

"This had the unexpected side effect of causing thefts and other incidents to drop off dramatically while the information that we were able to gather for us went up significantly." She told a stunned Arthur.

"I'm not sure what to say." Arthur remarked with an amused expression, "It certainly explains the report on crime statistics in Diagon Alley that I saw recently.

"I'm thinking that we are going to have to get some 'honourable criminals' of our own, and quickly." He chuckled.

"Should we all head back outside so that we can get dinner ready?" Molly suggested, "As it has been a rather eventual afternoon."

"No complaints from me," Ron replied with a grin.

"Or me," Jono added with a chuckle as he made to race Ron to the door of the tent.

We all headed back out to where the tables were still set up, only to see a visibly unhappy Fireball emerge from Dave's tent. When she saw us, she quickly made her way over to us.

"What is it?" Sandra asked her, "What's wrong? Where is Dave?" She almost demanded.

"He is in his tent." She replied clearly unhappy, "He won't come out as he is still very embarrassed and ashamed by what happened earlier today." She explained.

"Apparently he and Q had been working on something to try and help him deal with his reaction to what he sees in the mirror. He had thought that he had been getting it under control, but when today's incident occurred it destroyed his confidence in himself and his abilities." She told us with tears in her eyes. "He's currently drafting his letter of resignation from the Aurors as he thinks that he is a liability and a risk to the safety of his team. I couldn't convince him otherwise." She told us as she collapsed into her mum's arms.

Dave's team looked devastated by this news. They shared looks between themselves that clearly showed that they didn't want Dave to resign.

Gabrielle made to head off to Dave's tent, only to have Harry stop her. "Please, can I talk to him before you do?" He requested. "As I might be able to relate to him better on this topic than you." He suggested.

After looking at Harry thoughtfully for a moment, she asked: "How?"

"I had a similar issue with Dementors before I was shown how to handle it," Harry replied. "I might be able to use that to convince Dave not to act rashly about his situation." He explained.

She nodded her head in agreement with Harry and then embraced him saying only "Merci." She let him go, and we all watched as Harry headed off to Dave's tent. All of us were looking worried as we set about getting things ready for dinner.

I noticed Maman watching Gabrielle as she kept on looking over at Dave's tent. Maman had this odd almost wistful look on her face as she watched her youngest daughter. Papa must have noticed it also as he went over to her and they shared a quiet conversation.

It was only later that I found out that Maman was telling Papa about what we had learned earlier (without breaking her promise to Gabrielle). She also confessed to Papa that she feared she needed to begin preparing herself for the eventual 'loss' of her daughter, much earlier than she had planned.

Papa apparently told her not to think of it like that, but to think of it as gaining her own Auror Service. This caused the laughter that I saw them share as they both returned to watching their youngest who was oblivious to what they (and just about everyone else) were doing.

Watching this I resolved to make my own bet with my Bill on how this would play out. Just to make it even more interesting. If he was game that is.


	59. Bill's Introduction

It has been a great deal of fun to read over the contributions of my extended family that have been submitted for inclusion in this journal. They have brought back a lot of memories, some good, others not so good. The main thing that they have brought back was the sense of excitement that we all felt about the 'discovery' of mum's sister and her family.

As you may have noticed from my wife's contributions, she had a particular interest in the discovery of my Aunty's family due to the relationship between her sister Gabrielle and my cousin Dave. This relationship grew and blossomed very quickly and to the delight of all involved stood the test of time and only grew stronger. This has resulted in my cousin recently making a proposal that will lead to him becoming my Wife's brother-in-law. We have had more than a few jokes about it over the years. My cousin also sees the funny side of it as well.

Considering the trials and challenges we all faced in the aftermath of the 'Battle of Hogwarts' and the contract that had been placed on mum, we have all started to regard Dave and his family more like brothers and sisters (quite a lot of sisters it has to be said) rather than cousins. We are certainly closer to them than some of the cousins on my dad's side of the family.

I do believe that the only person who may feel closer to Dave (other than Gabrielle that is), is Harry himself. Dave and Harry share a bond or connection that is hard to describe. Indeed, the past history between their two families should have resulted in them being bitter enemies. Thankfully, they both view hatred and conflict as something of a 'last resort' (personally I believe that this is because they both have had to fight so long and hard for what they do have). This meant that they were perfectly willing and even eager to talk to each other and discuss their differences.

If the reverse had been the case, I shudder to think what the outcome would have been. The thought of Harry and Dave going 'toe to toe' with one another in a hostile battle is one I don't want to dwell on. While they both love to face off against each other in the 'training ring' a duel between them outside of that would have been disastrous. Having said that, even their 'friendly' training duels are known to leave older and more experienced Aurors pale and unsettled after witnessing them.

Watching those two over the years has forced me in a way to reconsider what 'power' really is. If it is defined in simple terms like 'RAW Power' then I do believe that Harry would be 'crowned' as the most powerful wizard of his age. But if you define power as making the best use of what you have, then Dave would readily claim that crown.

While Dave may not be able to match Harry regarding RAW Power for 'traditional magic' and maybe even sorcery (in terms of sorcery it is a very close call to make), the number of options that he has available to him (both magical and non-magical) makes him even more dangerous in my mind.

Even more so when that is combined with his ability to get people of vastly different backgrounds to work successfully together, I began to understand why he has the reputation that he does.

When we visited Australia and saw how the Aurors there operate, both at home in their own country and in the nations around their region, we all began to understand the why behind their methods.

Being a new country with no established infrastructure (as Europeans would understand it) at the time of settlement, a quickly growing population and the mix of different cultures that they had. It is very understandable why they formed the approach that they have. It's because it would have been impossible for any one person or group to understand the enormous intricacies involved. Not only regarding the types of magical energies but also the cultures and politics.

This culture of reaching out and supporting each other has also flowed over into how the Magical and Muggle governments work together. This was the real eye opener to Kingsley and a few other Ministers from the 'old world'. As they were all astonished when a few Muggle Prime Ministers turned up at the Australasian Auror Service meeting. I have to admit this caught me off guard as well.

Aspects of this culture seem to be making inroads into our part of the world also. Personally, I believe that overall the effect has been a significantly positive one. Even if it has been 'disruptive' at times.

Much like a particular cousin of mine.

I was also amazed to learn that the percentage of the population in Australia and New Zealand that is 'magical' is much higher than in the UK and even France. Partly this is because of the generally larger families that they have. But also from the influx of magical people from other countries.

The fact that 'blood status / purity' and similar beliefs have never really taken hold in Australia and the surrounding countries make them an attractive destination for those who are looking for a 'friendlier' place to live. The reason for those beliefs not taking hold is still hotly contested to this day. My personal view on the matter is that a very significant part of the population moved to that side of the world to escape those beliefs in the first place. I was also to learn that this was the case in the magical populations of Canada and large areas of the United States.

I also got to witness first hand why it is not a good idea to call someone from that part of the world a 'Pureblood'. Especially if that person just happens to be an Auror. The term 'Pureblood' is almost seen as an insult as it has overtones of 'grossly inbred mongrel' in it. The views around a 'pure' bloodline in Australia and New Zealand seem to focus more on being free of defects (from inbreeding) and on the variety of bloodlines than on links to other 'long-established' bloodlines. The generally accepted term (if one needs to be used) is 'Pureline' and from what we were told it relates to a line or 'House' that is free from connections that are too close to itself.

We were also surprised to learn that while in many respects the concept of a family or 'House' in Australia and New Zealand is the same as in the UK. They do differ in one very important way. 'Titled' houses for countries in the British Common Wealth in the south pacific region get their title not from their national Ministry of Magic, but direct from the British Muggle Royal Family. This was brought to light when a British Ministry worker deliberately insulted a few 'Titled' houses publicly, and those houses were 'forced' to respond. Also publicly I must add. It was very entertaining for those who were present and were not the previously mentioned Ministry worker.

My wife Fleur and her Veela relatives were also extremely pleased to learn that in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji there are actually laws enshrining rights and protections for those of Veela heritage. This has all but eliminated the 'harassment' that Veela are often subjected to in Europe. It also explains the high number of Veela in Australia as there they can live openly and don't need to survive in the 'colonies' to which they are limited in the old world.

It was a chance remark about past 'harassment' that brought to light this news about protections for Veela. It also showed us that it is often the 'quiet ones' that can be the most dangerous when they are aroused. As a particular Frenchman learnt the hard way. Don't jump to conclusions here as it wasn't who you are thinking. But I will say while I'm a little dubious about their methods, Fleur, Gabrielle and some female relatives of theirs were very grateful for the end result that was achieved. It certainly made Gabrielle's final years at school much more pleasant. More on that later, however.

I hope that you enjoy my contribution to this journal for the events that I was asked to write about. It has been a fun experience re-living some of these past adventures. Fleur has particularly enjoyed revisiting some of the events as well (I'll let you be the judge of which ones).

I will be back to write some more chapters before the end of this journal because Dad and I have been asked to cover the events at a particular manor house. But I won't say any more on that topic here as I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Bill Weasley

P.S. I do want to add a reply to some suggestive comments that my wife made earlier in her introduction. Particularly around the 'outfit' that Dave 'gifted' me; it is true that we both have enjoyed it many times over the years since. But it was my wife who willingly went out and got herself a matching outfit. Now while hers is very different, it is still enormously enjoyable to us both. So thank-you Dave for that. What I would personally like to know is how you became so familiar with these type of outfits in the first place.

Fleur, Gabrielle, Audrey, Ginny, Angelina and Hermione all claim to know the story. The rest of us would really like to be made aware of it if only to try to understand the naughty laughter behind many seemingly innocent comments over the years.

P.P.S. I do also want to reiterate my thanks to you Dave for introducing us to those 'instructional memories' that you shared with us after your Grandmother's 90th birthday. Fleur very quickly spoke with Jackie about them and secured a set of her very own, and THAT was the REAL reason why she was so 'blunt' about wanting a Pensive of her own for her next birthday.

Fleur was also the sole reason why Gabrielle knew ALL about those particular 'instructional memories' and what they contained. I will continue to protest my innocence on that score until the end of time. You should have known that she would have told her sister all about them. So you need to accept part of the blame for the 'incidents' that occurred later on.

I'd also like to reiterate that I'm absolutely NOT the one who told my parents about them either. Although I do feel sorry for those, who had to sleep in my parents' house for the remainder of that summer. While mum and dad can do a good silencing charm, they often forget to mask the 'vibrations' that they occasionally set up in the house.

As for how Ginny, Hermione, Audrey and my mother-in-law obtained their own copies, I don't want to point fingers, but I won't bet against Jackie being the 'enabler' in that case. I just wish that someone would teach Percy and/or Audrey not to forget to perform a silencing charm in the heat of the moment. Enough said.

P.P.P.S. Finally I would like to say that our initial trip to Australia certainly opened my eyes to the 'world of celebrity' that Harry has had to put up with for most of his life.

Nat's frequent (and widespread) retelling of the 'Bombshell' story almost brought about a role reversal in that I think just as many of the people we met recognised me more than they did Harry. This endlessly amused Harry. I know that Ginny got a HUGE kick out of it. Although she was quickly brought into line by Fleur when she introduced her as 'Mrs Bombshell' at one event. It was fun to watch I have to say.


	60. Unwanted Parties (Bill's POV)

While we all assisted with getting things ready for dinner, we all also worked together in keeping a watch on Dave's tent. If it hadn't been shielded against those types of spells, I'm sure that Homenum Revelio and several listening type charms would have been cast almost continuously on it.

Each time there was even the slightest movement of Dave's tent door it looked like a race was about to start between, Dave's family, his team and Gabrielle to see who could get to him first. When the door to Dave's tent did eventually open, it was Mick, Jono, Shelly, Cassy and Fireball who were first on the scene. Gabrielle looked like she was going to be very close behind them, but Sandra requested her to hang back and allow Dave's team to 'handle it'.

Harry emerged first from Dave's tent, and he flashed all of us who were watching a quick smile. Dave followed immediately behind Harry. Seeing Dave like this was quite a shock as he really did indeed look like someone who has had all the wind taken out of their sails. It was also the first time that he appeared to me as a normal 15-year-old teenager would. All of his Auror 'armour' looked as though it had been stripped away. His self-confidence was almost non-existent, and there was something in his eyes that looked almost like fear.

When the group above arrived, they all expressed their thanks to Harry and engulfed both Dave and Harry in heartfelt hugs. Mick looked like he was in the process of 'patting down' Dave looking for something. When he didn't find what it was that he was searching for he made some sort of comment to the others.

Harry then produced a piece of parchment and handed it over to Mick. This brought the rest of Dave's team over to his tent, and they all had a read of what was on the parchment. When they had finished reading what was on it, Mick rolled it up and 'clipped' Dave over the back of his head with it. This caused some laughter in Dave's team.

After waving the parchment in front of Dave a few times, the team looked to be voting on something. At the end of the vote, Mick set fire to the parchment that he was holding. It was now that Harry was able to extract himself from the group and he made his way over to the tables.

Ginny, Gabrielle, Molly and Sandra were there to meet him. Fleur wasn't far behind, and neither was I.

"What happened?" Ginny asked.

"We had a chat about 'life's little challenges'." Harry replied cryptically, "Before you ask Gin, I can't tell you what we talked about as I promised Dave that I wouldn't." Harry told her and us.

"But I can say that we talked about quite a few things. In the end, I got Dave to promise not to do anything 'rash' until he had had a chance to talk to his team and his family." Harry explained.

"What did his team say?" Sandra asked.

"They wanted to see what he had written in his letter." Harry answered, "Once they had read it, they all told him that they didn't agree with it. Nor would they accept it."

"They then voted to 'destroy the evidence' and issued a 'team order' telling Dave that he is forbidden to try and resign without their approval," Harry explained as the smile on his face let us know his view on the matter.

"Good." Sandra stated, "According to the 'service charter' of the Australasian Auror Service they have that right. It will also be a binding order on Dave as well." She explained.

"Merci," Gabrielle exclaimed, and she drew Harry into a thankful embrace before she headed off to see Dave. Sandra also subjected Harry to an enthusiastic embrace also. Harry didn't seem to mind either of these. Although Ginny did give him a strange look that almost made him blush. Before she moved in and gave him a hug of her own.

The rest of us decided to give Harry and Ginny their moment while we got dinner on the table.

The conversation around the dinner table was a little sporadic and slightly subdued during dinner. As everyone seemed to be trying to watch Dave out of the corner of their eyes. Eventually, however, Apolline looked to have an idea. She got Dave's attention and told him of the news from Jean-Luc and Lionel about the Frenchman, Balthasar Gérard who had been targeting Molly.

The effect on Dave at hearing this was almost like an elixir of life. His eyes just lit up, and there was even a ghost of a smile on his face. He quickly extracted himself from Gabrielle (she seemed disappointed that he had left her arms, but also pleased that there was some more life to him now) and crossed to Jean-Luc and embraced him while thanking him for his assistance.

Dave then moved onto Julian and warmly embraced him also, and thanked him for his role in the capture of Léon Gérard. Dave then started in with his own questions to Jean-Luc about how the events had unfolded. Once he was finished with those enquiries some of the spark that had been missing in Dave looked to have returned.

I saw Gabrielle and Sandra exchange very appreciative looks with Apolline. For her part, Apolline had a very smug and satisfied smile on her face that looked like it would be present for several days at a minimum.

Ivan was also observing his son carefully, and when he felt that Dave had gotten the answers, he needed from Jean-Luc he started in with some questions of his own.

"How did you go at the ICW?" He enquired of Dave, "Did they have the warrants ready for you?"

Dave's answer was a predatory grin that returned even more of his previously missing spark to his eyes. Extracting his wallet, he removed a stack of parchment and placed it on the table.

"In that pile, there are 72 signed arrest warrants for members of the British Wizengamot," Dave stated. The smile that was now on his face showed his feelings on the matter. The cheers of celebration from his team only served to reinforce the smile on Dave's face.

"There are only 61 seats on the Wizengamot. Who are the other warrants for?" Dad asked Dave.

"They are for 'the others' who do not have an official a seat on that body." Dave explained, "But they have earnt their arrest warrant for their work actively supporting the heinous crimes committed by that organisation."

"I see," Dad replied with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Did the ICW mention anything about sending any 'observers' tomorrow?" Ivan asked.

"They did. The list the ICW gave me contains our favourite French Senior Auror here." Dave replied as he pointed to Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc didn't look surprised by this in the slightest, and he indicated that he was perfectly happy to participate in the operation as requested by the ICW.

"They have also advised that they will be sending over, Senior Auror Günther Bräuer from the German Ministry. Senior Auror Toropov Yuri Antonovich from the Russian Ministry. Auror Alejandro Martínez from the Spanish Ministry and finally but in no way least Auror Tobiasz "Toby" Krzyzanowski from the Polish Ministry."

"They will all be meeting us at the Australian Magical Embassy tomorrow morning a few hours before the scheduled meeting with the British Wizengamot," Dave explained.

"It sounds like quite a group that they have gathered," Ivan replied sounding impressed. "Did you have any say in the selection process at all?" He asked.

"In a way I did." Dave replied, "I submitted a list of names based on the recommendations from Jimmy and Jean-Luc. I'm very comfortable with the group we have been assigned as both Jimmy and Jean-Luc have given glowing reports on all of them."

"I was hoping for Senior Auror Sofia Georgieva Bacheva from the Bulgarian Ministry to be available. But she is expecting the birth of her first child any day now." Dave explained.

"Understandable." Ivan replied, "I knew her Uncle, and if her skills are anything like his, she would have been a fantastic addition. I'm sure she is disappointed at missing an operation like this though." He added with a chuckle.

"She is, she left a note at the ICW apologising that she wasn't available." Dave replied with a look of disbelief in his eyes, "I sent one back to her saying she had nothing to apologise for. I also wished her, her husband and family all the best for their upcoming 'new addition'." Dave explained with the first genuine smile I had seen on his face since he emerged from his tent.

Sandra looked like she wanted to ask some questions of her own, but Dave's mirror phone had begun to make a strange set of noises that we hadn't heard before. They must have meant something because Dave's team, family along with Percy and Audrey all had switched their total focus to Dave.

"Syd!" He answered the phone, he was then deathly quiet for several long moments. His eyes, however, gave a frightening hint as to what he was hearing. All of Dave's team had expressions on their faces as though they expected an attack from any quarter at any moment.

"He is sitting right in front as I speak Semi." Dave replied, "I will grab him and the 'usual suspects' and call you from my tent shortly. Can you notify Drunkmouse?"

Dave then indicated his agreement with something that he heard on the mirror phone before pocketing it. All of Dave's team looked like they wanted to ask what was going on the moment he ended the call. He quickly asked them all to wait, but 'be prepared'.

Dave then 'requested' the presence of his father, Jean-Luc and dad, before they all disappeared into his tent. As soon as the door to his tent closed Guz spoke up, "I have a powerful feeling that we're all going to be getting 'shot at' shortly."

"No bet," Mick replied in an attempt at forced humour. There were some slight smiles at this, but they looked more like grimaces.

Several of us tried to ask Dave's team what was going on or what they thought was about to happen. The only answer we got back was, 'it could be anything'. That didn't do anything to ease our concerns. The look of concern on Sandra's face also wasn't helping.

When Dave eventually emerged from his tent, he quickly crossed the ground to his team. It looked almost like he was marching in 'double time' (as we later learned it was called). As he approached all of his team stood up with expectant looks on their faces.

"Orders Skipper?" Mick asked Dave.

"Correct." Was the crisp reply from Dave, "We have direct orders from the Minister to prepare for the possibility of immediate hostile action."

"What sort of hostile action?" Rowdy asked before Dave, or anyone else could say any more.

"Muggle style assault with C.Q.B. and hostage rescue," Dave ordered. "Any questions?" He asked before going to turn back to his tent.

"Where has Jean-Luc gone?" Shelly asked before Dave had fully turned away. He then stopped his turn and looked at his sister, "I know he has gone somewhere as I felt him leave." She stated.

"I've just given him an invitation to a party that he never wanted." Was Dave's cryptic reply. As soon as he had said this, all of his team snapped to attention and then ran flat out to their tents. Dave also quickly left to go back to his tent before anyone else could say anything.

On his way back to his tent we saw Uncle Ivan and dad exit and cross the yard back to us. They too looked very grim as they returned to their seats and sat down.

"What's going on dad?" I managed to ask before anyone else could say anything.

Dad looked to Ivan who indicated for him to continue on.

"Do you recall the 'advertising material' that Dave showed us the day we first met him?" He asked.

"Vividly." I replied, "It still gives me nightmares."

"Same here," Charlie stated as he watched dad closely.

"I must say I agree with you both." Dad replied, "That call earlier was from Semi. He and his team have tracked Mr Wigworthy to a 'facility' very much like the one in the material that Dave showed us."

My blood ran cold and boiled at the same time. The thought that people were being subjected to the horrors of a place like that as I sat in comfort and safety with my family made me want to explode. I could see that from the looks on the faces of the others around the table they were in full agreement with me.

"This 'facility' is located in France, in the Alps close to the Italian border. It is very well hidden and fully warded against all forms of magic." Dad explained, "Jean-Luc has returned to the French Ministry with this news to assemble a team to raid this location and free the people being held there."

"He is worried that the French Ministry haven't yet organised a specialised team to assault facilities that are fully warded against magic. So he has asked Dave and his team to be ready if this proves to be true."

"That explains why Dave and his team looked so grim." Sandra remarked, "Can't we bring in one of the dedicated assault teams if the French Ministry doesn't have a team suitable?" She asked.

"Dave also suggested that option and Jean-Luc will suggest it to his superiors," Ivan told her and us. "Jean-Luc feels that the French Ministry may not be keen on bringing in 'outsiders' as he called them. Likewise Dave's suggestion of using one of the Special Ops groups from the muggle French Military isn't likely to be accepted."

"Because Dave and his team have been operating here for so long and working successfully with the French Ministry while doing so, they are viewed as a 'special case' by the French Ministry." Ivan explained, "Jean-Luc feels that for this reason, he expects his superiors will request Dave's team to carry out the assault. The French Ministry also knows that they won't say anything to any press and will keep the operation 'quiet' as they will inevitably request."

"What did Dave mean by 'Muggle Style Assault'?" Gabrielle asked Uncle Ivan, with worry written plain on her face.

"It means that they are going to have to force their way into that facility using only muggle weapons and tactics." Uncle Ivan explained, "Devices along the lines of the guns he showed you all previously."

"Unlike a magical assault, there is no way to shield yourself from those sorts of weapons. Other than getting out of the way or putting something else in the way."

"I see" She replied with a worried note to her voice, "What does C.Q.B. mean?" She asked next.

"It stands for Close Quarter Battle." Ivan replied, "In short it means that they will be engaging with the enemy at extremely close range." He explained.

When Gabrielle heard this, she went very pale and then raced off to Dave's tent. We all glanced at one another briefly before we all followed her.

When we entered Dave's tent, we found that Gabrielle had interrupted Dave's preparations. Dave was standing there partially dressed in a dark coloured outfit, but with only one boot on, the other was on the floor. He had Gabrielle in his arms and was doing his best to calm her down. When Fleur and Apolline arrived, they were able to untangle Gabrielle from Dave. Once the two were separated, they took charge of Gabrielle and attempted to further calm her down. This enabled Dave to continue to get dressed and make himself ready.

Once he had his boots and top on, Dave began to strap various bits of 'muggle style armour' to his body. He also added knee and elbow pads as well. A lot of this armour put me in mind of the pads worn by Quidditch players. However, as it was later explained to me this armour was designed to either absorb or deflect 'ballistic projectiles' as the muggles called them.

Once Dave had covered the front of his legs and his arms he put on the central body piece that covered his torso. This was the only piece of the muggle armour that covered his front and back. Wearing this armour, Dave was even more formidable looking than before.

Once he was dressed, he went to a previously hidden cabinet in his tent. When opened this cabinet showed a frightening array of muggle weapons. I could see a gun much like the one we had been taught how to use previously. Dave collected two of them, and they went into holsters on the upper thigh of each leg. Dave called the guns 'Glocks'. Spare magazines for them were placed in clips on his belt as well as pouches strategically located on his body.

He next pulled out a gun he called a 'shotgun.' This he filled with something called breaching ammunition. He mentioned that this was used to blow the hinges of doors that they couldn't open through other means. Extra 'rounds' for the shotgun were secured in pouches attached to his armour. Seeing the size difference between the shotgun shells and the pistol bullets, I could take a guess as to how much damage that they would do. The shotgun was placed in a holster on Dave's back so that it could be quickly accessed if needed.

Next, he collected something he called flashbang and fragmentation grenades. The description of what the fragmentation grenades were designed to do was one of the most horrifying things that I had ever heard. Two knives, wire cutters, something called plastic explosives and a muggle radio were the remaining items he secured in various pouches located on himself.

The last two items that he brought out were a helmet with a full faced visor (that folded up when not needed), and what Dave called a ballistic shield, that looked like it had a small window and a set of lights on it.

As Dave brought these items out the rest of his team entered the tent. While they were all dressed similar to Dave, only Guz had a set of body armour like Dave the others just seemed to have body armour on their torso along with knee and elbow pads. Guz also had a ballistic shield as well. They also carried an array of different weapons. Mick and Jono, the two scouts in Dave's team, had what they called the 'long guns' with something called a scope attached, a 'submachine gun' called an MP-5 something was slung behind their backs.

The other members of Dave's team all looked to be carrying those MP-5 guns as well. Fireball and Izzy also had some extra bags with them. We found out that they were filled with more explosives of various types. They also had a set of 'door knockers' each that we had seen them use at the farmhouse near Dover.

As they arrived, they all had questions on their faces. Dave was quick to tell them that he was still waiting for Jean-Luc to contact him. They all accepted this and made themselves comfortable while they waited.

While we were waiting, Olly approached Dave and handed him what looked like an oversized set of wire cutters, that he had just recently put in a pocket on his vest. "Here you go skipper, I was able to fix it for you." He said as Dave collected the device of him and placed it into a holder on the inside of his shield.

"What is that?" Charlie asked.

"A muggle device called a bolt cutter." Dave replied, "We use them to free those who have been chained up when we can't use magic," He replied.

Charlie's face perfectly conveyed his feelings about those who would chain up kids. "Why did it need fixing?" He asked Dave.

"On our last operation, it got a little bent out of shape," Dave replied with a sheepish look.

"How?" Charlie asked, picking up on Dave's slightly embarrassed reply.

"They are designed for cutting through chains and the like, not as clubbing weapons." Shelly replied with a smirk at Dave, "One particular 'customer' wouldn't leave one of the young girls alone, so Dave encouraged him to do so." She explained.

"I see," Charlie answered with an approving grin at Dave.

"Although you didn't really need to chain him to the wall by his privates once we broke the wards." Shelly chided him, as Dave put on a quite convincing look of innocence.

"That was me actually," Abby admitted with a small blush. This caused some laughter in the group.

Dave smiled at her and remarked, "It's always the quiet ones that you need to look out for." This caused some more quiet chuckles.

Ron then asked Dave about the different equipment that each team member carried. Dave replied that he and Guz were the 'shield operators' for the team and that they were the ones who went through the doors first to provide cover for the rest of the team. Their shields enabled them to use their pistols to return fire if needed to, or they could pair with another member of the team and have them shoot from behind while using the cover provided by the shield.

Mick and Jono operated as the scout/snipers and were used to remove targets at long range when required. Fireball and Izzy were the demolition specialists and would use their collection of explosives to 'makes holes where required'. The rest of the team were the 'shooters' who had the jobs of neutralising the opposition.

While Dave was giving this description of their roles, I could see Gabrielle go quite pale. She walked over to Dave's shield and ran her hand over the face of it. As she did this, she could feel the many indentations in it. She looked at Dave with a question on her face.

"Yes, those dints are from bullets that hit my shield," Dave told her. It was evident that Gabrielle didn't like this answer, but she crossed to Dave and hugged him. They held this embrace for a few moments before we all heard Jean-Luc knocking on the door to Dave's tent requesting entrance. Once Dave had let him in he got straight to the point.

"As we predicted ze Ministry doesn't have anyone available who is suited to fight inside a fully warded building." He reported as both Sandra and Ivan showed their concern. "Ze Minister himself has requested if you and your team can be of assistance?" Jean Luc asked Dave and Ivan. Ivan quickly agreed to the request as did Dave. Dave's team all accepted this as well.

"Were they able to provide you with a team of Aurors to secure the area outside the wards? As well as healers to look after those that we bring out?" Dave asked.

"Ze Healers I have." Jean-Luc replied, "As for ze Aurors, I believe zat I would need at least 30 to properly secure ze perimeter given ze size and ze terrain."

"How many did you get?" Dave asked him.

"10 Aurors." Jean-Luc replied with a frustrated look, "Along wiz 15 Magical Police officers." He added.

"Can we help?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously. Mum looked horrified at this idea, but she could also read the deadly serious look in their eyes.

"I would welcome ze help if your Minister or Director of MLE approves it," Jean-Luc replied gratefully. He then looked over at mum & dad and also the Delacour's. "But only zose who are 'of age.' would be permitted by my superiors to assist." He explained.

Mum & Dad and the Delacour's looked to be relieved by this news, as it meant that Ginny and Gabrielle would not be permitted to participate.

"I will give my permission for them to go, as I will be going myself to assist," Dad told Jean-Luc. There was a fire in Dad's eyes that I had only seen once before during the battle at Hogwarts.

"Merci, Monsieur Weasley," Jean-Luc replied gratefully.

"I will also be going," Ivan informed Jean-Luc. This seemed to cause Jean-Luc a moment of extreme distress.

"Minister, I cannot allow zat." Jean-Luc replied, "If you were to be injured Ministry would have my head." He stammered out.

"Over my dead body," Shelly replied in a cold professional tone of voice. The rest of Dave's team also indicated their support for Shelly.

"Do not worry Jean-Luc", Ivan told him with an understanding smile, "I've known your Minister for a long time, and he will not hold you responsible for any injuries that may result."

"Especially if he knows what is good for him," Ivan replied with an evil chuckle. This returned the smile to Jean-Luc's face.

"Merci Minister." He replied. "We must get moving, as ze others will have gathered by now in ze Ministry and be waiting for us." He advised.

"I would strongly request that those of you who are coming with us, all go and get your bunyip fur armour as you may find yourself in need of it tonight," Dave advised us all. Seeing the wisdom of his suggestion we all quickly left the tent and returned holding our bunyip fur garments. We were also asked to show that we had our secondary wands and then we were given a utility belt as well.

"Do you have your bunyip fur armour on?" Dave asked Jean-Luc.

"Oui, I do." Jean-Luc replied with a sheepish look, "I have come to appreciate it since it saved me from that severing charm last month." He replied.

"Excellent." Dave replied, "In that case, Jean-Luc lead on," he suggested.

Jean-Luc then headed for the door. He was surprised when Sandra embraced him and told him to be careful. He thanked her for her concern and indicated that he did appreciate the gesture.

Dave kissed Gabrielle before he gathered his helmet, shield and a box that was on the kitchen table. He then followed Jean-Luc through the door. Likewise mum & dad shared a kiss along with Julian and Apolline. Fleur also kissed Apolline as she intended to come with us and help to 'remove that stain from French soil' as she put it.

Ivan and Sandra also shared some kisses as did Ron & Hermione, and Harry and Ginny. Percy went to give Audrey some parting kisses. She accepted his kisses but also told him that she was going along as well and that he couldn't stop her. Showing some hopeful signs of maturity he didn't try to stop her. He accepted her decision and left through the door holding her hand.

We arrived in the French Ministry and were greeted by a group of Aurors, Magical Police and Healers.

Once Harry and Ron entered the room there was a bit of a stir from the assembled crowd (particularly the women). Harry, while he didn't like this sort of attention, was evidently used to it. Deciding that it was best to get things out of the way as early as possible, he lifted his fringe and showed off his famous scar. Then gave an embarrassed smile to the assembled group. Trying to avoid the amused expressions of Ron and Dave's team he made his way over to a seat near the back of the assembled crowd.

He wasn't quick enough to escape some 'helpful' advice from Fleur and Fireball. Both of them succeed in making him blush, and Ron nearly burst out into laughter at what they said. He wouldn't, however, repeat what they had said to Harry, once more demonstrating the most admirable trait of his loyalty to his friends.

Jean-Luc then introduced us all to the French Aurors, Magical Police and Healers. When Harry was introduced, he again had to endure the attention of the various females who were present. I honestly think that they were just enjoying trying to make him blush. Personally, I think that this is a common trait in just about all women, once they discover a way to make a man blush, they share it as widely as possible just so that all of their 'sisters' can partake of the 'fun'.

When Dad and Uncle Ivan were introduced all of the French Aurors, Magical Police and Healers quickly snapped to attention and saluted. Dad looked to be somewhat embarrassed while Uncle Ivan acknowledged their mark of respect and thanked them for it. He also endeared himself to them all by saying he wasn't there to make a speech, and that he and dad were then to help out with tonight's operation.

Some of the Aurors apparently already knew Dave and his team. While the others knew 'of' them. I was amused to see that some of the Magical Police officers also knew Dave. The ones who recognised him apparently were from the team that had come to his 'rescue' back in March.

"Bonjour Auror Webb." Stated one of the French Magical Police officers with an amused expression. Dave turned to see who had spoken, he then displayed a slightly embarrassed smile once he realised who had spoken. "I'd like to say merci for your assistance with my parents. As your note enabled me to get to see them yesterday." She explained.

"You're most welcome Brigadier-chef Leblanc." Dave replied, "I hope that they were in good health?" He asked.

"Not fully, but zey were well enough to return home wiz me." She replied, "Along wiz my Grands-parents." She said as she stepped up and kissed Dave on his cheeks. This caused a blush to appear on Dave's cheeks along with some catcalls from the assembled French Aurors and Magical Police.

With a look of mischief on her face, Fleur stated just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Do not worry Dave, we won't report zat kiss back to Gabrielle." This caused all of Dave's team and my family to burst into laughter. After the others were informed that Gabrielle was Dave's girlfriend they also joined in the laughter. Although some of the Magical Policewomen did look to be very disappointed when they heard this news. Charlie and I made a note to remind Dave of this fact (several times, over the next few days), especially in front of Gabrielle.

"I also need to tell you, Auror Webb, zat we checked up on zat family you helped in Paris." Brigadier-chef Leblanc advised Dave, "It turns out zat ze young lady you helped is the daughter of our Minister of Magic." She said with a smile as Dave went white.

"When he was informed of your actions he was very grateful for your efforts." She told us. "He would like to meet with you again so he can express his gratitude in person." She added enjoying Dave's discomfort.

"Why is it that I can never go to Paris without getting into some kind of trouble?" Dave lamented as we all had a laugh at his expense. Julian and Fleur were looking like they were bursting to report back to Gabrielle on this latest development.

"Now zat we have caught up on ze latest news, we need to brief everyone on tonight's operation," Jean-Luc said as he flashed Dave a quick grin.

Smiles were few and far between, however, once Jean-Luc explained to the assembled group the purpose of the upcoming operation.

"Any questions?" He asked the group. One of the Aurors raised their hand, and Jean-Luc indicated for her to speak.

"Why can we not simply break the magic repelling wards and then raid the building?" She asked.

"I'll answer that one if you like," Dave suggested to Jean-Luc. "Go ahead," Jean-Luc replied.

"These buildings almost without exception are full of booby-traps of some sort." Dave advised, "Those booby-traps are linked to the magic repelling wards. So if we simply removed the wards, the traps would activate and in all likelihood kill all of the occupants of the building." He explained.

The assembled crowd was silent as this news sunk in. After a few moments, one of the Magical Police officers raised his hand with a question. Jean-Luc encouraged him to speak up.

"How will we know if we get too close to the magic repelling wards?" He asked.

"You will immediately feel extremely disorientated and most likely very nauseous as well." Jean-Luc advised him, "I know this because that's exactly how I felt the first time I encountered these types of wards." He explained.

"The good news is if you back away from the wards you will begin to feel 'normal' again just as quickly," Jean-Luc added.

"Somezing else to keep in mind is when the magic repelling wards are taken down you will experience your magic behaving oddly for a brief time." He advised.

"How so?" Brigadier-chef Leblanc asked.

"It will be a surge of power followed by a lull and then another surge." Jean-Luc explained, "This is because the magical energy will race back into the area it had been expelled from by the wards and then reflect back out. It will be brief but noticeable. The catch is not only will your magic surge but the magic of anyone else in the area. So be careful of any spells sent your way once the wards are down, as they might be more powerful than expected."

"Any other questions?" Jean-Luc asked. Seeing no more questions from the group he continued on with the briefing.

Jean-Luc went on to explain that the people inside the facility were to be treated with the utmost care. Those who were imprisoned inside it for the obvious reasons needed to be handled carefully. While those who were operating the facility required a different type of care. We were all advised to treat them as extremely hostile and to only believe that they were actually surrendering when they had been disarmed, properly secured and FULLY searched.

Jean-Luc also issued everyone that was present, several sets of port key handcuffs that would take any prisoners to the facility that Dave's team used. Apparently, the French Ministry now had their own staff there, as they are going to be taking over the operation of that facility now that Dave's team is winding up their activities.

Next, everyone was issued with a set of Bunyip fur armour. There were some disbelieving scoffs at first about the use of the armour. However, it only took personal testimony from Jean-Luc, and one of the Aurors called Théodore Morel as to how effective the armour was for them to change their minds.

We all headed off to get changed. Dave and his team took this opportunity to have a discussion with Jean-Luc, Théodore and some other Aurors that they knew. When I was dressed and had returned to the briefing room, I noticed that Brigadier-chef Leblanc was watching the conversation with interest. Although as Fleur soon advised me, she was actually watching Auror Morel with interest and using the discussion as an excuse.

Once we were again all assembled Jean-Luc divided everyone into teams of two and issued everyone with an earpiece so that they could all hear what was happening. Dave and his team didn't have their usual earpieces because they won't operate inside the magic repelling wards. They instead had muggle style radios that they would use to talk to Jean-Luc and Uncle Ivan. Those two would then relay any relevant information to everyone else.

When everyone was ready, Jean-Luc opened a doorway that would place us close to the facility in question. I did notice that he had a proud, but restrained smile on his face as he did this. Shelly and the rest of Dave's team looked to be impressed with his efforts.

"All that practise opening doorways to Shelly's tent looks to have paid off after all," Dave remarked to Jean-Luc with an evil grin as he passed through the doorway. For his part, Jean-Luc looked slightly embarrassed, but Shelly was smiling with a twinkle in her eyes.

Once we arrived at the location, we positioned ourselves in an overwatch location. From here we could easily see the facility and most of the surrounding area. Mick, Jono, Guz, Abby, Cassy and Théodore were all dispatched to place mapping charms around the facility so that anyone arriving or attempting to leave it would show up.

While the mapping was being done, Dave asked Jean-Luc if anyone has checked the muggle records for this location to see if they had any information on it. Jean-Luc replied that no one had thought to do so. Hearing this Dave quickly called up Drunkmouse and asked him to do a search for us.

From Drunkmouse we learnt that the building was an abandoned warehouse that had been repurposed several times over the years. He sent us the most up to date floor plans that were on file, but we could quickly tell that they were out of date as the building we were looking at had several additions that didn't show up on them.

We did learn something useful however. There was an old tunnel of some sort that ran under the facility and exited on the lower slope of the hill below it. There was no indication that it was connected to the building, but he still strongly advised us to make sure that the open end of the tunnel was watched. Harry and Ron were the ones nominated to be positioned near that tunnel exit, and they agreed to keep an eye on it.

When the mapping charms were in place, we could see that there was no one else around except for our group. We couldn't see inside the facility with the mapping charms as the wards had repelled them. Dave's team had expected this and while the mapping charms were being placed Mick and Jono had been using something called 'thermal imaging' to try and detect the body heat of anyone inside the facility.

They were able to detect that only the central building showed any 'warm bodies' and this was the one which they would raid first.

They planned their approach with Jean-Luc, along with their extraction route and a 'fire plan' was agreed upon if needed as well. They also worked out where they would send anyone that was freed from that location and how they would be apparated to where the healers were getting themselves set up.

"Semi stated that he believes the wards are centred on the largest skylight in the main building." Dave advised us, "So we will jump while disillusioned to that grassy patch roughly 10m from the main building." He stated as he pointed to the location he had selected.

"That spot isn't overlooked by any windows, and we can quickly make our way to the covered walkway. From there we can blow some holes in the walls and get inside."

"As we approach, the point at which our disillusion charm breaks that will be the limit of the wards. Take a measurement of that point and draw a circle on the central skylight to get the area covered." He advised.

"Agreed," Jean-Luc replied as he shook hands with Dave and kissed Shelly.

"Everyone ready?" Dave asked his team. Getting answers in the affirmative, he turned to Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc then sent everyone out to their assigned positions. The French Aurors got the locations where the heaviest fighting was expected. The Magical Police officers were allocated the next most likely places, and my extended family were assigned the remaining positions.

In all honesty, no one knew where the enemy would appear, so any location was as likely as the next. Fleur was assigned to be my partner and dad and Uncle Ivan were paired together as well. Supposedly to provide cover for me, but in reality, Jean-Luc was doing all he could to keep the Australian Minister (and his future father-in-law) along with the British Director of MLE as far from any fighting as possible.

Once everyone was in position Jean-Luc turned to Dave. "You're up." He advised. Dave replied with a thumbs up and said, "Form up on me."

Immediately his team gathered around him. Dave and Guz in the front with their shields up and ready. The others were positioned around them with their guns out and covering all angles of approach.

Dave's team then disappeared as they disillusioned themselves. There was then a strange looking bubble for a moment. After this, we noticed a disturbance in the grassed area Dave had indicated. It seemed almost like a trampling of the grass.

Once that disturbance got to within 2m of the wall of the building, the disillusionment charm broke, and we could see Dave and his team rapidly covering the remaining distance.

When they reached the building two members quickly placed several devices on two different walls of the building. They then backed off a short distance so that they were clear of the blast that was to come. Once positioned into two groups and tucked behind either Dave's or Guz's shield there was a short radio call.

"In position." Was all that Dave reported.

Uncle Ivan acknowledged this call and then notified everyone else that they were about to storm the main building. When all the pairs had reported back that they were ready, he radioed back a single word.

"Proceed." He ordered.

"Roger." Was Dave's reply, followed by Fireball's voice calling out "Fire in the hole!"

This was immediately followed by the twin blasts of the explosives that had been set before. Before even the dust had settled, both teams were up and rushing into the building.

We could hear the gunshots ringing out. Some were small cracks that must have been from either Dave's or Guz's pistols. Others were sharper more rapid cracks most likely from the 'submachine guns' of the others. Very occasionally there were deep, powerful boom type sounds that we were told were from the shotguns carried by Dave and Guz. Even more infrequently there were explosions as either plastic explosives or the grenades were used.

Almost as soon as Dave's team entered the building, people began to make their way out of it. Some began to fire off spells (when they cleared the wards), at the people who were positioned around the facility. But shooting spells at French Aurors, Magical Police officers or my extended family isn't a good idea. As all of those who fired off spells were quickly stunned and placed in port key handcuffs.

The other group of people that began to exit the building were the ones that I remember the most. The haunting looks on their faces and in their eyes will never leave me. They began to emerge from the building through the holes that had been made in the walls. Making their way to the designated collection points, they merely awaited their fates, as they seemed either too shocked to acknowledge what was going on. Or that they had just given up all hope.

The moment Jean-Luc saw them he and a group of nominated Healers apparated in to collect them. I did notice dad, and Uncle Ivan also went in and assisted. The numbers of them were staggering. It wasn't long before Jean-Luc, dad, Uncle Ivan and all of the Healers involved with bringing them out were working with tears in their eyes.

The healers who were working on those who were brought into their tents were not much better off. They were all experienced Healers, and quite a few of them were 'battlefield qualified', yet they were all either working with tears in their eyes or fighting them back.

Before she came with us, Dave had warned Fleur that the emotions that she would feel coming from those rescued would be extreme. She had promised to have the required shields in place to try and protect not only herself but those working on the rescued. Even with this warning and preparation, she was struggling not to collapse at the onslaught of emotions.

My wife is one of the strongest people I know, but the pain and suffering she saw that day was almost too much for her. Showing her real inner strength and courage, she didn't run from the task at hand. She stayed and battled on.

She was later to receive many beautiful letters, not only from the French Ministry but also from the Healers and the children that had been rescued. They all thanked her profusely for her efforts as they could feel the results of her efforts helping them. Indeed several of the Healers openly stated that they didn't think that they could have managed their tasks that day if it hadn't been for her efforts.

Throughout the raid, we could hear the crisp radio calls from Dave's team as they made their way through the building. As they entered one room, we could hear the screams of its occupants, and then Guz's voice rang out clearly saying 'Put it down' there was then a crack of a pistol shot, another scream and a voice calling out 'clear'.

Shortly after that, we could hear the sounds of Guz and Dave using bolt cutters to free the occupants of that room. We could tell who they were when they emerged as they still had the shackles on their wrists and ankles. A group of 10 young girls emerged from that building with those restraints. One of them was supported by Abby and Cassy as she could barely walk. Her whole back was one bloody mess from what looked like whip marks.

When Jean-Luc collected her the look on his face was one that could have killed in its own right. It was a frightening thing to witness. As the two girls headed back to the building, they were diverted to a set of doors further up. When they arrived, they readied their weapons, and we heard nearly simultaneous twin booms from shotguns as the hinges were blown off a door.

Dave's team then swept into the room, and a few shots were fired. Two people from inside that room made an escape bid through the door that Abby and Cassy were guarding. The girls didn't even bother to use their weapons, they just delivered what appeared to be a set of open handed strikes to their opponent's heads and both of them were rendered unconscious instantly. It happened so quickly and so matter of factly that by the time I processed what had happened both suspects had been cuffed and then thrown outside the wards where the port keys activated and took them away.

The two girls then re-entered the building, and there was a radio call from Shelly saying that she had found a booby trap that appeared to be linked to the magic repelling wards. Fireball and Izzy were immediately directed to neutralise it, and Guz and Olly were detailed to protect them while the rest of the team finished checking the two rooms that were nearby.

The next room that the team entered kicked off a furious gunfight. We could actually see the bullets exiting the building where the fight was taking place. During this battle, we heard screams of pain from both Dave and Mick as they were hit by some shrapnel that ricocheted of the wall. Rowdy quickly grabbed them and moved them into the next room so that he could try to tend to them.

In this room, however, they discovered a small group of young women who had been chained to their beds. This radio call infuriated everyone who heard it. It was the next radio call that made us all go cold, however.

"They're booby-trapped." Mick's voice called out. His horror at what he saw almost masking the pain that we could hear in his voice.

"Can you neutralise them?" Dave asked.

"If I wasn't shaking so much, easily," Mick replied.

"Set to work and I'll ask Jono if he can assist once next door is mopped up," Dave instructed.

Next, we could hear Dave cutting the chains that were holding the young women to the beds. They were asked to not move until Mick had disarmed the booby traps, however. Most of the young women followed these requests, the last two were just too traumatised. As soon as the first one was freed from her chains, she jumped up off the bed and ran.

"Shit, it has activated." Mick yelled out, "Run for it."

"We can't leave the others," Dave replied, and we then heard several shots ring out. We later learned that they had resorted to shooting out where the chains were anchored to try and free the young women as fast as possible.

While it was faster than the bolt cutters, it wasn't fast enough. The booby trap detonated and we saw part of the building collapse. During the destruction of that part of the building Auror down alerts appeared on Uncle Ivan's phone for, Rowdy, Mick and Dave.

A radio call went out from Shelly asking everyone to report in. They all did so except for Rowdy, Mick and Dave. When Uncle Ivan reported this to everyone else, I distinctly remember hearing George scream out 'No' in a voice full of anguish. Memories of the Battle of Hogwarts and learning of Fred's death as a wall fell on him were still just too fresh in his mind.

Charlie could be heard struggling to hold George back from running into the scene.

While Charlie was struggling to hold back George a call came in from Harry and Ron. They were taking fire from a group of people who were emerging from the tunnel that they were guarding.

The Magical Police officers positioned near them had put up anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards to stop them getting away, but they were requesting further assistance.

Charlie and George quickly volunteered, Jean-Luc agreed and sent them and two of his Aurors to the scene. Watching the tactical map that Jean-Luc had we could soon see the group that had been trying to escape, being driven back into the tunnel.

Shelly yelling out, "Break the wards." Was the next thing that I remembered. The booby trap had apparently been neutralised, and we were now free to break the wards.

Jean-Luc agreed to look after Fleur while Dad and Uncle Ivan came with me. We landed in the same spot that Dave's team had and straightaway I could feel the wards. They felt like common shields, but powerful ones. It was a straightforward task for me to bring them down. Once I thought that I was ready to break them, I let dad know, and he sent out a message saying, "Breaking wards now."

I then broke the wards and had one of the strangest experiences of my life. It felt like a giant hand had pushed me in the back, yet I never moved at all. Then quickly after it, another set of hands felt like they had pushed me in the front. At the same time as this was happening, I felt the surge in my magic that we had been warned to expect.

When it all settled down the tactical map that Jean-Luc was holding cleared up and began to display everyone who was on the scene. The rest of the buildings were confirmed to be free of people. So more Aurors and Magical Police were sent to assist Harry and Ron, while the rest of us were assigned to free Rowdy, Mick and Dave from the rubble.

We began vanishing the rubble from the location where the map showed a collection of six bodies. Once the wreckage was cleared, however, no one was found. We couldn't understand it, then dad banished a cabinet that had been knocked over. Once it was moved aside it revealed a set of stairs going down to a basement.

There was a mad rush to get to the bottom of the stairs.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, we noticed the unconscious bodies of Rowdy, Mick and Dave. There were also two scantily clad young women who were unconscious as well. The last person was also a young woman, and she was 'dressed' in a similar manner to the others. She was conscious, however. She was hiding behind Dave's shield and was very reluctant to come out. Cassy and Shelly eventually convinced her to come out so that they could take her to see the healers.

Jono and Olly picked up the other two young girls and took them to the healers as well. The rest of us tried to rouse Rowdy, Mick and Dave.

Rowdy and Mick begin to come around, they were suffering from numerous painful bruises, the result of being basically blown down the stairs. They also had some quite impressive wooden splinters embedded in them as well. Dave also was showing signs of stirring. Although his injuries are slightly more severe because he was the last one down the stairs.

Both Mick and Dave were also freely bleeding from numerous wounds on the left-hand side of their bodies. I saw Goose give both of them a blood replenishing potion each to counter this bleeding.

We were debating if we should go and assist Harry and Ron when we heard over our earpieces that the situation was under control. The arrival of the extra Aurors and the Magical Police had convinced the remaining hostiles to surrender and lay down their wands.

After they were handcuffed and sent on their way to the 'Hôtel de France' there was a good number of excited voices that we could hear. Jean-Luc overrode them all and requested Uncle Ivan, Dad and Shelly to meet him urgently.

Goose, Jono, and Guz told us that they could handle Rowdy, Mick and Dave and they told us all to go and see what he wanted.

When we arrived at the location, we could see Harry and Ron with Jean-Luc. They all looked like they had been in the thick of battle, but they were all grinning like madmen as well.

"Why are you grinning like that?" Shelly asked Jean-Luc. In answer, Jean-Luc simply handed Shelly a thick looking book bound with leather.

When Shelly opened it, I thought that she was nearly going to have a heart attack. Her face was showing such an intense excitement, I almost expected her to break out into a song and dance. She was flicking through the book and remarking to herself, "These are all originals".

"Oui, they are," Jean-Luc replied with his smile growing ever broader.

"Did you find any others?" Shelly asked with intense eagerness.

"We did actually." Harry and Ron replied as they brought their hands out from behind them. Harry was holding another 3 books like the one Shelly had in her hands, while Ron had four.

Seeing this, Shelly screamed in delight and she raced in and attacked both Ron and Harry with some energetic hugs. The rest of the girls in Dave's team also launched a similar assault on the two of them. Some of Jean-Luc's Aurors added their own hugs as well.

Both Ron and Harry looked quite overwhelmed by this response, but they didn't complain.

"Can you tell me what those books are?" Dad asked Jean-Luc while Shelly was again attacking Ron and Harry.

"Zey are what Dave's team have been calling 'Ledgers'." Jean-Luc explained as he held the book out for dad to see, "Ze contracts in zese books look to be originals also." He added as understanding dawned on us all.

Dad's face looked like it wanted to break into a massive smile, but he was also fighting back the tears at the same time. "How many contracts are in those books do you know?" He asked Jean-Luc.

"They look to have 150 contracts in each book, dad," Ron replied once Shelly and Abby had released him from their death grip.

"150 contracts in each book and they had 8 books?" Dad asked, "That's 1,200 contracts?" He stated as he went quite pale.

"I think you need to call Kingsley and ask him to bring a quill and ink." Uncle Ivan suggested to dad. This statement returned the colour to dad's face, and he quickly pulled out his mirror phone and excitedly called Kingsley.

It goes without saying that once Kingsley was made aware of what had happened, he was on the scene in record time and very willingly went about cancelling the slave contracts that were in the books. At Jean-Luc's suggestion, he started on the ledger that was believed to contain the contracts for the people that had just been rescued.

Watching the crowd of people who the Healers were working on, you could tell when their contract had been cancelled, as life returned to their faces along with some colour. More than a few of them looked like a massive weight had been lifted from them. Almost without exception, they began to cry.

Kingsley also had tears in his eyes, but he went through each and every book and made all of the required changes to cancel all of the contracts. By the time that he finished, he was nursing a very sore hand, but Kingsley stated that he was willing to continue signing if we had any more available. Sadly we did not have any others for him to sign at that time.

Kingsley then went around and personally thanked all of those who had participated in tonight's raid. As did Dad and Uncle Ivan. Both the Ministers promised to send formal letters of thanks to the French Ministry for their assistance. We were later to learn that they also individually thanked each person in those letters, and made sure that all involved received copies of them as well.

Kingsley was also introduced to some French Aurors, who had allegedly been on 'holidays' in the UK when significant raids were carried out by Dave's team. Since they were 'conveniently present' anyway, they had apparently offered their services for those particular raids. When he was told this, Kingsley smiled broadly and embraced all of the Aurors concerned and thanked them even more profusely for their efforts.

These actions endeared Kingsley, Dad and Uncle Ivan to all of those who were present. Although Dad still looked extremely uncomfortable with the respect and honour that he was being regarded by the French Aurors and Magical Police.

By now Goose, Jono and Guz had been able to get Mick, Rowdy and Dave back to the overwatch position where we were all congregated. Once Jean-Luc and Kingsley saw the state of the three of them they were ordered to go and see a Healer. Not surprisingly, all three refused and stated that the others needed the assembled Healers more than them.

Uncle Ivan then stepped in and remarked, "If you are going to be that way about it, we will take you back to the Burrow and have you 'dealt with' back there."

The three of them went a little pale at this news, but they dutifully moved off to the doorway that Shelly had made back to Dave's tent. The rest of Dave's team and my family followed them home. Jean-Luc advised that he would be along shortly once his relief arrived.

When we arrived back in Dave's tent, I wasn't at all surprised to see that the TV was displaying the tactical map for the facility that we had raided tonight. We could also hear the voices of those that were searching the facility coming through the TV.

Given that they had been watching and listening to the raid unfold, I was also wholly unsurprised to see Healer Jones and Grant present in Dave's tent also.

I did notice that Gabrielle, Hermione and Ginny did seem to be quite shocked at the amount of blood that covered both Mick and Dave. Gabrielle looked like she was torn between wanting to hug Dave, while at the same time being upset and angry. This lasted until she saw the state of the shield that Dave had been carrying when he left. From looking at it, the shield seemed long past any hope of repair. It looked as though it had copped quite a bashing during the raid and then when the booby trap had gone off, and part of the building had collapsed it had been pushed over the edge into total ruination.

We later found out the reason as to why Dave was in a different position to the others. Apparently, one of the falling timbers had hit his shield nearly dead centre and sent him and the young lady he had been helping flying off the stairs and across the room. The young lady had the good fortune to land on the 'soft' lump that was Dave. While Dave was left with landing on the not so soft floor.

All three of the boys missed this, however. As they were focused on the look that Aunty Sandra was giving them. They almost looked like they would prefer to go back into combat if it would get them from out of that glare. My brother's evidently recognised it, and they were trying to suppress their own grins at the predicament of Rowdy, Mick and Dave.

Dave and Mick looked like they wanted to say something. Most likely a feeble attempt at a defence, but Aunty Sandra quickly overruled them. She sent Mick off with Healer Grant and Rowdy off with Healer Jones. She then fixed Dave with the look of a long-suffering parent and stated, "You get me." As an evil smirk took over her face.

Dave knew better than to argue and he tried to get Goose to help him into his bedroom.

"Dump him here Ryan," Aunty Sandra ordered. Showing no qualms at all, about disobeying his boss, Goose dumped Dave on the padded table that had been set up in the lounge of Dave's tent.

"Now strip, young man," Aunty Sandra ordered Dave. "I need to see what you have done to yourself this time." She added.

"I can't strip here, there are…" Dave started to say before Aunty Sandra cut him off.

"You can strip yourself, or I'll ask my sister to vanish ALL of your muggle clothes," Sandra stated in a voice filled with steel. Mum stepped up next to Aunty Sandra withdrew her wand and tapped it against her cheek. All the while displaying a look on her face that perfectly showed her willingness to carry out her sister's request. I couldn't help myself I had to smile at that scene, and Fleur looked to be in a similar state. Although she was mainly reacting to Gabrielle's amused and slightly hopeful response, not my mum's.

Seeing no way out Dave lamented, "Why do all the women in my life always seem to want to take my clothes off of me." As he twisted around to begin removing his body armour. By doing this, he completely missed the even more impressive blush that came over Gabrielle and the several sets of cheeky smiles that were directed her way.

Fleur and Apolline, along with Dave's sisters seemed particularly attentive to this reaction of hers.

Dave managed to remove his armour and most of the blood-soaked clothing. I did notice that he didn't remove his pants and that he couldn't remove the blood-soaked T-Shirt he had on under his jacket. The T-Shirt almost looked like it was held onto him with those muggle staple things, thanks to all the shrapnel. Mum did indeed end up having to vanish Dave's pants and his T-shirt. Thankfully they did let him lay down on the table before they did that though. Even laying down like this Dave's embarrassment was evident.

Once Dave was left face down on the table only in his undies (they were a plain black pair today), the full extent of his injuries could be seen. All down his left-hand side we could see puncture wounds and quite a few deep cuts as well. The only exception being where his bulletproof vest had been, as that covered both his front and back. It had either deflected or caught all the shrapnel that had hit it.

"You've done a decent job on yourself this time, little Day." Aunty Sandra remarked as she surveyed his injuries. "If you can summon your healing energies for me we can get to work on it." She advised him.

"But I do think that I will need to 'put you under' while I do so." She suggested as she caught his attention. Dave nodded In agreement and seemed to make a silent request of her at the same time. Sandra nodded in reply and Dave held out his hand.

In his hand, there appeared a silvery ball of light. When that ball of light appeared, all of us in the room could instantly feel our fatigue, along with aches and pains disappear.

Aunty Sandra held out her hand to Dave's and collected that ball of light from him. Dave then laid face down on the table with his arms positioned on the rests provided. Sandra placed her free hand on the back of Dave's head, and we could visibly see his whole body relax. She then called to Gabrielle and asked her to sit with Dave on his right-hand side and hold his hand. She also suggested that she could use her other hand to gently stroke the uninjured area of his back to help keep him relaxed. Gabrielle quickly agreed to this request. She did seem to enjoy running her hand over Dave's back, particularly along the scars caused by Griffin's claws that he had.

Aunty Sandra next moved over to Dave's left-hand side. As she did so, she passed close to Fleur and me. When she came close to Fleur, I could see all of the fine hairs on Fleur's arm stand up. I commented on this to Aunty Sandra, she came back and carefully observed this reaction as well. After seeing this, she smiled at Fleur.

"What is et?" Fleur asked her.

"I think that you might have an affinity for this type of magical energy," Aunty Sandra remarked to her. "Hold your hand out to it and tell me what it makes you feel?" She requested.

Fleur did as requested, "I feel great joy and happiness coming from it." She replied, "Along wiz a strong desire to 'elp ozers." She added thoughtfully.

"That is wonderful to hear." Aunty Sandra replied, "This trait typically runs in families so let try a little experiment." She said cryptically as she moved over to Gabrielle and Apolline and asked them the same question. They both gave very similar answers.

"What magical energy is that?" Hermione asked her with her eyes alight with curiosity.

"This energy is most closely aligned with Unicorns." Aunty Sandra replied as all the Delacour girls smiled happily. "It has powerful healing abilities, especially in 'Little Day' here." She explained as she looked at Dave.

"Little Day?" Ginny asked as she struggled to contain her laughter. Gabrielle was also facing a similar battle.

"His Grandmother christened him with that nickname the day he was born." Aunty Sandra told us with a smile, "Only family members seem to get away with using it, however." She advised Ginny and Gabrielle with a wink.

"Why did you need Dave to summon that energy for you?" Hermione asked, "Does it work best when he summons it? Or can anyone do it?"

"I can't actually summon this energy," Aunty Sandra told her, "But I can manipulate it if it has been summoned by someone else." She explained.

"In fact let us try an experiment here," She suggested as she called Fleur over to her.

Fleur was instructed to hold out her hand, and Aunty Sandra 'poured' some of the magical energy into it. Once it was in Fleur's hand her whole face came alive in a way I'd never seen before.

"Once I remove the shrapnel from this wound," Sandra said as she pointed to one of the larger wounds on Dave's back, "simply make as though you are pouring the magical energy into the wound while instructing it with your thoughts to heal Dave." She instructed.

Aunty Sandra then removed a piece of metal shrapnel from Dave's back, and as she did so, the wound began to bleed again.

"Quickly now." She requested. Fleur then made as though she was pouring the energy from her hand into the wound. We all saw a thin silvery thread leave Fleur's hand and go into the injury.

Before our eyes, the wound healed and left no scar behind.

"C'est incroyable," Fleur exclaimed in delight. "I've not seen anyzing like zat before."

"Yes for 'simple' injuries like these, this energy works wonders," Sandra told us. "Although we are hoping when Dave comes fully into his Metamorphmagus abilities he will be able to fully heal himself, almost without a thought."

"What do you mean 'comes fully into his Metamorphmagus abilities'?" Hermione asked, just before I did myself. "I thought that Metamophmagi are born not made?" She added.

"True, they are." Aunty Sandra replied, "However, because of Dave's condition his magic isn't developing along normal lines. Some magic he should have had at birth was missing. While other magic that he shouldn't have until he was fully grown was present when he learnt to walk."

"It is an ever-present source of frustration for him." She added as she set to work healing Dave's injuries. Every so often she would get Fleur to treat one as well. Gabrielle and Apolline were also offered the chance to try and use the unicorn energy to heal some of the wounds on Dave. They were both able to do so, and they both were displaying brilliant smiles when they used it as well.

Ginny got a surprise when she moved in for a closer look and ended up with some of the magical energy on her arm. It just seemed to flow over her. Aunty Sandra suggested that she try to cup it in her hand and then use it on Dave like the others. To her great delight, she was able to. Mum then tried using the Unicorm magical energy, at her sister's suggestion and was also able to use it to heal Dave.

"Told you that it does tend to run in families." Aunty Sandra remarked, "However." She added as she crossed to me and tried to pour the energy into my hands.

"It is usually only us girls who can manipulate it." She stated as the energy ran straight through my hands.

"How is Dave able to use it then?" Ginny asked.

"We don't know." Sandra replied, "There are only 9 other men around the globe who are confirmed to be able to summon and manipulate this energy. All investigations have revealed no common link between any of them."

"It just makes him that little bit more 'special'." She remarked with a grin.

Once all the wounds on Dave's left-hand side had been healed the girls stood back and surveyed their work. The pile of steel shrapnel and wood splinters that had been removed from Dave was quite surprising.

Let's turn him over to make sure that there isn't anything there. Once Dave was rolled over a quick scan showed no recent injuries. Although Gabrielle looked like she was about to self-combust with her blushing when she was caught 'checking out' a particular uninjured part of Dave. The poor girl almost died of embarrassment.

Of course, the rest of us didn't help matters by promising to let Dave know what she had been caught doing. Mum and Apolline were the ones who came to Gabrielle's rescue and got us to 'drop it'. But the looks on the face of George and Charlie strongly suggested that they were yet to be convinced.

Sandra then almost caused Gabrielle's eyes to pop out of her head, when she folded down the elastic waistband of his undies on his right side. As she did so, she uncovered a jagged scar that ran from his hip to almost level with his belly button. The look on her face was one of intense anger and cold resolve.

"That little bit…" Aunty Sandra began to say before mum gave her a gentle nudge in the ribs. This caused them both to have a laugh.

"I'm not going to allow that bloody skank to scar my son like that." She stated forcefully. Turning to Fleur, she asked, "Do you think you can handle holding the rest of this if I give it to you?"

"Oui, I do," Fleur replied with a curious look on her face.

"Thank-you." Aunty Sandra replied as she poured the rest of the magical energy into Fleur's hands. "I'm going to cut that scar out of my son. As I do so, I would like you to follow along behind me and pour that magical energy into the cut I make." She requested.

"I can do zat," Fleur answered confidently. Aunty Sandra smiled her thanks to Fleur and then placed a finger on either side of the scar. She nodded to Fleur and then began to move her hand along the scar. It looked like she was vanishing the skin that was between her fingers. It was done so quickly that by the time we all registered what she had done it was all over.

Fleur poured the remaining magical energy that was left over onto the area where the scar had been. There was now no trace of the scar that had been there previously.

"That cow and her sister have left more than their share of scars on my boys. I just couldn't leave that one there." She explained. We were all in full agreement with her. Indeed Gabrielle came up and gave her a hug to show her support. It appeared as though it was gratefully received.

"Let's wake him up and tuck him into bed, as he will need to sleep all of that off." She suggested as she reached up to and put her hand on Dave's forehead. Dave immediately began to stir and stretch, it was evident that while his wounds had healed, they were still tender. Because as he began to stretch, we could see him wince.

It was now that he took notice of the fact that he was laying on his back, not his front as he had been before. This caused him to jump slightly and quickly roll off the table onto the floor. When he stood back up, he had covered himself in what looked like a bathrobe of some description.

"What are you playing at mum?" He asked as he fought to control a blush while trying to wrap the robe around himself. "I thought that you were just fixing my back?"

"I did fix your back, and then we had to 'check out' the rest of you for injuries as well." Aunty Sandra replied calmly. "Thankfully there were none."

"I could have told you that," Dave said still looking at his mum suspiciously.

"I also asked Fleur to help me remove the scar that little cow gave you." She told him with the corners of her mouth twitching in a smile. Dave went deathly pale at hearing this and then couldn't find the words for a few moments.

"You what?" He exclaimed as all the girls (and most of us blokes burst out in laughter), "You didn't take my jocks…" Dave started to say before Aunty Sandra took pity on him.

"No, I didn't take them off you." She chuckled, "That would have frightened everyone."

"I only folded down the elastic." She advised him, "No one saw anything amiss. Isn't that right Fleur?"

"Oui. It all looked fine to me," Fleur replied while displaying an evil grin at Dave, as Dave looked about ready to die of embarrassment, "Wouldn't you say so Gabrielle?"

I'm not sure who was the more embarrassed here. But Gabrielle could only nod her head in agreement with Fleur.

"Is that all you have to say, Gabrielle?" Charlie asked her, "You spent so long 'taking in the view' I was sure you would have a more detailed report." He added with a perfectly straight face.

Gabrielle had to hide behind Fleur as she was blushing so much and she couldn't meet Dave's eyes. For his part, Dave made to quickly head to his room, but in his haste, it was clear that he was still very tender. In the end, Aunty Sandra went in with him to help him get dressed for bed.

By the time the door opened again Dave was in the short PJ pants he apparently usually wore and was trying to climb into his bed. Gabrielle was still trying to regain her composure while shooting looks full of daggers at Charlie. Charlie looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Dave's sisters weren't helping matters by showing their support for Charlie's actions.

We all said goodnight to Dave. Cassy came back with a report on Rowdy and Mick. Apparently, they were both now fine and were expected to be as good as new in the morning. This cheered Dave up a great deal, he asked for his thanks to be given to Healers Jones and Grant. Cassy advised him that she has already done that. Dave then thanked her also.

He also thanked all of us that had gone along and helped with the raid as well. We all told him that there was no way that we couldn't have not help. Especially after what we witnessed with our own eyes.

Gabrielle was the last one to say goodnight to Dave, and after she had kissed him goodnight Sandra asked her, "Do you think you could snuggle with him a bit to make sure he really does go to sleep instead of trying to do paperwork?"

After a very subtle glance at her mum, Gabrielle agreed and climbed up onto Dave's bed (after kicking off her shoes) and snuggled up to him. She made sure to show her mum that she was on top of Dave's covers, but as her mum left the room, I did notice her hand move under the covers to place itself on Dave's chest. I decided not to say anything about that.

As we left the room Sandra propped the door open, and we all moved into the kitchen area for a cuppa, to discuss what we had seen and discovered.

During this chat, Uncle Ivan advised that he was cancelling the morning PT session tomorrow to ensure that everyone got a good rest. Harry seemed a little disappointed (I think he was beginning to enjoy those runs), but he understood the reasoning.

After we had talked for an hour or more, Fleur and I went back to Dave's room to collect Gabrielle. We found both of them seemingly fast asleep on the bed. Although as we got closer, I could see Dave's eye open to check who it was that was in his room.

When he saw us, he smiled and mouthed 'thank-you'. I then heard a voice in my mind saying 'hold out your arms'. When I had done as requested Dave kissed Gabrielle on her cheek and then floated her over to me. He was so gentle she never even stirred. Fleur smiled in gratitude at Dave, and we both turned to leave the room.

But Fleur did notice Dave summon another pillow and then cuddle into it before she collected Gabrielle's shoes and then closed the door.

"Et, looks like 'e ez a cuddly one after all." She said with a chuckle as we took a sleeping Gabrielle back to her room in our tent.

Once Fleur had gotten Gabrielle safely tucked away in bed she joined me in our room and we both thankfully crept under the covers.

"It seems like we haven't had a dull day since we met Aunty Sandra's family," I remarked as I tried to relax. Fleur indicated her agreement with me.

"Tomorrow morning is going to be interesting, but I know zat ze plan for ze afternoon is one of rest before we go to Australie." She told me.

"We can only hope," I replied as sleep took me.


	61. Shadows from the past (Ginny's POV)

**20** **th** **May 1998 (Wednesday) – Early Morning**

Waking from a fitful night's sleep, I remembered feeling both frustrated and amused.

The frustration came from my memory of the events the night before in France. Watching events unfold on the map that was displayed on the TV in Dave's tent, along with listing to the conversations that were coming from it. We could hear both the radio calls of Dave's team, along with the communications of the French Aurors and Magical Police Officers along with my extended family.

Realising that Harry and Ron had been in the thick of yet another magical battle caused my heart to skip a few beats. But knowing that they were together brought me a great deal of relief as well. Then finding out that Harry and Ron were the ones who had encountered and stopped the witches and wizards who were trying to escape with the ledgers made my heart swell with pride. Once both Hermione and I had made sure that neither Harry nor Ron had any injuries from the battle we pressed them for all the details that they could give us.

We had expected to be told that they were unable to tell us a great deal. But Jean-Luc had granted them permission to tell us about the raid as long as the details were given to no one else. The French Ministry would eventually release details of the assault, but they were not going to be doing so until well after the action against the Wizengamot and the resulting court cases.

After hearing the stories from Ron and Harry along with the ones from Bill, Fleur, Percy, Audrey, Charlie, George and Dad I was more than a little relieved that I wasn't there. As I'm not sure that I could have controlled my own anger, regarding the people who were committing those crimes. While Harry and Ron also had vast outrage at what they had seen, they were also able to direct and control it far better than the other members of my immediate family. This is one of the many reasons that they both went on to be so successful in the Aurors. Although they both had a bit more work to do with controlling their anger when it got to be more personal. They did eventually manage that after a few false starts.

Eventually, after many hurried retellings of the events, we all got into our own beds, and this is where the amusement came in. Ever since Percy had brought Audrey to meet our family, George, Charlie, Bill, Ron and me had been planning a proper welcome for her. Naturally, Percy suspected something was being prepared, and he was keeping a close eye on us all. It was his efforts that caused us to take the approach that we did.

Taking it in turns, we either cast charms on Percy's bedroom or caused a distraction to enable the others to place the required charms in his room. These charms had a subtle but cumulative effect, and eventually, they were able to reverse any silencing wards that were cast inside Percy's room.

It just so happened that the night that they fully activated was the one of the operation in France. Both Percy and Audrey were a little 'worked up' after coming back from the raid, and they apparently had a long-established way to help each other unwind.

ALL the residents of the Burrow that night got to witness it in one way or another. But I do think that Ron REALLY should have forewarned Harry. I certainly gave Hermione enough warning of the possibility, and we had made our own preparations. But the boys were most likely too tired from their efforts in France to take the required 'defensive' actions.

George and Charlie had made the required preparations, but they were far too busy laughing at the unfolding production to do anything about it. They did eventually laugh themselves to sleep over it.

Mum and Dad were caught entirely unawares by our efforts. They were quick to respond though, but more than a little surprised when neither Percy nor Audrey could hear them pounding on the door to Percy's room.

Bill was perfectly safe in the tent he was sharing with Fleur and her family. Being outside the Burrow, he was spared the resulting 'show'.

The results of the charm work that we had been carrying out were to eventually reverse any silencing wards that Percy and Audrey put up. This had the effect of enabling us to hear them, but they could not hear anyone outside of their room. So while they were happily celebrating the results of the raid, they were utterly unaware of mum and dad pounding on their door asking them to keep it quiet.

Eventually mum and dad had to retreat to their own room and put up their own silencing wards to enable them to get to sleep.

That morning's breakfast was one to remember for sure. Hermione and I arrived in the kitchen that morning to find mum busy preparing all the food for our guests and us. She was also continually muttering to herself.

"Morning mum," I said as I came into the kitchen trying to control the grin that wanted to take over my face.

Mum turned to greet Hermione and me, and it took only a single glance for her to 'know' what we had done. The resulting smile on her face was a beautiful sight. She did her best to hide it quickly, but we all saw it. Strangely she didn't berate me about it as I had expected, she just turned back to the stove and kept on working after greeting the two of us.

George and Charlie were the next ones to get up, drawn by the smell of bacon and eggs no doubt. The twinkle in both of their eyes brought a smile to mum's face that she couldn't hide no matter how hard she tried. Her only option was to look away and try to pretend to be mad.

Harry and Ron were the next ones down, and neither one looked like they had slept much. When Charlie asked Harry why he seemed so tired the resultant look on his face reduced all of us to helpless giggles as we tried to stifle our laughter. Dad walked in on this scene, and his expression said all that needed to be said.

I'm not sure what Shelly, Mick, Jono and Dave thought when they arrived to help get breakfast out on the tables. They very clearly knew that something was up, but none of us was going to let on what it was.

Everyone was now at the breakfast tables in the yard and digging into the mountains of food that mum had provided when Percy and Audrey arrived. All of us were keenly watching him for any sign that he might have guessed what had occurred, he apparently had other things on his mind as he didn't pick up on our careful observations.

Percy sat down near Harry and Ron with Audrey next to him. He politely asked George to pass him the plate of toast.

"Certainly 'Big P'," George replied with a perfectly straight face. This nearly caused me to have a stroke at the effort required not to burst out laughing uncontrollably. Mum and Dad were turning red from the effort, and Charlie looked like he was about to wet himself.

Ron and Harry were trying to hide their faces by focusing on their breakfast, and Bill was looking like he had just realised that he had missed seeing the winning goal of a game of Quidditch. The smile that eventually began to appear on his face though told us that he was filling in the blanks. From the expression on Fleur's face, it was clear that he hadn't let her in on the secret though.

Dave and his team had also caught the comment from George, and they were all suppressing smirks as well. Given that none of them had been in the Burrow last night I knew that they hadn't heard the production that we had 'enjoyed'. But they were apparently familiar with the overall program.

Audrey looked like she was beginning to catch on as there was a blush slowly rising up her cheeks. Percy, however, was utterly oblivious to it all. At least at this point in the proceedings.

"Did you get a good night's sleep 'Big P'?" Fireball asked Percy with a very deceptively straight face, "Or were you busy being assessed all night again?"

This time Audrey definitely caught onto the comments and Percy was also beginning to catch on. Audrey's blush was now in full control of her cheeks while Percy's ears had changed colour to match his hair.

With a growing look of horror, Percy and Audrey looked around at the crowd of faces gathered at the table.

"He must have been working very hard last night, as he's usually much more talkative than this," Mum remarked before everyone at the table (the exceptions being Percy and Audrey) burst out into laughter.

Percy fixed Dave with an angry look and exclaimed, "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"I haven't told a living soul," Dave replied with a look of such pure innocence that I actually believed him. "But you do remember who I was on the speaking to on the phone, the last time you two got caught, don't you?" Dave reminded him with a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, but she can't have told my family" Was Percy's startled reply. "She promised she wouldn't."

"She didn't tell your family, but she certainly told hers and mine." Dave chuckled, "However, that is a moot point here." He added with a massive grin.

"As I think YOUR family found out straight from the 'Professor' herself," Dave suggested, just as mum, dad and Charlie collapsed in gales of laughter.

"But how? Since that night we have always used silencing charms." Percy asked with a small amount of dismay in his voice.

"I can make a few guesses, but I have a feeling that you would be better off asking your 'loving' family about this one," Dave suggested.

Percy turned to look at us all. He quickly gave up on George being the one to volunteer the information, so he tried to extract it from me. I promptly reminded him that I'm still underage and unable to perform magic outside of school. This gave him pause for a moment and caused him to look at Bill and Charlie with a pleading expression.

"What makes you think I know anything about this?" Charlie replied in between trying to catch his breath. Percy then turned to look at Bill. Bill had the look of someone who had a tenuous link to his own self-control.

"Sorry 'Big P' I'm not aware of any assessments that were held last night," Bill replied to Percy's questioning look. This simple statement, however, set off the rest of us, including Fleur and her parents (they had filled in the blanks on their own). Dave and his team were also thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Audrey would not look at anyone; she was trying to hide her embarrassment behind a curtain of her hair. But Fireball's next remark caused her embarrassment to only multiply.

"So, 'Professor Ohhh' did 'Big P' pass the assessment?" Fireball enquired of her. Audrey performed a blush that would have done any Weasley proud.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Shelly replied happily with the answer she had received. She then turned to Percy, "See, I told you all that extra study would pay off eventually." She added with an evil grin.

Audrey could not help herself she burst out into very embarrassed laughter. Percy went pale, but he did have a cheeky smile playing at the corner of his mouth. He also gave Audrey an adorable look that she returned.

"What was he studying?" Ron asked with a puzzled look on his face. This caused Dad, Bill, Charlie, Percy, and George to nearly have a stroke from the laughter that they were trying (unsuccessfully) to suppress.

"You've got a bit more work to do with this one," Shelly told Hermione with a grin. Hermione was blushing to the roots of her hair as she looked at Ron in exasperation.

We did not get to hear Hermione's reply as just then an owl flew in and dropped mum's copy of Witch Weekly on the table. It landed with the cover facing up. Out of curiosity, we all glanced at it, and instantly everyone's laughter stopped.

Harry's face went paler than I had ever seen it and then when the colour returned it was bright red. But it wasn't an embarrassed blush that was on his face; it was a look of sheer rage. His eyes also perfectly conveyed his feelings, and I found that those beautiful green eyes of his actually frightened me for a few moments.

I looked at the cover of Witch Weekly to see a picture of a shirtless Harry. The photo showed Harry at St Mungo's walking from one examination room to another. In the photo, I could clearly see the scars on Harry's forearm from the cut that Wormtail gave him and the bite mark from the Basilisk.

On Harry's chest, I could see the scar from where the Locket Horcrux had to be cut away from his chest. I could also see the mark left by Tom Riddle Jnr's killing curse where it struck Harry. It goes without saying that the famous lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's forehead was also easy to spot. There were several sets of other injuries as well, mainly along his ribs and some on his back. A lot of them looked as though they had been inflicted with a belt. Making matters worse, every second pass of Harry walking between the examination rooms, the various scars were highlighted to make them easier to spot.

Above the photo was the Headline.

 **The Price of Freedom**

 **For the full story on the price paid by those who stood against Tom Riddle Jnr turn to page 5**

Mum hurriedly opened the magazine to Page 5, and we were presented with some close-up photos of the various scars on Harry's body. There was also a photo of Harry and me in the great hall at Hogwarts after the defeat of Tom Riddle Jnr, we were arguing, and it showed me shoving Harry in the chest, and him crumpling to the ground.

Looking at the photo brought back the memories of that argument, and those memories, in turn, brought tears to my eyes as I recalled the misunderstanding that had brought it about and what was said during it as well. I tried to hide my tears from Harry as I knew that they would only upset him more.

Attempting to avoid Harry's eye I sought out the test of the article and began to read.

 **Harry Potter - The scarred one**

 _Incontrovertible evidence of the bodily damage suffered by Harry Potter (the Boy-Who-Lived) for his stand against Tom Riddle Jnr during the recent Battle of Hogwarts has surfaced. These photos show only some of the numerous and undoubtedly painful scars that Harry Potter carries on his body from his various battles._

 _It has come to light thanks to the efforts of Special Correspondent Rita Skeeter that not all of the scars on Harry Potter's young body are from battles with the expected forces of darkness._

 _It has been reported to me that the burn scar in the middle of Harry's chest was caused by none other than young Ginevra Weasley (the supposed love of Harry's life) when she struck down Harry Potter after the battle of Hogwarts. Reports are many and varied as to the reason behind Miss Weasley's vicious and unprovoked attack on Harry. Pansy Parkinson who was present says that the argument was sparked by Harry's blanket refusal to accept the Marriage proposal of young Miss Weasley. If this is correct, then maybe the rumours of a rift between Harry and the Weasley family have some truth behind them after all. Other witnesses say that Miss Weasley was furious with Harry for his admission of his many reported romantic dalliances with young witches on his recent adventure._

 _After the collapse of Harry in the main hall of Hogwarts he was taken to the medical wing (a location he has come to know only too well from his student days at Hogwarts). Here it is reported by Millicent Bulstrode that Mr Ronald Weasley snuck into the hospital wing and attempted to negotiate with Harry to get him to accept Ginny's desperate proposal of marriage. Millicent reports that the cuts on Harry's arm are the direct result of the negotiation methods used by Mr Ronald Weasley (can anyone say torture) to get Harry to change his mind. This makes us wonder just how far the Weasley family will go in their efforts to control our Harry Potter (the Boy-Who-Lived)._

 _One might ask why Harry Potter puts up with this sort of treatment from those who supposedly care for him. The answer is shockingly simple; he has never known anything different. With the help of records procured from the Ministry of Magic, I was able to track down the Muggle residence where Harry spent his formative childhood. While the Dursley family who lived at number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey were no longer there I did manage to speak with several of their longtime neighbours._

 _Without exception, they all described a tormented childhood for Harry Potter. A child who was denied love and affection of any sort by the family who 'raised' him. The Dursley's were so focused in their efforts to isolate and marginalise the young Boy-Who-Lived they even had their only son frighten off any friends that Harry might have made at school. Harry was denied even the satisfaction of doing well academically at school. One of his neighbours reported Harry's excitement at bringing home a test with a gold star on it. Only to see him the next day with a heavy bruise on the side of his face and being locked out of the house at dinner time. All because he outperformed the Dursley's own son in class._

 _This beating wasn't an isolated case either. Indeed the Dursley's went so far as to regularly beat Harry when he failed to perform any of his many chores around the house adequately. Mind you our young Boy-Who-Lived was given these household chores to do almost from the time he could walk._

 _What was young Harry's reaction to these regular beatings and abuse I hear you say? Well let me tell you, according to the neighbour across the road who had a clear view into the living room of number 4 Privet Drive young Harry made almost no sound at all as he was regularly beaten or whipped with a leather belt (the scars are still present on his back from his many whippings, see the photos on Page 8). Being starved and denied food was also a common occurrence for young Harry._

 _"It was like he was so starved for affection that he would gratefully accept any attention that he could get." Reported Mrs Fuller who lived door to Harry._

 _My investigations uncovered the fact that until the time he got his letter from Hogwarts he was living in a shoe cupboard under the stairs. This fact was confirmed by the address that was written on the first letter that Hogwarts sent him (why didn't the address alone prompt the staff at Hogwarts to investigate?). In later years Harry would sometimes be locked back in that very same cupboard under the stairs as punishment for some imagined slight or failure._

 _Did this treatment by the Dursley's stop when Harry started to attend Hogwarts? In fact, it didn't stop. It seemed to intensify. Why didn't the teachers at Hogwarts notice or act on Harry's malnourished appearance when he first arrived there. Or at the start of each school year afterwards. It seems that the teachers at Hogwarts were only concerned that Harry was 'well enough' to carry out his role. His happiness was secondary to that objective._

 _Is this then how the Weasley family got their hooks into young Harry? By providing a familiar mixture of abuse and 'love' to make Harry more accepting of Molly Weasley's draconian control of Harry's life? Did they find him a lovely cozy cupboard for him to sleep in when he stayed at their hovel?_

 _Where was Albus Dumbledore during this period in Harry's life? Surely the great protector of the innocent wouldn't have allowed this to occur to the prophesied saviour of the wizarding world? Well shocking as it may seem (it isn't really all that shocking really, for the full details see my recent bestselling book entitled The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore) the 'great' Albus Dumbledore was indeed fully aware of the abuse and neglect that the Boy Who Lived was suffering. As it was the Headmaster that dumped Harry on the doorstep of number 4 Privet Drive in a basket with only a brief note attached to it…_

The article went on for many more pages, but I could not bring myself to read any more of it. With tears running freely down my face I looked up from the article directly into Harry's eyes. I was unprepared for the explosion of hurt, anger and hatred that seemed to go off behind Harry's eyes as he took in the hurt and pain that must have been showing in my own eyes.

Harry leapt to his feet and pacing about the yard, he began to rant and rave about Rita Skeeter and the pain and torment that seemed to spring from every article that she wrote. Harry waxed eloquent about his hatred for those that attacked his family. I couldn't keep track of everything that he said as I was having trouble keeping my own thoughts straight. I did, however, register the concerned look on Dave's face as he carefully watched Harry.

All the members of Dave's team were observing Harry closely. Indeed a few of Dave's team were beginning to look almost worried at Harry's behaviour. My own family were in a similar state of shock at this outburst from Harry and the vehemence in it.

When Harry began to scream out his anger and frustration Dave got up from his seat and moved to face Harry. I also noticed Shelly heading for her tent talking rapidly on her mirror phone.

"Harry." Dave said in a coolly calm voice that was easily heard, "You need to take a deep breath and calm down mate."

Harry looked at Dave, and I could see the pain and anger clearly in his eyes. When he registered the concerned look on Dave's face, he paused for a brief moment before he began to scream and rage again.

"HARRY." Dave said more forcefully this time, "If you feel you need to scream and rave to release your emotions, please do so. But DO NOT try to reach for what it is that you are currently attempting to grasp. It will not help you." Dave advised.

Once more Harry looked at Dave with pain and anger in his eyes. Only this time there was a slight question in them also.

"What you are trying to reach for right now will not help you." Dave stated, "Indeed you will be placing yourself in grave danger if you continue your efforts to reach it in your current state."

We were all beginning to become somewhat worried at these turns of events. What was Harry doing that would place him in danger? I looked at mum and dad to see if they knew what was going on, only to see confusion and worry on their own faces. I did notice that Dave's team were beginning to spread out to surround Dave and Harry. Olly and Abby came up to us all and requested that we all move back away from Harry and Dave just now.

"Why do we need to move?" I asked them.

"Harry's pain and anger just now are causing him to reach for some magical energies that should never be touched with those emotions in your heart," Abby explained.

"What magical energies?" I asked, "Why shouldn't they be used when he feels as he is?" I almost pleaded with her to answer me.

"I'm sorry Ginny, I can't answer those questions just now." Abby replied, "I have to get you to move back, so we have space enough to get shields up if Harry does anything stupid just now."

This answer frightened me even more. We all did move back. However, I quickly found myself standing next to mum and dad who had come over to hear what Abby was saying. Ron came over as well.

"Maybe I should go and talk to him?" Ron suggested, "I might have more luck than Dave to try to calm him down."

"Under normal circumstances, I would take you up on that offer Ron," Abby replied while not taking her eyes off of Harry. "But you don't know the correct wards and shields for this situation."

"What do you mean this situation?" Ron began to ask just as Dave yelled, "POTTER! NO! DON'T..."

The next thing I remember seeing was a wall of bright flame coming out of Harry. It was burning the grass and also Harry's clothes. It next rapidly expanded and fully engulfed Dave, he disappeared behind it in a literal flash. Gabrielle let out a scream of fright, and I heard Abby scream out "SHIELDS NOW".

All of Dave's team who had surrounded Harry cast a shield of a type I had never seen before. Thankfully it successfully stopped the wall of flames from getting any closer. The fire looked to have been directed upwards and away from us. However, the heat that was coming from the conflagration could still be felt, and it was immense. I wouldn't have been surprised to see my own clothes catch fire it was that intense.

Almost as quickly as they had appeared, the flames were gone. It was with relief that I saw Harry and Dave standing where they had been just moments before. I did notice that Dave looked VERY different. He appeared as though he had been covered in gold as he resembled a living golden statue. Albeit one wearing black boxer shorts, that looked as though they were smoking. The sight would have caused me to laugh under normal circumstances.

Harry looked to have regained his composure as the pain and anger were no longer visible in his eyes. He was looking around at his surroundings as though seeing them for the first time. When he noticed Dave, I could see the surprise and shock on his face.

When Dave registered Harry's surprise, he looked to relax his stance slightly, and the gold that covered his body began to retreat. I was later to learn from Harry that the golden covering disappeared into Dave's eyes before they returned to his natural bright blue.

"What?" Harry said as he again began to register his surroundings.

"Nice bum Harry." Fireball remarked from behind Harry with an evil grin.

"Yeah, cute birthmark also," Cassy added also grinning.

It was now that the rest of us realised that Harry was wearing only his birthday suit. Harry himself registered this at the same time, and he quickly covered his more 'personal' areas.

I feel I have to add a correction to the story here, as some members of my family have taken liberty with this story in particular over the years and embellished it with many colourful additions about me ogling Harry and even drooling. None of those things occurred. I was primarily focused on Harry's face and not running my eyes over all the rest of his body.

Now back to the story.

I noticed Dave having a small chuckle at the comments from Fireball and Cassy. He quickly caught Harry's attention and remarked, "Don't rise to their bait Harry, it will only get worse if you do."

"I'm sure Ginny wouldn't mind if Harry rose to the occasion," Fireball added in a husky sounding voice. Harry looked like he was about to turn and face her when he caught Dave's warning look and decided against that course of action. Not long after, the 'meaning' behind her words struck home with Harry.

Comprehension caused my Harry to have a very adorable full body blush (ok, I checked out the rest of him at this point) Harry nodded in agreement with Dave. My own cheeks felt slightly warm as I entertained certain possibilities in my own mind. Dave then snapped his fingers and clothes began to appear on both his own body and that of Harry's, as though they were being poured on. It looked very similar to the way Dave had changed his clothes the day after we first met him.

Both Dave and Harry were again in T-Shirts and shorts very quickly. Much to Harry's relief.

"Sorry about the sizing Harry, I don't have anything smaller than that in my wardrobe." Dave apologised, "It would also be an excellent idea to pull the drawstring on those shorts and tie a knot in it, so you don't lose them." He added with a chuckle. With a sheepish look, Harry agreed and quickly secured his shorts. The T-Shirt Harry had on was several sizes too large for him. Indeed it looked almost like it was in danger of slipping off his shoulders. I can only imagine how much larger the shorts were.

"What just happened?" Harry asked Dave.

"In a moment Harry," Dave replied once more with a coldly professional note to his voice. "First I need you to answer some questions for me." He requested, and Harry nodded in agreement.

"Firstly, how do you feel just now?" Dave asked.

"Confused." Harry replied, "Angry and Hurt." He added after a moment of thought.

"Ok, take a few deep breaths to calm yourself and then answer the question again." Dave requested.

"Still confused, angry, and hurt," Harry replied after tasking several deep breaths, "But calmer." He added.

"Ok." Dave replied, "How does this make you feel?" He asked as he showed Harry the Friendfyre that covered his hand.

"Calm and curious," Harry replied.

"Excellent." Dave said still watching Harry, "How about this?" Dave asked as he held up a different type of golden flame that seemed to carry a beautiful musical note with it.

"The same," Harry answered.

"It doesn't make you feel uneasy?" Dave enquired.

"Not in the slightest," Harry said as he watched Dave visibly relax, along with his team.

"That is a truly excellent answer, Harry," Dave said with evident relief. I felt a massive sense of relief as well hearing this. My family were also all showing signs of relief at this statement. The relief lasted right up until Dave's next comment.

"That answer means that I don't have to kill you after all." He added in an offhand manner while closely watching Harry's face.

The effect of this statement on my family was one of shock and more than a little anger.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN…" Ron started to bellow until Dave turned to him holding up his hand asking for quiet. Harry caught on that there was much more to Dave's statement. He merely looked at Dave with a curious expression on his face, waiting for him to clarify it.

"Do you know what it was that you did just now?" Dave asked Harry.

"I conjured some flames," Harry replied.

"In a manner of speaking." Dave said watching Harry, "Do you know HOW you conjured those flames?" He asked, and I got the distinct impression that the answer to this question was significant.

"With magic," Harry stated confidently.

"No, you didn't." Dave answered, and we were all shocked, "You utilised magical energy to do so. But it was one you had never used before in your life." Dave explained.

"No. I used my normal magic." Harry replied.

"Sorry Harry, you most certainly didn't." Dave answered back, seeing that Harry was going to continue with an argument Dave continued with his explanation, "That barrier that you just broke through to cause those flames is proof enough of that."

"What barrier?" Harry asked, "I didn't feel any barrier."

"Think back on what you just did Harry." Dave requested, "Think carefully as it is imperative that you understand what you did." He stated in his coolly professional voice.

"There was no barrier, nothing was different," Harry stated quite indignantly. I could also see his anger starting to rise again.

"Harry, I need you to think clearly about your actions just now." Dave requested, "More than just your life is at stake here." He advised.

"That's the second time you have threatened me just now." Harry snarled, "I'm sick and tired of people threatening my family and me. I'm also sick and tired of people hiding things from me" He shouted back.

"Harry, I'm most definitely not threatening you." Dave calmly replied, "I also have no desire to withhold information on this from you, but I do need you to calm down and engage your brain rather than your emotions." He explained.

"Engage my brain!" Harry roared back at Dave as his anger was once again on full display. "Are you saying I'm stupid or something?" He snapped.

"No Harry, far from it." Dave calmly replied, "I'm saying you're angry, and I need you to calm down and think about what happened just now. Because I can't help you if you refuse to calm down."

"I'M SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE TELLING ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO." Harry roared back at Dave.

"DAMMIT POTTER!" Dave snarled back as his eyes flashed in anger, "I'm trying to stop you from destroying yourself and most likely your family as well."

"This can be done one of two ways. ONE! We can discuss it calmly, or TWO! I can kick your ass into next week and then pound your thick stubborn head into the sand until you get the message." Dave offered his own frustration showing. "I would prefer it to be a calm conversation, but the choice is yours to make." He suggested.

This statement caught all of us off guard. There were more than a few startled looks around the table. Even when I have tried to Hex Dave from behind, he hadn't shown this level of anger and frustration.

"What did you just say?" Harry demanded, as his anger began to dissipate a little. His curiosity was starting to take its place.

"I asked you how you would like to go about this." Dave replied calmly, "My preference is for a calm and reasoned discussion. I was asking you to state your preference on how to proceed." He explained as though he was ordering from a menu.

"Would you really…" Harry tried to ask before Dave cut him off.

"Yes, I would." He replied in an eerily calm voice, "If it saved your soul and your life I would do it in an instant." He explained.

"My soul?" Harry asked as his eyes showed his curiosity winning out over his anger.

"Yes, Harry, your soul." Aunty Sandra replied as she walked over from Shelly's tent. Her sudden appearance startled quite a few of us. Not only because we hadn't expected her but also because of the intensity of her focus on Harry.

She was carefully observing Harry, as she approached. "The Talisman you wear will give you a great deal of protection against external attack. However, it can do little to stop you from hurting yourself." She explained.

"Hurting myself?" Harry asked with confusion being the primary emotion displayed. "I… I don't understand."

"That Harry, is what Dave is trying to correct." Aunty Sandra replied, "Please can you think back on your actions just now and answer our questions. Because they are more important than you know." She requested.

I think it was the concern showing on her face that convinced Harry of the gravity of the situation. Taking a deep calming breath, Harry closed his eyes, and I could feel his concentration through my own talisman. When he opened his eyes, there was a spark of understanding present in them.

"There was a strange sensation almost like breaking a window just before I felt the energy surging through me," Harry replied, "Is that what you were referring to?" He asked.

"Yes, it is." Aunty Sandra replied, "If it felt like glass it must have been a fragile barrier." She added looking at Dave and showing some concern.

"I wouldn't bet against that one mum," Dave replied as he looked at Harry thoughtfully. "He struck me as having a few possible connections that were close to breaking through."

"A few?" Harry asked with a look of wonder at Dave, "Just how many do you think I might have?" He enquired.

"I think it would be safe to say that you could easily have four significant connections to different magical energies" was Dave's surprising reply. My own heart skipped a few beats at this news. "Possibly as many as three minor ones as well." He added.

Harry looked to be almost stunned for a few moments. "What magical energy was it that I used?" He asked eagerly.

"What do you think it was?" Dave asked, once more showing an annoying tendency to answer with a question. Harry looked to have found it just as annoying as I did, because I saw the expression on his face darken. Seeing this Dave held up his hand to Harry and explained, "I'm not trying to be cryptic here Harry. But your impressions of that magical energy are crucial."

Harry thought about this for several moments and then replied, "I got a strong feeling of music and flight when I used that energy."

"Excellent." Dave replied, "Now what magical creature combines the elements of flame, music and flight?" Dave asked.

"Phoenix!" Harry exclaimed with delight, which doubled when Dave smiled and nodded in agreement. Several of my other family members also looked to be very excited by this development.

"So why was I in such danger then?" Harry asked Dave, "A Phoenix isn't an openly hostile or dangerous animal."

"Correct Harry, a Phoenix isn't. But its magical energy is an entirely different matter." Dave explained. "We have discussed before how intent is one of the three pillars regarding controlling magic." He asked. When Harry nodded, Dave continued on.

"The other magical energies are no different. It is a combination of your Ability (or connection), Intent and Will that determine how you use them." He explained.

"That makes sense." Harry replied, "So it was my anger that caused the flame?" He asked.

"Not entirely. But your anger certainly influenced the effect of the flames." Dave replied. Seeking to clarify his point he asked Harry to come and stand next to me. Dave meanwhile went and picked some flowers and picked up some rocks. He then placed himself so that he was facing us but had plenty of space between him and us.

"I've not yet fully developed my abilities with these magical energies as they are only supposed to appear once you come of age." He explained, "Jimmy was a real master with them, but I can do enough to make my point hopefully."

He then stood still for a moment with his eyes closed and then his arms took fire. The fire was very different from the Friendfyre he had used before; the flames were not of pure gold as they had some orange and red in them as well. The most noticeable thing was a beautiful musical note that we could all hear. The music seemed to lift up and embolden your heart and chase fears away.

I looked around at my family and could see looks of wonder on their faces. Gabrielle's face was a particular sight to behold. After a few moments more Dave opened his eyes and took stock of our expressions.

"When these energies are used, with hope, happiness and nurturing thoughts in your heart the flames are an enjoyable and even pleasant experience." He explained, "They can also be used to carry out many types of tasks." He added as he used the flames to pick up the flowers and the rocks that he had brought with him. He was able to hold those objects with no damage being done to them.

"If I change my thoughts to anger and rage, however," Dave said as his expression darkened. "Different results are experienced."

As he said this the red that had been visible amongst the flames became more pronounced, the flowers and the rocks all caught fire and were entirely consumed within moments. The musical note that we could all hear also took on an ugly Iron sounding overtone.

"Those types of thoughts when used without the correct shields in place can cause those same results to happen to both your body and soul," Dave explained as the flames went out and he regarded Harry with a searching expression.

"So why didn't I catch fire then?" Harry asked Dave. My own interest in this question was also significant I will admit.

"You didn't catch fire Harry, as I put in place a set of shields and wards around your body and soul." Dave replied to the astonishment of us all, "My team shielded your family, as your connection was significant enough that it allowed you to draw a great deal of energy which had to go somewhere." He explained.

"I nearly burnt them?" Harry asked with a horrified expression on his face.

"You wouldn't have burnt them, Harry, there was sufficient energy being given out by you to have vaporised them all, almost instantly," Dave replied with his coolly professional voice once more on display.

Hearing this Harry went pale and almost collapsed from the shock of it. "I could have killed my family?" He asked in a frightened voice.

"Yes." Dave's answered bluntly. "This is just one of many reasons why you need to be able to direct your emotions, Harry." He suggested.

"Don't you mean control?" Harry asked with his beautiful crooked smile on display.

"Total control of one's emotions is a worthy aim." Dave replied with a small chuckle, "However we are all human, and they sometimes do get the better of us. With that in mind, the best we can hope for is to recognise them, and redirect them in ways that will have positive results."

"I think I can see why" Harry replied.

"Excellent Harry," Dave said with a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "There are some fundamental facts that you need to know and understand right now Harry." Looking at Dave Harry indicated for him to continue.

"Firstly, once a significant connection like the one you just forged is made, it cannot be unmade. This is one reason why we typically try to explore all possible connections that are available to someone before we try to make any of them permanent. This gives the person a degree of choice in the matter." He explained.

Harry nodded his understanding.

"Secondly, having a significant connection to the magical energies associated with the Phoenix is extremely rare. There are no more than 8 or 10 people in the world right now with a similar connection who have fully gained control over it."

This brought a look a surprise to Harry's face. "Are you one of them?" He asked.

"Not yet." Dave replied, "I may well end up that way, but not now. Currently, my connection is classified as 'light'. Although there are a good number of people, who expect me to develop a significant connection when I come of age. We do have an instructor at our Auror Academy who does have a significant connection; she has also fully mastered the energy as well. I know she worked wonders with Jimmy, and I'm beyond confident that she will be able to help you." He said as he tried to convey his confidence to Harry.

"Thirdly, these magical energies are some of the most powerful known to exist. Outside of the Draconia family of energies that is. How effectively these energies are used, however, is more down to how your mind works rather than your raw power. Much like it is with sorcery." He explained. "Although I must ask you to try to reframe from using these energies until we can get you in to see the 'Iron Lady'." He requested.

Harry quickly agreed to this. "How will I know?" He tried to ask before Dave smiled back and continued on.

"That was the next item on the list." He said with a chuckle, "Do you recall the exercise involving the magical core that I got you to do down at the pond with Ginny, Hermione, Ron and Gabrielle?" He asked.

"I do indeed," Harry replied.

"Excellent. Can you try the first part of that exercise now and tell me what you feel different?" Dave requested.

Once more Harry closed his eyes and concentrated. Unlike before I could almost feel his reaching for his magical core, as he did so, it seemed as though he just stood there and gazed at something. I was to learn later that because my talisman is linked with Harry's, it isn't unusual to experience this sort of sensation when both of us are calm.

For several moments Harry sat in thought. Eventually, he spoke up without opening his eyes. "It seems like there is a type of new pathway there that I can use."

"Can you tell which pathway is which?" Dave asked him.

"Yeah, I can, easily," Harry replied.

"Fantastic Harry." Dave said as he broke into a smile, "For the time being, please keep to the more familiar path. At least until we get you to our Auror Academy." He requested.

"I certainly will," Harry replied gratefully.

"I think it might be a good idea to let Harry go and get dressed now." Aunty Sandra said as she looked with amusement at what Harry was almost wearing.

"That is an excellent idea mum." Dave replied with a chuckle, "I need to go and get changed myself."

"Probably a good idea." Aunty Sandra agreed, "As I did notice your undies were missing their elastic." She added with a laugh.

"Why didn't your clothes fully burn away like Harry's?" Hermione asked.

"Did you want them too?" Fireball asked her with an evil chuckle.

"Certainly not." Hermione replied with a blush appearing on her cheeks as we all laughed at her response, "I was just curious."

"My undies didn't burn away fully because they are a blend of normal fibres and bunyip fur." Dave explained, "Bunyip fur resists flames quite well. Although if Harry had gone on for much longer, they might well have succumbed as well." He added.

"I see," Hermione replied. She had a contentplative look in her eyes that said louder than words that she had more questions. Dave looked as though he had recognised this look.

"What else is on your mind Hermione?" He asked her with a resigned sort of look.

"Why did you turn all golden like that?" She asked Dave, "Is that like what happens with your eyes when you were looking at different magical energies?"

"It was a protection for me that wouldn't cause harm to Harry, and no it is VERY different to what happens with my eyes when I look for magical energies," Dave replied.

"What sort of energy is it?" She asked.

"No one really knows for sure. Just hope that you never establish a connection to it." Dave replied calmly, but something in his eyes said that there was more here than he was letting on.

"I don't understand," Hermione remarked.

"Neither do I," Dave replied with a faraway look in his eyes. "All I know is that energy is at the far end of what I can currently reach and it has never felt 'right' when I make use of it." He explained, and something about his tone made it clear that he didn't want to discuss it any further.

"I think the two of you should go and get yourselves ready." Aunty Sandra said to both Dave and Harry. They nodded their agreement and headed off to get changed.

"Can I ask what set Harry off like that?" Aunty Sandra asked mum as they shared a hug in greeting. Wordlessly mum just showed her the Witch Weekly that had been delivered.

Aunty Sandra flicked through it, and as she did so, I could see her own eyes narrow as she read the article. "I take it that this article is almost pure crap?" She asked mum with a questioning look.

"That would be the polite way to describe it," Mum said caught between her own anger and amusement at Aunty Sandra's evaluation of the article. "There might be some truth to the section about Harry's time with the Dursley's, but I can't say for sure," Mum explained, and Aunty Sandra nodded in understanding.

"It would seem that this publication holds true with the one at home then." She remarked as she continued to flick through the magazine. As she got to the end of the story about Harry, she flicked the page over. A new article was displayed, and it immediately caught her attention. When we registered her look of surprise, hurt and cold fury, we all gathered around to see what it was.

 **DAVID WEBB? - The unwanted one**

 _More information on the mysterious brother of Harry Potter has been discovered thanks to the tireless efforts of Special correspondent Rita Skeeter. While his legal birth name has not been uncovered as yet, it would seem that he was christened 'David Webb' by his adoptive parents, Ivan Webb (the current Australian Minister of Magic) and Sandra Webb (nee Prewitt) the long-hidden sister of Molly Weasley._

 _This is too great a coincidence for it not to be the result of carefully made plans between the Potter and Weasley Families. Did James and Lilly decide to send their unwanted son into permanent exile with Molly's sister while they kept their beloved Harry for themselves? Then after they supposedly met their untimely deaths at the hands of Voldemort did Molly step in to 'guide and protect' Harry for her own mysterious and most likely nefarious ends._

 _Just how deep does Molly Weasley's manipulations of the Potter boys run? Has she just taken advantage of events as they occurred or has she carefully planned for this from the beginning?_

 _The reason why he was given away by his parents is just the first of many mysteries that surround him. The first mystery is his age, just exactly how old is this 'David Webb'. The Australian Ministry of Magic has refused to disclose any information relating to 'David Webb'. Thankfully, however, other sources were available to us. School records of attendance and results are considered public records in Magical Australia. So, a brief search later and we were able to learn that 'David Webb' attended the Australian school for magic users Winninnie between the years 1990 and 1993. This was a fascinating piece of information, and the first question that came to mind was 'Did he get expelled?'_

 _As unbelievable as it sounds he wasn't expelled. In fact not only was he engaged in formal schooling for only 4 years, he graduated with 14 NEWTS in the Subjects of; Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Advanced Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes, Advanced Ancient Runes, Advanced Magical Theory and Magical Law. His grades in these subjects I hear you ask? Well, let me just say this 'Straight O's'._

 _With no other 'official' information available from the magical world we were forced to look to the muggle world, to find it. The boundaries between the magical and muggle worlds are much less defined in Magical Australia than here in magical Britain. From the muggle world, we were to learn that he participated in a muggle surfing competition where he was injured. The amazing thing is that the surfing competition was a JUNIOR one. Yes, that's correct a competition for people UNDER the age of 18. Now I hear you say that people can graduate from Hogwarts and not be 17, and you would be correct. But we have also located significant evidence of 'David Webb' participating in muggle 'Surf Life Saving' competitions in the UNDER 17 age group. The most recent of these being in April of this year. See pages 16 and 17 for photos._

 _Yes, that is correct readers this 'David Webb' is not yet of age in the Wizarding world and he has managed to finish school and qualify as a full Auror in one of the most dangerous and mysterious Auror departments in the world. IF he can have achieved all this by the 'ripe old age' of 16 what else is he capable of?_

 _However, not all is well with the life of young 'David Webb'. We have learned that in the past year he suffered the loss of his adopted brother James Webb. James was apparently the Captain of 'Auror Team Three' when it was sent here. A role that young 'David' now occupies. Some sources report that it was the actions of 'David' that lead to the death of his adopted brother James. Once again we were unable to uncover any details on this event from the Australian Ministry (what are they hiding)._

 _Not long after the funeral for James, 'David' married his long-time girlfriend one 'Emma Thompson'. She was apparently a sickly girl who spent a great deal of time in the hospital. Sadly for our (at the time) 15 year old 'David' Emma passed away mere days after the wedding. Emma's family were apparently distraught by this, but it hasn't stopped them trying to encourage young 'David' to marry one of their many other daughters. And here we come to another similarity between the two brothers._

 _Just as the destitute Weasley family are trying to improve their fortunes by using their daughter Ginevra to ensnare Harry, so is the poor Thompson family trying to use their daughters to trap young 'David'. Why do I hear you ask? Well, girls let me tell you, apparently young 'David Webb' is considered one of the most eligible wizarding bachelors in the wider wizarding world. The photos on pages 16 and 17 will tell some of the story, but the rest is explained due to the size of his Gringotts vaults. Yes, dear readers, apparently young 'David Webb' is one of the wealthiest bachelors in the wizarding world. His personal fortune alone is estimated to make him a millionaire several times over. This doesn't take into account the vast fortune of his adopted family that young 'David' is sure to inherit._

 _Is his personal wealth part of his inheritance from the fabled Potter family fortune? Or has his adopted family given it to him as a means of buying his loyalty? It will be a difficult question to answer, as young 'David' has a well-reported and long history of refusing to talk about his or his adopted family's financial details._

 _The biggest remaining question is what made 'David' break his exile in Australia and come back home to magical Britain? Was he summoned by Molly Weasley? Did he get tired of being confined to the colonies? Or did he merely just miss his real family too much, to stay away from them any longer. Whatever the reason magical Britain is now playing host to two of the most eligible bachelors in the Wizarding world. It will be interesting to see how these events unfold. I know that all the young (and not so young) witches in magical Britain will do their level best not to let these two eligible bachelors remain so for long…_

As Aunty Sandra read the article, I could see the hurt in her eyes growing and feel her anger rising. Mum also could sense it, and she was whispering something in her ear while they looked through the article. Turning one page, we saw a photo of Dave carrying a casket with some others. A few of the faces looked like his cousins, and the caption confirmed that this was taken at the funeral for his brother Jimmy. Below it was another photo of Dave once again helping to carry a casket. This time none of the faces looked familiar. The caption confirmed that it was taken at the funeral for Emma.

It was the eyes that held me. In the first photo, the pain was evident, in fact, it almost looked like it wanted to scream at you from off the page. In the second photo, his eyes just looked dead. There was no spark of life in them; they looked like the eyes of someone who was only still breathing out of habit. It was painful to look at that photo. Another photo showed Dave standing with a group of people, and they appeared to be singing. I thought that one of them seemed to be 'Q' that we had talked to on the TV in Dave's tent. But he also had a very lost expression on his face.

I looked at Aunty Sandra and could see tears freely running down her cheeks as she looked at that photo. Gabrielle and Fleur were also not hiding their emotions at what they were seeing. Likewise, Dave's sisters and team members all had openly angry expressions on their faces as well.

On the opposite page, there were some photos of Dave at the beach. He looked to be in a race of some description. The fact that he was only in his 'speedos' and with a coloured cap on his head hadn't gone unnoticed by Gabrielle. Her questioning look at Aunty Sandra was answered with a ghost of a smile.

"Those photos are from a carnival at the surf club the weekend before this last Easter. Dave will be able to tell you what race it is, but it looks like the Iron Man to me." Sandra explained.

"Merci." She replied while she turned her attention back to the photos of Dave coming out of the water and running along the beach until he was out of frame. There was another picture of him on something that they called a Malibu. There was yet another photo of Dave standing with a group of men who looked to be celebrating a victory of some sort as they were all had medals around their necks and were cheering wildly for the camera.

At some point in our reading of this article, Harry had re-joined us. He looked to be almost as angry about what was written about Dave as he was regarding what had been written about himself. Although this time he was doing a much better job of controlling/directing his anger.

Further contemplation of the article was ended when Shelly urgently called to Aunty Sandra saying "Mum!" Looking up, we saw Dave emerging from his tent wearing his Auror robes and making his way back over to us. Aunty Sandra quickly dried her face and hurried over to her son to give him some forewarning of what was in the article.

As she talked to Dave, I could see his face change to display anger and then hurt. He went to continue on to the table but Aunty Sandra stopped him with a hand laid lightly on his arm. He looked back at his mum and acknowledged something that she said; he then continued on to the table. Dave was far calmer than I expected when he arrived at the table. He looked at mum and asked "May I?" indicating the magazine. Mum quickly agreed and allowed him to look at it.

Dave turned back to the article about him, and as he read it, I got the distinct impression of a battle raging inside of him for control. There was anger there certainly, but unlike with Harry's earlier outburst, it seemed to be cold, calculating rage. Just like when he was told about the contract that had been placed on mum, I could have sworn that I saw a cold blue flame in his eyes. Gabrielle, Fleur and Hermione later admitted to seeing the same thing as me this time. So I didn't imagine it. Thankfully the rapid change in temperature that we all felt that time didn't occur again. Once he finished reading the article, his first comments were.

"Can't they let them rest in peace?" He asked his mum as he showed some of the hurt that he was feeling. Sandra's only reply was to embrace her son and hold him for a few moments. When she released him, Dave spoke again.

"Well, it's not the worst article I've had written about me." He said with the tone of someone who was trying to find a silver lining in a storm cloud. "Sasha and Alison might even find that comment about them rather amusing." He said with a slightly forced chuckle.

Aunty Sandra actually smiled at this comment and had a chuckle of her own. She did see the question on Gabrielle's face, however, and she quickly explained, "They are Emma's sisters. They are both married, so I have no idea where this idiot reporter got the idea that John or Jackie are trying to marry them off to Dave."

Dave's own sisters had a laugh at this comment as well, "Yeah it would be news to them, Dom and Zac would see the funny side of it I'm sure." Shelly said with a broad smile at Dave.

"We do need to let dad and Chief Williams see it though." Dave requested, "As it looks like this reporter has triggered a 'canary trap' with some of the things she said."

"What's a 'canary trap'?" Hermione asked just before I could.

"It's a trick we picked up from the muggles to identify where information has been leaked from." Shelly explained, "Reporters have long since learned not to show photos of documents. But with selected 'suggestive' statements or false information placed strategically we can work out where the reporter sourced their information. IF they quote enough of them."

"I see." She replied, "What information in the article is part of the trap? If you can say, that is."

"We don't have a rank of 'Captain' in our service," Jono stated.

"Nor do we use names like 'Auror Team Three'," Mick added with an amused expression.

"I'm also not yet 16. The reporter must have seen the incorrect date of birth listed next to my name on a fake team roster." Dave said while looking at the article again, "I'd like to know how they got that information from the Surf Club." He remarked almost to himself, "Those photos were marked as 'not to be released' as they were restricted and were not to be released without the written approval of those in them." He added while looking at his mum with a thoughtful expression.

"What about the part about you being one of the most eligible bachelors in the wider wizarding world?" Cassy asked with an evil glint in her eyes. Dave just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore her. Gabrielle caught the expression on Dave's face and shared a chuckle with Fleur.

"Actually since Kieran Butler and Sean Jackson were finally married off last year that might actually be true." Aunty Sandra said with a VERY amused expression on her face.

"Please mum, don't start up that crap again." Dave almost pleaded. "Any time someone gets associated with a list like that the press just seems to go nuts with all sort of bogus 'measurements'." He said with a very annoyed note in his voice. His sisters and teammates seemed to find it amusing, however.

"Like the size of your vaults?" Shelly asked Dave while trying to hold in her laughter.

"What's wrong with them?" Dave asked. It seemed to me that he had missed the point that Shelly was trying to needle him on. "I've got one for my books and one for other stuff. What is wrong with that?" He asked with his trademarked confused look on his face. Aunty Sandra looked at Dave in disbelief for a moment before she spoke up.

"Do you pay ANY attention to your Gringotts statements?" She asked in the sort of tone that only a long-suffering parent can muster. I did notice that mum and dad along with the Delacour's were doing their best to hide their smiles and laughter.

"Of course I do." Dave replied more than a little indigently, "I make sure that all the bills and the like are paid. I make sure that any taxes I owe and covered and then I sign where I need to."

Sandra was looking at Dave in disbelief. "You haven't wondered why your statements are no longer only a page or two, but a small pile of parchment?" She exclaimed.

"No. Should I?" Dave asked. This set Sandra off swearing under her breath for several moments. Mum, Bill and the Delacour's found this to be very amusing.

"You see, this is why your father and I are still required to check your financials." She remarked with a voice that was halfway between amusement and exasperation. Seeing that comprehension still hadn't dawned on Dave, she added, "I'll have to see your statements for this year to be sure, but if that article is wrong it's because it is on the low side." She explained as Dave caught up with her comments.

"Oh…" Was all that Dave said.

"Is that all you have to say?" Sandra asked with her amusement now starting to win out. "Your little scheme didn't quite work out how you expected it to did it?" She asked him with a broad smile.

"What didn't work out?" Gabrielle asked Aunty Sandra.

"Well, it's like this Gabrielle." Sandra began to explain, "You know how our little David here feels when he is around large amounts of gold?" She asked, and when she saw Gabrielle and the rest of us nod in acknowledgement, she continued on.

"Well, David has one Gringotts vault for his books that for various reasons can't be placed in his library at home. He also has another vault where he kept his gold and the like. Now he soon found a problem, when he would go to visit his beloved books the presence of all that gold next door in the other vault served as a rather large distraction to him. So he tried to hatch a little scheme with some family members to enable him to 'clear out' that excess gold and put it to 'some use' as he described it."

Seeing the slightly perplexed look on Gabrielle's face, Aunty Sandra explained further, "It's not what you think, he didn't go on any mad spending spree or anything like that. He just thought that he was being clever." She said before she had to laugh at the expression on Dave's face.

Aunty Sandra went on to explain how Dave had decided that if he invested some of his money/gold in both the magical and muggle worlds, it would enable him to get it out of his vault and make his visits to his (apparently) considerable book collection much more enjoyable.

The results of these investments was a hugely successful portfolio that included both Magical and Muggle investments. These investments had been producing a steady and significant income for Dave. Initially, he was able to store the 'excess' as he described it in the vaults belonging to the companies that he invested with. However, in the period of time that Dave had been in the UK, those companies had needed to get Dave's funds out of their vaults to make room for their own money. The results being that Dave's money vault now contained even more gold than it did before. The goblins in the Australian Gringotts had had to open up two additional vaults in his name to handle the amounts involved.

"Bugger." Dave exclaimed, "I didn't think that one through too well, did I?" He added as he sat down with a defeated look. The rest of us could only laugh at Dave's predicament.

"I didn't ask them to go nuts with it." Dave said with a bewildered look on his face, "I even explained to them why I was doing it. How could they do this to me?" He added with a groan.

"I'm going to have to have a chat with them and ask them to behave themselves." He eventually remarked.

"If you want to get 'them' to behave I suggest you start with this one right here." Aunty Sandra suggested as she pointed at Monsieur Delacour.

"Moi?" Monsieur Delacour said very clearly surprised.

"Yes, you." Aunty Sandra replied with a large smile on her face. "I got a message from Jackie yesterday saying that the latest business venture between yourself and her husband was extremely successful from all reports." She explained as Monsieur Delacour's face lit up in a brilliant smile. "David here was the primary financial backer for that venture apparently."

Monsieur Delacour looked across at Dave, "If you could choose which problems to have, making money isn't a bad one to have is it?" He asked Dave with an enthusiastic grin on his face. Madame Delacour had to laugh at the expression on her husband's face.

Dave rolled his eyes and groaned at this comment, and we all had a laugh at his expense.

"Why did you just not move it to anozer vault further away?" Gabrielle asked Dave with a cheeky smile.

"Gabrielle!" Her father exclaimed in shock, "If he did zat I would have missed out on all ze fun zat I had 'misbehaving' wiz it." He said with an impish grin on his face. Gabrielle smiled at her father and then got up and went and sat in Dave's lap. She quickly delivered some hugs and kisses to him in an attempt to make him feel better.

"Maybe you should put all zat naughty gold zat Papa made for you in a vault here. Zat way it will not interfere with your enjoyment of your livres." She suggested with a smile.

"Livres?" Dave asked with a puzzled look.

"Books," Gabrielle replied with a smile as she tweaked his nose. I distinctly heard Shelly mutter, "Looks like the private French lessons have already started." As her sister and cousin along with Fleur and Apolline shared a laugh.

"Hey, that's actually an excellent idea," Dave replied happily (blissfully unaware of the comment from his sister) before he gave Gabrielle a kiss as a reward. "I'll ask Badaxe to get it organised for me."

"Badaxe?" I asked Dave.

"He's my Gringotts account manager, and one of the 'naughty' ones as he has been managing most of my muggle investments," Dave explained.

"Speaking of gold." He said as he pulled a bag of what sounded like Galleons out of his wallet, "This is for you and Uncle Arthur." He added as he placed it on the table in front of mum and dad and slid it over to them.

"What is that for?" Mum asked him.

"Rent." Was Dave's simple answer as mum and dad looked slightly shocked.

"Rent?" Mum asked Dave, "Why do you think you need to give us anything for rent?"

"Standing orders." Dave explained, "When we stay on private property for any length of time, we are required to pay rent to the landowners. If we haven't organised a formal lease that is."

"I see." Mum replied as she regarded Dave with a disapproving expression, "Well you can tell your boss that we can't accept that money from family." She said as she tried to slide the bag back across the table to Dave.

"Just how silly do I look to you?" Dave asked mum, as his team and family (Weasley's included) had a good laugh. "You don't need to answer that question," Dave stated as he looked over at Fireball who appeared to be very eager to offer her observations. I glanced over at Harry, and he saw the funny side of the statement as well.

"Aunty Molly, this money isn't coming from family. It is coming from the Australasian Auror Service as compensation to you for hosting and feeding us." Dave explained with an amused expression, "If you want to make a formal complaint about it you can. But I think we would have to do some serious digging in the records to find a justification for refusing a rent payment." He said with a massive grin.

Mum and Dad looked to be stunned and not sure what to say.

"If you want to 'return' the money to the Australian Ministry, all you need to do is use it as spending money for your upcoming trip," Rowdy suggested.

As usual comments from Rowdy had the effect of catching everyone off guard as we were not used to him saying so much at one time. Mum and Dad turned to look at Rowdy with their questions plain on their face.

"The Ministry will get the money back eventually, in the form of taxes." Rowdy explained with a smile. Mum and dad caught on, and they too were smiling. This brought out smiles all around the table.

"Excellent suggestion Rowdy," Dave said approvingly as he slid the bag of money back over to mum and dad. "If there is nothing else I suggest that we get things packed up here. Then everyone can get dressed, and we can then make a move to the embassy."

"I would like to request that everyone wear their bunyip fur armour this morning. As there is a remote chance that the Wizengamot members might resist their arrests by force." Dave advised us all. We all quickly agreed to his request as it did make a certain amount of sense.

Harry was quick to catch the attention of Dave, and he asked, "Can you explain what you mentioned earlier? About my soul, being at risk from those flames?"

"Certainly." Dave replied as he thought for a moment, "You recall our conversation on the day we met about the Friendfyre and how it would have caused you severe agony if you had come in contact with it with evil intent in your heart or soul?" He asked.

"I do, it was an alarming thought. Thankfully one I didn't have to worry about though." Harry replied with a smile.

"Very true Harry. Very True. Well had you been unfortunate enough to have been set ablaze with Friendfyre, it would have only consumed your physical body. Even then I'm confident that we could have extinguished it before it fully consumed you." Dave explained. This comment had a sobering effect on Harry and the rest of us.

"The flames from the Phoenix magical energies would not only have destroyed your mortal body almost instantly. They would have also ignited your very soul." He stated, "Unlike a physical body which has only so much matter that can be consumed by the flames, a soul can burn almost indefinitely."

"Indefinitely?" Harry asked in a small voice, "You mean I would have basically burnt forever?"

"To the best of my knowledge, yes," Dave replied calmly.

"Has that ever happened?" Hermione asked.

"There are two written accounts of it happening that I have seen with my own eyes," Dave said without taking his eyes off of Harry. "They do not make for pleasant reading."

Harry took a moment to take in this information, and when he did he swallowed and asked, "Am I likely to make that same sort of mistake with any of the other magical energies that you think I could reach?"

Dave regarded Harry intently for a few moments. His eyes went through a few shades of the golden tint that we had seen before. They then turned silver and quite disturbingly a milky white.

"No, I do not believe so." He eventually replied, "The other energies have more significant barriers in place." This was a relief to Harry, and it showed. I also found myself feeling very relieved as well.

With his eyes alternating between the silvery and milky white tints Dave turned to look at the rest of us carefully.

"I would ask the rest of you to be mindful of the energies that you try to reach for." He requested as his eyes returned to their usual blue. "Several of you are very close to making a connection to one or more additional energies. While the barriers between you and those energies are not as thin as they were with Harry and the Phoenix energies they are also not as substantial as I would prefer them to be at this point."

"When we visit my home you will all be given instruction on these energies and shown how to reach for and use them safely." He assured us, "I only ask that you be mindful of the possibility and stay on the familiar path until then." He requested.

"I think that we can do that," Bill said as he looked at Dave with an almost eager light in his eyes. I could see the question as it arose and when he asked it, I wasn't surprised by the question. The answer shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.

"Can you tell me what energies do you think I could connect with?" He asked as a few of us had a chuckle.

"If you wish I can tell you what the most likely energies are that I can see, but I think that you already know the answer to some of them." Dave replied with a smile, "We don't have time to explore everyone's possible connections just now." He advised looking around and seeing some disappointed faces.

"But to assuage Bill's curiosity and given that he was the first to ask I will quickly explore his most likely possibilities," Dave suggested. He held out his hand to Bill and grasping it, he carefully examined Bill for a long moment, as his Dave's eyes changed several times through different shades of silver, gold, and white.

"The energies of the goblins are the ones you are most likely to connect with." Dave reported to Bill's wonder and delight, "Closely followed by that of Sorcery." He added.

Both Bill and Fleur looked to be excited by those options. Dave continued to stare at Bill's eyes intently for a few moments before he asked. "Do you sing at all Bill?"

This caused a small blush to appear on Bill's cheeks; it was the first time that I recall him blushing. I was pleased to see that he did it well. Charlie was very amused by this, and Fleur looked to be very hopeful.

"He has been known to sing on occasion." Charlie answered with a cheeky twinkle in his eyes, "But the question as to how well he sings is the important one." He added as Bill directed a look filled with the promise of revenge at his brother.

"I see." Dave said with a smile, "Maybe it is a different form of artistry that I see then. Do you fly at all Bill?" He asked.

"I fly very well on a broom," Bill replied proudly. We all added our own agreement to that comment.

"That could be what I saw then," Dave replied mysteriously as he sat back and released Bill's hand.

"What was it zat you saw?" Fleur asked with an eager light in her eyes.

"I saw grace, effortless grace, and artistry along with power and light." Dave replied, "It seemed to me almost like a performance from the fabled sirens. But if Bill isn't known for his singing or any other artistic pursuits the next most likely outcome would be flight."

"As in broom flying?" I had to ask.

"Any type of flight." Was Dave's answer.

"What energy would be connected to that?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think there is an agreed upon name for it as yet, but it is closely related to Hippogriffs and Griffins. More distantly related to the Draconia family of animals." Dave explained.

This caused a good deal of excited commentary, and while we were discussing this development, we all quickly cleaned up and put away the breakfast things. Next, we all got ourselves suitably dressed for the planned events at the ministry. With Dave's earlier request in mind, we all made sure that we had our Bunyip fur armour on and both of our wands secured in holsters as well.

Considering what was planned for the morning, this seemed like a sensible precaution to take.


	62. Reunions and Witnesses

We arrived at the Australian Magical Embassy using the door in Dave's tent. We were greeted by someone who was wearing Auror robes. He appeared to know Dave and his team very well, and after greeting them all with hugs and handshakes, he was introduced to us as Auror Taylor the Legal Attaché at the Australian Magical Embassy.

He came across as a very dependable and level-headed individual, that being said it was plain to see that he was amused when Dave introduce us Weasley's as his cousins. He quickly asked the question that was to be repeated many times during our trip to Australia.

"THE Weasley's?" Auror Taylor asked Dave.

"Yes, they are indeed. Mr Weasley is the son of Septimus Weasley who helped my grandfather." Dave explained.

"Indeed." Auror Taylor replied as his eyes came alight. "It is an honour to make your acquaintance Mr Weasley." He said as he enthusiastically shook hands with Dad.

I could see that dad was doing his best to fight back the blush that was trying to make itself known. Dad replied that he was also delighted to meet Auror Taylor and that he was very proud of his father. Dave then asked Auror Taylor what he was doing here 'all dressed up'. Auror Taylor replied that he was waiting for the Minister who was due very shortly and was bringing a very special VIP who was going to be attending today's Wizengamot session. He was also waiting for the arrival of the British Minister of Magic as well.

As though on cue one of the doors opened and in stepped Chief Williams with Kingsley right behind him. This caused Auror Taylor to snap to attention and greet Kingsley and Chief Williams. After a round of warm and friendly greetings, Kingsley turned to mum and dad with a concerned look.

"I've taken the liberty of having all your mail redirected to the ministry." He explained to a shocked mum and dad, "Once we were alerted to the article in Witch Weekly and yet another unflattering article in the Daily Prophet it was felt that in the interests of your family's safety it was the prudent thing to do." He informed us.

"That's a bit extreme." Dad replied with his worry showing, "Is it really required?" He asked.

"Yes, I do believe it is. We have found numerous cursed letters that would have been fatal if opened. We have also found several that were portkeys which had been keyed to both Harry and Ginny." He explained. All of us went pale at the thought.

"For the foreseeable future, I would like your permission to continue to have all your mail screened at the ministry before we send it on." Kingsley requested.

"Agreed, and thank you." Dad quickly replied.

"Are those cursed letters and unauthorised portkeys being investigated?" Bill asked Kingsley with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Indeed they are." Answered Gawain as he appeared from the same door that Kingsley and Chief Williams had just come through. "We have already apprehended several of them as they were dumb enough to have return addresses on the letters he chuckled. Several of the others should be in custody shortly. Hopefully, once word about those arrests spread things will calm down."

There was general agreement on that point from all of us. Although it made me nervous about opening mail for quite some time afterwards. I was interrupted out of my thoughts by Auror Taylor once more coming to attention as yet another door opened, and Uncle Ivan appeared leading a distinguished looking redheaded woman. Kingsley, Gawain, dad and mum all had looks of shock and surprise on their faces as they saw who it was.

"They seem surprised to see me." The woman remarked to Uncle Ivan with a smile.

Kingsley was the first to recover, and he quickly crossed to the woman and embraced her in an enthusiastic hug. When he pulled back, there were tears in his eyes.

"We all thought that we had lost you." He said looking at the woman with tears of joy in his eyes. "Identifying your body was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do." He told her.

The woman looked at Kingsley with a genuinely affectionate smile on her face. "I'm very sorry that I couldn't make contact with you to let you know how I was." She told him, "Truth be told; I was in a very delicate state until the middle of last year. Once we knew that I was officially on the road to a full recovery, I busied myself assisting with the building of a case against my former Wizengamot and Ministry colleagues." She explained.

"I understand." Kingsley replied, "Just seeing you back with us brings me more joy than you can imagine." He said as he once more engulfed her in a hug. When he pulled back this time, he allowed Gawain, dad and mum in so that they could also greet her. Once these old friends had all greeted her, Kingsley turned to the rest of us an introduced us to the woman.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to one of my oldest friends. Amelia Susan Bones." Kingsley said with his joy visibly evident on his face and also showing in his voice. Madam Bones was also visibly pleased to be reunited with Kingsley as well.

We all introduced ourselves to her, and she seemed delighted to meet us. When she was introduced to Harry, her reaction was a bit different. She pulled a very surprised Harry into a fierce embrace, and she cried into his shoulder all the while whispering 'Thank you' to him. While he was surprised, Harry was able to comfort Madam Bones until she was able to get herself back under control.

"I know it makes you uncomfortable Harry, but I do need to express my thanks for your efforts in defeating Tom Riddle Jnr." Madam Bones said while smiling brightly at Harry. "I hope that we can take advantage of your victory to build a better and fairer magical world for all." She told him.

"If that could be achieved, it would make everyone's sacrifices worthwhile," Harry replied showing an embarrassed smile. He does manage to look even more handsome when he smiles like that I have to admit.

Madam Bones then moved on and greeted Aunty Sandra and Dave's team. She appeared to already know several of them. When she greeted Dave however it was as though she was being reunited with a favoured nephew as she was very affectionate in her greeting of him.

"It has been a while since I last had the chance to catch up with you, young David." She said with a smile as he embraced him, "Once again I would like to say thank you to you for responding to my call for help. I would also like to offer my condolences for the loss of your brother. I was only recently told about his death." She explained.

"Thank you." Dave replied as he displayed a familiar looking embarrassed smile, "We did keep his death from you as we wanted to make sure you had recovered from your injuries before you were told. But I know Jimmy would have understood, and he would be delighted to see you fully recovered." Dave explained.

"I can believe that." Madam Bones replied, "He was an exceptional young man." She added with genuine warmth.

"He most certainly was." Dave agreed with her. Once more Madam Bones embraced Dave warmly. When they separated Kingsley caught her attention and asked her the inevitable question.

"Can you tell us what happened?" He asked her.

"I can tell you what I remember." She replied, "I had been expecting Cornelius for a meeting to discuss succession planning for when he stepped down from office. We were to discuss the main candidates for his office, and I will admit that my name had been mentioned as a serious candidate several times."

"When the doorbell rang, I answered it, but it wasn't Cornelius. Instead, it was the Lestrange Brothers and Bella." She said with a threatening note to her voice. "They quickly attacked and overpowered me and then began questioning me about Harry and the protections that my office had put in place to keep him safe."

"When I refused to answer their questions, they summoned Tom Riddle Jnr, and he authorised the use of the Cruciatus Curse on me. He also left some extra people as lookouts and guards so that those three could fully focus their efforts on me."

"During that brief discussion was I able to summon a Talisman to me that had been given to me by a long-time friend of mine. He had told me that it would enable me to summon assistance if I was in dire need of it. I felt that this situation warranted all the assistance that I could get." She explained with a rueful smile.

"Once I activated it I hid it so that my 'guests' wouldn't find it. To my surprise, Tom Riddle left soon after this, and the Lestrange family members began using the Cruciatus Curse on me. I have no idea how long they were torturing me, but I do know from their frustrations that I hadn't yet answered their questions."

"They switched tactics and began using curses on me that inflicted cuts and burns to my body. They also began to physically attack me with punches and kicks. It was while they were kicking me that we heard a disturbance outside the room. One of the 'helpers' who Tom Riddle had left behind went to investigate, he quickly returned when he was thrown through the door to the room."

"After that, I can't remember a lot, other than lots of flashes of lights, screaming and blood everywhere. I do recall someone speaking to me asking for my permission to leave a copy of my body behind to make it look like I had died. I agreed to this and then had the disconcerting experience of seeing myself on the floor bleeding to death."

"I passed out after seeing that sight, and the next thing I could remember was waking up in the hospital at the Australian Auror Academy. They told me that I had been unconscious for almost three weeks. It was a huge shock and a lot to take in. Seeing a copy of the Daily Prophet that had a story on my death was one of the more difficult experiences. But reconnecting with some old friends helped the process along a great deal." She explained to us all.

"That certainly fills in a great many holes in the information that we had about the event," Kingsley replied as he processed what he had just learnt. "How long did it take you to respond to the request for help?" He asked Dave.

Dave looked at his father briefly, then getting a nod he answered. "Jimmy and I were in Paris in a meeting with the French Minister and the head of their DMLE when we got the alert. When we told them what the alert was about they quickly agreed to postpone the meeting and we left the French Ministry."

"We were onsite at the residence of Amelia Bones and had either driven off her attackers or neutralised them within 5 min of getting the alert," Dave explained.

"I see." Kingsley replied, "Thank you for your prompt response. What did you do with her attackers?" He asked.

"Those that didn't run away we left at the scene," Dave replied with a small smile on his face.

"So, that means that except for Rodolphus Lestrange, they are all now either dead or in custody?" Kingsley asked.

"Correct Minister," Dave replied. "As you know, we have a net out for Rodolphus Lestrange, and it is only a matter of time before we catch up with him. It just remains to be seen who actually gets to 'deal with him'." Dave said with an evil grin on his face.

"Yes, that is still to be discussed." Kingsley chuckled as he took in the expressions of dad, Uncle Ivan and Madam Bones. "It is not a question for pondering today however as we have a more pressing matter to attend to this morning."

"That we do Minister," Dave replied with an eager smile on his face. His team also showed a similar eagerness for today's action against the Wizengamot. I looked over at Percy and Audrey, they also looked to be eager for today's planned action of as well. When we later learnt the full extent of their involvement in the plans for today I more fully understood their excitement.

"Yes, I was told yesterday that you had managed to secure all the arrest warrants for my former colleagues. Good work." Madam Bones said with an eager grin of her own at Dave.

"Thank you. It was very much a team effort Madam Bones." Dave replied proudly as he looked over at his fellow team members along with Percy and Audrey.

"Agreed." Madam Bones answered approvingly before she gave Dave a sterner look, "I've asked you many times to call me Amelia." She reminded him before she could no longer maintain the fiction of anger and had to smile again. Once Dave acknowledged her reminder she continued on.

"Speaking of team efforts, I have been asked to tell you that Auror Mendes will not be able to assist today. As she is scheduled to testify in your Wizengamot tomorrow." She advised him.

"Bugger…" Dave replied as he thought for a few moments.

"Ez zere a problem?" Fleur asked Dave with a slight look of concern.

"No. Nothing major." Dave replied, "I had hoped that Gisele would be available to assist us today, by watching the Wizengamot for any signs of trouble." He explained.

"Why didn't you just ask the Delacour ladies to assist?" Shelly asked Dave with a cheeky expression.

"I thought about it, but…" Dave began.

"But what?" Shelly asked as Apolline, Fleur and Gabrielle regarded Dave with questioning looks.

"I didn't want to impose on them again if I could help it," Dave answered with a sheepish look at the three of them.

"Oh, mon cher." Apolline chuckled, "You still have a lot to learn." She said as she gave Dave a brilliant smile.

"It is not an imposition to help out zose zat we have come to care about." She told him firmly as both Fleur and Gabrielle indicated their agreement with her. "We would be more zan happy to assist by watching ze Wizengamot for you."

"Thank you." Dave replied letting his genuine relief show, "I do have another request, if I may. One for all of you ladies if you would indulge me." Dave asked as we all looked at him to see what this request was. Mum and Apolline indicated for Dave to 'get on with it' and make his request known.

"We are shortly going to be bringing two of our informants/witnesses here so that they can discuss certain arrangements with Kingsley, Madam Bones and Gawain." Dave explained, "After that meeting, they will be reunited with their families so that they will have proof that they are safe and sound."

"That sounds logical" Mum replied, "So what is your request?" She asked with a smile.

"While that meeting is going on, the families of our witnesses have asked if it was possible to meet and talk with some trustworthy people who were witnesses to events at Hogwarts, both during the last school year and during the recent battle."

"I see." Mum replied thoughtfully, "Why don't know themselves what has been occurring?" She asked.

"They have not been in out in public for almost 2 years." Was the surprising response, "Initially they were held in 'protective custody' to ensure the good behaviour of the Head of their respective families. But about a year ago they were transferred to some facilities much like the one we raided last night." I saw Fleur's face go a little pale along with that of my brothers and Harry.

"Thankfully they were not there for very long." Dave explained quickly, "It is thanks to some quick action on the part of Percy that we were able to free them as quickly as we did. However, they are still a little uncomfortable in the presence of unfamiliar men. Thus why I would like the ladies to be the ones to answer their questions if they are agreeable."

"Before you answer I do need to let you know that while the majority of them are quite lovely people, one of the daughters is a real 'Pureblood Princess' to use the polite term." He cautioned.

"May we ask what families they are?" I asked Dave.

"You may." He replied, "They are from the Davis and Greengrass families."

Those of us who were most recently at Hogwarts let out a knowing 'Ohhh…' as we all looked at each other. Ron and Harry looked at each other and commented "The Ice-Queen." Before rolling their eyes and then giving me, Hermione and Audrey sympathetic looks.

"Ice-Queen?" Shelly asked the boys.

"That would be Daphne Greengrass." I told her, "She was in the same year as Harry, Ron and Hermione. She got the name as she never showed any emotion and was always looking down her nose at everyone else. She was also a member of Pansy Parkinson's little gang of Slytherin girls. Although while Pansy and Millicent actively harassed and caused more than their share of grief for those of us in Gryffindor, Daphne and Tracy never actively participated."

"But they never stopped them either." Hermione added bitterly, "Daphne in particular always just watched with that emotionless face of hers."

"Emotionless?" Shelly asked with an evil sounding chuckle. Dave and the rest of his team also had a chuckle at this as well. Seeing my questioning look, Shelly explained further, "Since she has been our guest she has been far from emotionless."

"Yeah, in fact, she shows plenty of emotion. Especially when Dave is around." Fireball added with a smile. This comment caused Dave to roll his eyes, and Gabrielle directed an enquiring look at his that was almost a demand for more information.

"It's not what you think." Dave explained with a half-smile at Gabrielle, "It's just that she feels the need to vent about her situation and I was somehow elected as the focus of her ire." Gabrielle looked to accept this explanation.

"Somehow?" Shelly asked with a laugh. "There is no 'somehow' about it. It can be directly traced back to the fact that you brought her out of that building slung over your shoulder like a rug." She added with a chuckle.

"How else was I going to carry her and still be able to use my gun?" Dave asked. "I've explained it to her numerous times, but she doesn't want to seem to accept it." He added in exasperation. Shelly and the other girls on his team just shook their heads at him.

"So, would you ladies be willing to talk with them and answer their questions?" Dave asked us.

We all quickly agreed, but I must be honest and say that Hermione and I had some reservations about dealing with the Ice-Queen of Slytherin. Once we gave our agreement, Shelly went and opened the door nearest her. After giving her passphrase to the guards, she stepped back and allowed the Davis and Greengrass ladies into the Embassy. They were quickly escorted to a room that had several couches and comfortable looking chairs in it. We all followed, while we girls went into the room the boys hung back near the door.

In the room, I noticed that Dave, Cassy, Shelly, Olly and Fireball had effectively separated the two groups. They also appeared to have very alert expressions on their faces as they surveyed the ladies who had just arrived.

"What's with the knives?" Dave asked in an overly calm and casual manner.

"Knives?" Daphne replied in full Ice-Queen mode with a look of challenge on her face.

"Yes, knives." Dave replied, "You're carrying three knives on you and Tracy has two. I would like to know why." He stated in such a manner as to make it clear it wasn't a request. The two women who were the mothers were giving the two teens looks of disappointment while the youngest girl merely looked confused.

"What makes you think we are carrying knives?" Daphne asked in an almost imperious tone of voice.

"Firstly, both of you are walking differently. Much like you had a knife improperly concealed on your inside thigh." Dave explained. From the looks of surprise on the faces of Daphne and her friend Tracy Davis, Dave was correct in guess.

"Secondly, there is an abnormal bulge in your clothing located in the small of your backs. It looks very much like the hilt of a knife that has been positioned poorly."

"Thirdly, you Miss Greengrass didn't correctly conceal the knife hidden in your bodice," Dave explained as Daphne looked both shocked and angry. "As the hilt is still plainly visible, I'm guessing it's because you selected an inappropriate knife that is most likely too large to successfully conceal in the available space."

This comment caused Tracy and Astoria to almost burst out into laughter. While Mrs Greengrass and Mrs Davis did have a chuckle and rolled their eyes. Daphne meanwhile turned bright red and looked like she wanted to claw Dave's eyes out.

"Before you say something you might regret later Miss Greengrass, let me advise you that we all picked up on what you are trying to conceal," Shelly explained in a voice and manner that was also overly casual and calm. It was also very telling that the use of the more formal mode of address for the Ice-Queen contained no warmth in it, even from the normally very pleasant Shelly.

"We are merely asking why you felt the need to carry those knives on you. Especially when it was explained to you that you were visiting a secured building." Shelly enquired.

"This building may be secured, but the Ministry most likely isn't, and I intend to accompany my father to the Wizengamot if he needs to give testimony," Daphne explained with blatant venom in her voice.

"That, is a matter for the British Minister and Madam Bones to decide." Dave explained, "For now we will permit you to keep your knives. But I will advise you to not draw them on ANYONE in this building. As you will not enjoy the consequences if you do." Dave advised coolly.

Before Daphne could reply her mother placed a hand on her arm and replied.

"I thank you for your understanding David, I can also assure you that both Daphne and Tracy them will abide by your request." Mrs Greengrass said warmly, while Mrs Davis nodded in agreement while glaring at her daughter.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," Dave replied with a warm smile. "It is good to see you again, I trust you are all well?" He asked.

"We are thank you." She replied, "It is also good to see you in a situation where I'm not required to remove any of your clothing off of you." She added with a chuckle as Mrs Davis also had a laugh. This caused several enquiring looks to be directed to Dave.

"Mrs Elizabeth Greengrass and Mrs Wendy Davis here, are both fully qualified healers and have been working in the hospital at our safe house in France. I have had the occasional need of their professional services, during my time here." He explained with a sheepish look. This caused some knowing looks amongst us given Dave's track record in the short time we have known him.

Dave then formally introduced us to Elizabeth Greengrass and her daughters Daphne and Astoria. He also introduced Wendy Davis and her daughter Tracy. As he went to continue the introductions, Aunty Sandra entered and let Dave know that his presence and that of this team was being urgently requested in the briefing room as the representatives of the ICW had arrived.

Aunty Sandra promised to complete the introductions, so Dave and his team quickly left. I noticed him give a quick kiss to Gabrielle before asking 'the boys' if they would like to join in the briefing. They all quickly agreed and left. Soon it was just us girls left in the room.

Once they had left Daphne muttered "Bloody arrogant Half-blood." As she stared daggers at the door, Dave and the others had departed through.

Strangely it was Mrs Greengrass who replied first, "He isn't a Half-blood Daphne."

This statement surprised all of us. I must admit that I hadn't given any thought to Dave's blood status at all. From the looks on mum's face and the Delacour's, it was clear that they were having similar thoughts as well. Aunty Sandra however just looked amused and curious as she watched the conversation play out.

"What?" Daphne snapped at her mother.

"He isn't a Half-blood." She stated again, "He's a Pure-blood."

"What makes you say that?" Daphne asked a moment before Gabrielle could ask the same question.

"One of the Healers I have been working with had known him all his life and told me that when he was less than a year old he had a severe case of Dragon-Pox," Mrs Greengrass explained to Daphne, although Gabrielle was paying very close attention also. Hermione also looked to be very interested in this piece of information as well.

"As you well know only Pure-bloods can catch Dragon Pox at such a young age." Mrs Greengrass reminded her daughter.

"Less than a year? Are you sure?" Daphne asked as a thoughtful look came over her face.

"He was 10 months to be precise." Aunty Sandra clarified as all eyes in the room turned to her.

"How would you know?" Daphne snapped as her 'Ice-Queen' expression once more made its appearance, while she surveyed Aunty Sandra.

"I'm his mother." She replied with a proud but challenging look on her face. The Davis and Greengrass women all looked at Aunty Sandra in surprise for several moments as that piece of news sunk in. Eventually, Mrs Davis and Mrs Greengrass both smiled appreciatively at Aunty Sandra, she acknowledged them with a smile of her own.

"Being his mother should enable me to answer that question don't you think?" Aunty Sandra asked her with a cheeky smirk. Daphne had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed at that comment. "I can also confirm for you that as things are measured here in magical Britain, all my children would be counted as being so-called 'Pure-bloods'."

I found her last comment to be very intriguing, and my curiosity only got stronger with her next comment. A quick glance at Hermione confirmed my thoughts as she looked like her own mind was going over Aunty Sandra's comments like a crazed Hippogriff.

"I feel a word of caution is warranted here," Aunty Sandra advised as she looked at all of us in the room, "I would advise all of you to try and reframe from using the term 'Pure-blood' regarding anyone from my family's side of the world." Seeing our looks of confusion, she explained further.

"With extremely few exceptions the term is generally viewed as a grievous insult. More so in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. But the other countries in our region also frown upon its use." She explained. "Similarly the term 'Half-blood' is viewed as a derogatory one, although it is considered not as bad as 'Pure-blood." She advised us.

Hermione looked like she was about to begin a set of rapid-fire questions, only to be beaten to the punch by Daphne.

"He can't be a Pure-blood" Daphne countered, "There are no records of a Pure-blood family with the name of Webb." She stated confidently.

"It is a long story and one we do not have time for today." Aunty Sandra replied, effectively changing the topic of the conversation. We all took that to mean that the Davis and Greengrass families did not know about the history of my Aunts family. Quick glances between all of us confirmed that we could keep this knowledge to ourselves as it would make sense that it was information that they wouldn't make widely known.

"We only have a small amount of time before we all need to be in front of the Wizengamot." Aunty Sandra advised as she got the conversation back on its original track.

"In the meantime, these lovely ladies here have consented to answer your questions about recent events here in magical Britain."

This caught the attention of the Davis and the Greengrass families. Aunty Sandra introduced all of us to the Davis' and Greengrass'. I could see recognition on the faces of Tracy and Daphne when Hermione and I were introduced. Far from the cold, aloof expression, I was expecting from Daphne she looked intensely curious as to what we were both doing in this group. That curiosity only got stronger with mum was introduced as Aunty Sandra's sister.

When Gabrielle was introduced Aunty Sandra seemed to make an overt effort to make it clear that she was Dave's girlfriend. The reaction on Daphne's face was fascinating to watch as she appeared to make a concerted effort to keep her 'Ice-Queen' face on her face when she learned this piece of news. However, it never fully reached her eyes and thus failed to disguise a strange almost pained look. Apolline and Fleur also took note of this and seemed to share a silent communication that they would need to keep a careful eye on events.

Gabrielle also clearly communicated to Daphne as well, what her feelings were on the matter. She seemed to be issuing her own challenge and looked slightly disappointed when it wasn't taken up.

After the introductions, we all got down to business and began to answer the many questions of the Davis and Greengrass ladies. Their questions felt like they were requests to clarify what they had already heard about. They seemed to be remarkably well informed if their information primarily came from second-hand accounts.

Indeed we were to later learn that their questions were just that. As the many 'safe houses' established by Dave's team and the various magical governments who assisted them had put together their own news journal to try and keep everyone informed of what was going on. The sourced their 'news' not only from new arrivals into the various safe houses, but also from what the different magical governments passed along. Finally, the Aurors (and those that were assisting them) also provided information and updates as well.

When we got to the description of the Battle at Hogwarts, their eagerness was evident. They were appalled by the numbers of injured and deeply saddened by the death toll. However, they were honestly overjoyed to hear of Tom Riddle Jr's ultimate defeat at the hands of my Harry in the great hall of Hogwarts.

When we had satisfied their current curiosity about events, we asked them about their own experiences. Their story of what had occurred explained why we hadn't seen either Daphne or Tracy at Hogwarts since just after the start of Harry's sixth year.

The Death Eaters had apparently lured both families into separate traps under the guise of a 'family emergency' relating to the head of their respective houses. Once they had been captured, they were initially held in relative comfort in a manner house that belonged to the Nott family. After almost a year at that location, the younger ladies were later moved to another 'less pleasant' location that was fully warded against magic. It was here that they had been rescued by Dave's team. Although from their descriptions it seemed that Dave wasn't the team leader when they had been recovered.

I also was personally very shocked by their description of what had happened to them when they arrived at this facility. I just couldn't comprehend what they were saying, so I had to ask them to explain it, I wish I hadn't as I had disturbing dreams for a while afterwards.

"What do you mean, you were 'on display' in that room?" I asked in my confusion. Daphne immediately went bright red and wouldn't look at anyone. While Tracy had a blush on her cheeks, she did manage to answer my question.

"We had been herded into a room like cattle and ordered to strip." Tracey began, "When we didn't comply we were beaten and jabbed with a device that looked like it had small lightning bolts at the end of it."

"It sounds like that was some sort of electroshock prod." Hermione explained, "They are muggle devices designed to inflict pain."

"They did that well enough," Tracy replied as Daphne and Astoria agreed with her. "I'm not sure how much they hit us with those devices, but eventually we all passed out. When I awoke, I looked around and saw that all of us were now in chains." She added with tears in her eyes.

"I had some hideous looking troll-like individual cutting my clothes off of me, and I was also strapped down to a table. Daphne was still unconscious, and her clothes had already been removed. Like me, she was also strapped down."

"The toll-like person who was cutting my clothes off seemed to enjoy my struggles. Eventually, he had removed all of my clothes and then began work on Astoria's. That was when I started to scream at him to stop, it was my screams that awoke Daphne. Her reaction was even more furious than mine."

"We both began screaming at him to leave Astoria alone. The next thing I remember was a series of very loud bangs, much like a reductor curse, followed by screams."

"The explosions and screams were coming closer, and we soon had a group of about 5 people in our room. They couldn't seem to make up their mind if they wanted to leer at us or respond to what was happening outside. While they were trying to come to a decision the door to our room blew inward, and two people entered."

While Tracy was taking a breath, I took the opportunity to look around the room at the faces. With the possible exception of Aunty Sandra, everyone seemed to be listening with horrified expressions on their faces. Aunty Sandra was wearing an expression that reminded me of the Healers that came out to Hogwarts after the battle to treat the wounded.

Mrs Davis and Mrs Greengrass had looks of sadness on their faces. Astoria was holding on to her mum for comfort while Tracy and Daphne were holding hands. I turned my attention back to Tracy when she continued on with her tale.

"The people who entered were carrying odd-looking shields that had very bright lights on them. They also were holding some sort of angular device in their hands. We later learned that they were muggle devices called guns or pistols. The two of them began to fire their guns and rapidly killed all the men who were in our room."

"Neither one spoke a word. The two of them used hand gestures to communicate with each other, and once they had checked the room and the smaller room off of ours, they quickly took stock of the group of us in the room."

"How many of you were there?" I asked her.

"In our room, there were about 20 girls, some of the other rooms had more than ours though," Astoria answered without looking up.

"I see, what happened next?" I asked her. I was astonished when Tracy and Astoria actually giggled a bit. Even Daphne had a brief smile on her face. Mrs Davis and Greengrass looked to be just as surprised as the rest of us.

"The shorter of the two men who had come into our room actually blushed." Tracy explained as we looked on in surprise, "He then said, 'Please pardon our intrusion ladies' and quickly faced away from us and headed for the door."

"He was ze one who was embarrassed?" Fleur asked with a look of disbelief.

"He was." Tracey answered, "I think we were all too shocked to process it at the time. I mean we were the ones in our birthday suits and tied down in such a way that nothing was left to the imagination. Yet it was our rescuer that was the one feeling uncomfortable." She said with a shake of her head and a small giggle.

"They both left after that, and a few women came in and got some coverings on us. Once we were again covered our two rescuers and two others came in with some tools and freed us from our chains. It was at this point that I got my first good look at the two who were first into our room. One of them was David that was here just before." She explained.

"Let me guess he was the one who blushed?" Aunty Sandra asked as she tried to hide her secret amusement at this fact.

"Correct," Tracy replied as we all tried hard to hide smiles and Gabrielle shared a very amused look with her sister and mother.

"Once we were all freed they began getting us out of the building. Daphne wanted them to get Astoria out first, so she and I stayed back and tried to get some feeling back into our legs. Once everyone else was gone, it was our turn. We both found that we had trouble walking, so we ended up being carried (bridal style) out of the room. It was a rather nice way to be rescued I must admit." Tracy said with a cheeky smile.

"Was Dave the one who carried you out?" I asked her.

"No the one who carried me out was his brother." She said sadly.

"I see…" I replied as Aunty Sandra's face showed a mixture of pride for her son and sorrow at his loss.

Tracy got up and crossed to Aunty Sandra, "I was told that I was apparently the last person that he rescued before he was killed a few days later. I just wanted to say thank you." She said as she gave Aunty Sandra a hug that was returned. The rest of them also got up and gave her a hug while saying thank you as well. Their expressions of honest thanks looked to have really moved her.

"What happened next?" I asked to keep the story going.

"We were being carried out of the building when we came under attack from some of the 'staff' of the facility we were in," Tracy said with a faraway look in her eyes. "Our rescuers had to change how they were carrying us so that they could get us safely away."

"That's a polite way to describe it." Daphne snapped, "It was humiliating being thrown over his shoulder and carried away like some sort of booty."

"What is your problem Daph?" Tracy asked, "You must have enjoyed the view while you were being carried like that. As I know that I certainly did. I may have been carried around like booty, but I good a great view of my rescuer's booty as well." She added with an evil smirk at her friend. Daphne didn't say anything as she went bright red and glared at her. It was Aunty Sandra who ended this stand-off between the two friends.

"I can assure you, Miss Greengrass, that no disrespect was intended by the way you were being carried." Aunty Sandra explained, "When being attacked in a situation like that it is standard procedure to ensure the safety of those who are being rescued. To do that my sons would have needed both hands-free. One to hold onto their shields and the other to fire their weapons."

"Am I correct in my guess that they were both walking backwards and taking turns coving the other? While you were over their shoulders?" Aunty Sandra asked. Daphne turned away from Tracy to look at her for a moment before nodding.

"That would have been so that they could keep their weapons trained on anyone who tried to approach from behind. They would have also been covering you with their shields at the same time." She explained. "Once you were outside of the magic repelling wards I'm sure that you were carried in a more dignified manner?" She asked.

"We were," Tracy answered for her friend. "Although I did miss the view." She added as she teased her friend.

"As I thought." Aunty Sandra said trying to convey something to Daphne with her eyes, "It was done out of necessity only. Not to humiliate or embarrass you." She explained.

Mrs Greengrass and Daphne had a short whispered conversation during which she seemed to be trying to make the same points to her. Eventually, Daphne lost her angry and affronted expression that she had been wearing. It was ultimately replaced with a more 'normal' looking one as she sat back and listened to the conversation.

Our conversation continued on, and we learned about how Mrs Greengrass and Davis were rescued. They were not in a facility like their daughters had been in, but were apparently scheduled to be sent to one soon. As they were not in a fully warded building, they witnessed Dave's team fighting with magic. Unlike Daphne, they had no issues with their rescue and were both immensely grateful for being rescued. They also appeared to have been recovered several weeks before their daughters.

We all had a laugh at the story of Jimmy and Dave finding out that both of them were fully qualified healers and were more than willing to offer their services in the hospital in the safe house where they were being kept. Dave and Jimmy apparently would frequently express their gratitude to them both for their efforts. Both ladies found this endlessly amusing as they would have been more than happy to assist in the hospital once they saw the need amongst those that had been rescued. Even had they not been rescued from a similar situation themselves.

Hermione almost looked to be jealous when Daphne, Tracy and Astoria described the schooling that they had been undertaking while in the safe houses. They were quite lucky to have some very talented teachers from a large number of countries available to them. Indeed both Daphne and Tracy had caught up on the schooling that they had missed and would be ready to begin their 7th Year and NEWTS at Hogwarts when school started back. They also hinted at some of the classes had been devoted to explaining about (but not yet teaching) the use of the other magical energies.

Eventually the topic of how we knew Dave and his family came up. Mum and Aunty Sandra gave a brief summary of the events that brought Dave, his team and family into our lives. When they again confirmed that they were sisters both the Davis and Greengrass ladies were utterly stunned (everyone but Daphne seemed to have missed the earlier comment). Aunty Sandra then explained a bit about her story and how she was thrown out of her family. When she told them the different types of magic that she could do, none of the ladies seemed surprised. Having been around Dave and his team (as well as others like them), not to mention some of their classes at the school in the safe house, most of the shock had worn off in regards to learning about the many different types of magical energies.

As we were discussing this, there was a knock at the door. Fleur opened it as she was closest and Dave stepped into the room.

"If you ladies have finished with your conversation I would like to reunite the Greengrass and Davis families." He said as he looked at mum and Aunty Sandra and then Mrs Davis and Greengrass.

"I think that we have discussed all we needed to for now." Aunty Sandra told him, Mrs Davis and Greengrass also agreed.

"Excellent." Dave said with a smile as he turned to look at the Davis and Greengrass ladies, "Before we go I need to request that you moderate your enthusiasm when you greet your husbands and fathers." Dave requested.

"Why?" Tracy asked.

"While they are out of any immediate danger both Mr Davis and Greengrass still have a long road ahead of them to make a full recovery." Dave explained, "They are both still a little delicate, and I wouldn't want you to inadvertently undo all the good work of the healers who have been looking after them." He requested.

"I think we can all agree to that." Mrs Greengrass remarked with a brilliant smile. The other ladies all quickly indicated their agreement as well.

"Excellent. Please follow me." Dave requested as he led the ladies out of the room and down the corridor. They were led into a large conference room, and as soon as they entered the room, we could hear the joyous cries of family members being reunited. I was a little surprised that we were also ushered into the room as well.

The last of our group to enter the room were Dave and Percy. Once inside the room, I could see the Davis and Greengrass families, Kingsley, Madam Bones, Uncle Ivan, Gawain and Chief Williams. Dave's team and 'the boys' were not present. Apparently, they were still with the ICW representatives finalising some details of the plan for the Wizengamot.

When Mr Cyrus Greengrass and Mr Robert Davis looked up and saw both Dave and Percy, you could see the two of them both go a little pale and look almost frightened. This didn't go unnoticed by the group of us, but we didn't get a chance to ask about it before Dave began to speak.

"Mr Davis, Mr Greengrass." He said by way of introduction.

"I think you meant to say, Lord Greengrass." Daphne snapped at Dave with outrage showing on her face at the perceived slight.

"There are currently no magically or legally recognised active Lords in Magical Britain," Dave replied coolly.

"What?" Daphne growled as she stood and faced Dave with daggers in her eyes. "My father is the Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Greengrass, that position carries with it the title of Lord. My family is also one of the sacred 28, so you will show proper respect." She hissed at him.

"Expired titles carry no legal weight, neither do classifications that basically boil down to a popularity contest in a well-known rag of a newspaper." Dave calmly replied. Daphne looked like she wanted to launch herself at Dave and claw his eyes out with her nails. Strangely it was her father who held her back with a hand laid on her arm and the simple response of "He's right."

Daphne looked at her father in disbelief for a few moments before she again fixed Dave with her evil glare.

"How well do you know the Magical History of the British Isles regarding titles of nobility?" Dave asked Daphne. When she didn't answer him, he looked at the others in the room. All of them were displaying intrigued looks, clearing hoping for him to explain his statement.

When no one spoke, Dave continued.

"During the reign of Magical Court at Camelot, Merlin and King Arthur forged a sacred bond between the magic of the Isles that now make up the British Isles and the Sovereign. The Sovereign at the time was, of course, King Arthur himself." Dave explained.

"At the time ALL titles, be they Magical or Muggle came from the Magical Sovereign. With the eventual fall of the Magical court at Camelot, things changed rather drastically."

"Because there was no single powerful sovereign to take over from King Arthur several smaller sovereigns sprang up to stake their claims. Because they all had a small amount of Royal blood in them and they were in active conflict with each other the sacred bond between the magic of the Isles and the sovereign was stretched and diluted."

"The remaining 'Noble' magical families aligned themselves and pledged fealty with the various minor mostly muggle Royal houses. In return, they were granted lands and titles of 'Lord' for the most prominent families. This further strained the sacred bonds."

"Those titles carried with them certain strings, namely a pledge to support BOTH magical and muggle families in the lands that they had been granted. For a time, the magical families that had been granted those titles lived up to their obligations. However, as the various muggle, Royal houses warred with each other and they either fell or were combined the magical families either neglected their duties or never renewed their oaths. As a result, they lost their magically recognised, legal and moral rights to their titles."

"At the same time the number of Royal houses began to fall, and more, and more of the land came under the rule of fewer but more powerful Royal houses. The sacred bond between the magic of the Isles and the Sovereign began to increase. By the time of the Norman invasion, there were really only a handful of Royal houses in power."

"So, as the sacred bond was finally gaining in strength again the number of 'Noble' Magical houses which were still faithfully carrying out their duties was falling. Those 'Noble' magical families that were still carrying out their duties faithfully found that their family magic was gaining in strength again. They also found that they once more were able to create Grimoires that could be successfully passed down to the next generations. This is one reason why even the eldest known Grimoires date from around that period."

"Just before the establishment of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692 there were only a small collection of Magical families that still had the magically recognised and legal rights to their title of Lord. There were also only two Royal Houses in control of the Isles as well. The Sacred bond between the magic of the Isles and the Sovereign was almost back to where it was at the time of King Arthur."

"When the International Statue of Secrecy was signed and ratified, BOTH Royal Houses granted the responsibility of granting and maintaining Titles of Nobility to the newly formed Ministry of Magic. This was done to keep magical families out of disputes between the two Royal houses. As neither side wanted the other to have magic users fighting on their opponents' side."

"Once the Royal Houses were no longer directly supervising the magical population even more of the remaining 'Noble' families began to forsake their duties. Over time the Heads of those families gradually stopped renewing their oaths of fealty as well. Eventually even the Ministry of Magic Itself lost its right to confirm titles of nobility to magical households that could be magically recognised. Knowing this, some magical families continued to make the required oaths but direct to the Sovereign of the Isles instead of the Ministry of Magic."

"When the Isles eventually came under the rule of a single Royal family the Sacred bond between the magic of the land and the sovereign was fully restored. The current Royal House may not be 'magical' as is commonly accepted in Magical Britain, but they do have the ability to wield magical energies." Dave told us. This caused just about everyone to exclaim in surprise.

"If they were not able to wield magical energies, then the sacred bond forged by King Arthur and Merlin would have been broken, and the magic of the Isles would have been severely depleted." He advised us.

"What sort of magical energies can the current Royal House wield?" Kingsley asked Dave.

"Mostly magics of the mind." He replied, "This is why they are very effective at politicking and working behind the scenes to bring various groups to the negotiating tables. They don't use their 'magic' in direct confrontational ways as they spend most of their time in the muggle world."

"So, they're not true muggles at all then?" Kingsley said almost to himself.

"No, they're not. Strictly speaking, the current British Royal family aren't witches and wizards either. 'Magical' would be a better term as it is more inclusive I believe." Dave said with a smile at Kingsley's startled look. "Something to keep in mind for when you meet them in your role as the British Minister of Magic." He advised Kingsley.

"The reason the highest office in the land is still called 'Minister' and not 'Emperor' or similar is that you still report to the Royal house of the land as a Minister in Her Majesty's Government. Just like the Ministers of Magic for the other Commonwealth countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Fiji as examples."

"We never learned that in History of Magic," Hermione said with her annoyance clearly on display. "It was much more interesting than all those endless droning lectures on the different Goblin rebellions."

"I'll say." I agreed to the delight of Hermione and the surprise of everyone in the room. After some laughter at the surprised look on my face Dave continued with the 'history lesson'.

"As it stands now only the houses of Abbott, Babbling, Brown, Bones, Boot, Longbottom, Goldstein, MacDougal, MacMillian, Ollivander, Potter, Shacklebolt, Wood and possibly the house of Weasley have the chance to revive their magically recognised titles through the renewal of their Oaths to the current Sovereign of the Isles," Dave explained to the enormous surprise of all in the room. "That is assuming that the Sovereign of the Isles, or the British Crown if you prefer that term accepts the explanation as to why the required Oaths had not been offered by the current Heads of those houses."

"There is a selection of other houses that might have the ability to renew their Oaths as well. But they would first need to pay reparations to the British Crown for the abandonment of their duties." Dave explained while coolly observing Daphne. "The Davis and Greengrass families fall into this category. Given that both families are left wanting for almost 200 years of dereliction of duty I'm fairly confident that the reparations would be significant. But the actual value is for the British Crown to decide."

This brief history lesson left us all stunned. No one in the room knew what to say. Eventually, Madam Bones spoke up. "Are you sure of that Dave?" She asked.

"Extremely." Dave replied, "It took a bit of research and involved sending a request to the British Crown to get confirmation, but they eventually responded with the requested information. The office of the Magical Secretary for the British Crown is currently run by an ancient Wizard who keenly feels his ostracisation by the British Ministry of Magic. But he is very helpful if a little slow to carry out his duties."

"It was through this information that we were able to nab Nott Snr and Selwyn Snr in Austria as they were throwing their titles around trying to impress people. Both muggle and magical Austria have stringent laws regarding the proper use of aristocratic titles. Given that neither of theirs was currently recognised by the British Crown it was a simple matter of a letter from the Magical Secretary to the British Crown, to the Austrian Ministry of Magic to get an arrest warrant signed for them in Austria. That arrest warrant then allowed for us to extradite them to France where 'other chargers' were added." He explained with a satisfied grin.

Madam Bones had a very evil looking smile on her face. Seeing this Kingsley asked her to explain, "I find it amusing that some of the hardcore Pure-blood supremacists were caught by using titles that require Oaths of loyalty to the British Crown." She explained as her smile grew much wider. "Did they come quietly?" She asked with a hungry look in her eyes.

"Not at first." Dave replied with his own evil grin as Percy also had a laugh, "But we eventually quietened them and their flunkies down." He added. Madam Bones just gave Dave a beautiful smile and inclined her head to him.

"What do you mean by magically recognised titles?" Hermione asked. I was surprised that she had been able to hold off on the question as long as she had. My own curiosity was heightened by his comment about the Weasley family being one of the ones able to renew their title.

It wasn't Dave who answered her question, however.

"A magically recognised title is one that can be used in a formal magical oath." Madame Bones replied. "If the person making the oath doesn't hold the claimed title they forfeit their magic. That is why no one has made a magical oath on their Title of Nobility since Lord Frank Longbottom swore to fight against Tom Riddle Jnr in the last war." She explained to us.

"Am I correct in my guess that Lord Frank Longbottom is the only recognised magical lord currently?" She asked Dave.

"You are correct. Although Lord Longbottom isn't listed as an active Lord, he is shown as being incapacitated and unable to fulfil his obligations. But his title is still recognised by the British Crown." Dave explained. "His son if he has one would be simply able to petition the British Crown, explain the situation and take his oath of office to legally claim his Title and Lordship."

We were all stunned. The thought of Neville as the holder of a Title of Nobility was a little strange to me. But something made me believe that he would be up to the challenge of the job.

"So why have those families not renewed their oaths then?" Hermione asked. Once more it was Madame Bones who answered.

"In the last war, many heads of house were killed off before they could fully educate their heirs." She explained, "I know my brother was killed before he could fully advise his daughter, my niece, Susan of everything that went with being a Head of House. I must shamefully admit that I completely forgot myself about the renewing of the oath of fealty to the British Crown for the Bones family." She added looking embarrassed.

"Given the circumstances, I do believe that the British Crown would be understanding if approached honestly on the subject," Dave advised Madame Bones and Kingsley. They both looked like they would take that information on board and would soon begin the necessary steps required to renew their oaths of office.

Dave then turned his attention back to the Davis and Greengrass families. He gave Daphne a cold stare for a moment until she turned away from his gaze.

"Now Mr Davis and Greengrass, as per our agreement we have something to show both of you," Dave said as he glanced at Percy. Percy stepped forward and opened a leather folio and placed some documents on the table that looked reasonably familiar. The documents were placed in front of them, and as they were read over, I could see the anger and rage clearly rise in their eyes. Mr Greengrass looked ready to explode and made to tear the documents up, but Dave quickly stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Mr Greengrass." Dave advised him, "While those documents are not signed there is a high enough likelihood that you would cause significant injury to your family if you were to destroy them."

This stopped Mr Greengrass in his tracks as he looked at Dave. "Those documents are originals of the magical contracts that would place your family into magically enforced slavery. They might not be signed, but they ARE active, and as the names of your wife and children are already on them, it is a risk I'm not willing to take."

"We can confirm this by having Kingsley cancel the documents as the sitting Minister of Magic. If I'm correct both your wife and daughters will feel the lifting of a significant burden or feeling of dread once that is done." He explained.

Mr Greengrass quickly looked to Kingsley who nodded and indicated his willingness to have the documents cancelled. As he did so, it was immediately clear from the expressions of relief on the faces of Mrs Greengrass, Daphne and Astoria that Dave has been correct in his guess.

Kingsley quickly did the same to the documents for the Davis families, and the same result was witnessed. The Greengrass and Davis families promptly thanked Kingsley. They then turned to Dave for an explanation of how they came across the documents. To our surprise, we learned that Percy had stolen the originals for the Davis family some time back and replaced them with some fakes. The ones for the Greengrass family had been recovered in a raid that had been carried out just before Dave's team had left England hunting down the group he had told us about when we first met him. The Davis family quickly embraced a surprised Percy, I could see mum and Audrey both beaming with pride at the actions of my brother.

Mr and Mrs Greengrass and Astoria were also very quick to other their own thanks to Dave and his team. Daphne seemed still far too stunned to make her thanks known. The name of the 'accusers' on her form looked to have affected her deeply. Once I saw the name of the Parkinson family and the signatures of both Pansy and her father on the contract, I was confident in my assumption that her worldview had just been turned upside down.

Next Dave produced two small boxes from his robes and presented one each to Mr Greengrass and Davis. When they opened them they both had tears in their eyes. The cause of those tears was made clear when the extracted from the box their head of house rings. However, the focus stone of the rings was missing, as they both examined the rings Dave explained.

"We recovered those rings when we checked out your homes and 'dealt with' the guests who were present. We were able to confirm that they were indeed warded against your return and there were curses in place on those rings that would have killed anyone of your bloodline that tried to put them on."

"The goblins were able to remove the curses on the rings and return them to their correct state. However, they couldn't cleanse the focus stones without destroying them. Our own curse breakers were able to render your properties safe for you and your family, but they do wish to carry out a detailed ward survey with you to confirm that the wards that are present at your properties are the ones that are supposed to be there." Both Mr Greengrass and Davis were agreeable to this. However, Daphne once more was glaring at Dave.

"What good is a Head of House Ring without the focus stone?" She raged at Dave as she fixed him with a look that would have made most people flee in panic. For his part, Dave coolly regarded her for a few moments until she had calmed herself and then turned his attention back to her father and Mr Davis.

"I can replace the focus stone on your rings if you wish it so." Dave offered a very startled Mr Greengrass and Davis. Seeing their looks of surprise Dave continued, "There is a catch for want of a better term, however." He added.

"What sort of catch?" Mr Greengrass asked his curiosity on full display.

"The catch is, my family's magic will leave a noticeable trace on yours if I recreate the focus stone," Dave answered.

"Trace?" Mr Davis asked, "In what way?"

"The most obvious way will be in deeply held beliefs of my family replacing some of yours in certain key areas." Dave explained, "Based on similar past examples my family's belief that Marriage is a willing joining of equals in a supportive and loving relationship will win out over a belief of Marriage being used as a tool for gain."

Hearing this I couldn't help myself I glanced at Gabrielle out of the corner of my eye and saw a beautiful smile on her face. Apolline and Fleur also looked to have extremely satisfied looks on their faces as well. When Gabrielle noticed Fleur smiling at her, she quickly blushed to the roots of her hair and tried to hide her embarrassment by looking away from her sister. Only to look full into my own smiling face. She gave me a look as if daring me to speak, but I just smirked at her and returned my attention back to the conversation that was going on.

"My family's view on the whole outdated concept of 'blood status' would most likely also win out as well. For back home, the concept of 'blood status' has mostly fallen into disuse and is almost universally looked upon with ridicule and contempt." He explained.

The contempt in Dave's voice as he mentioned the concept of 'blood status' only reinforced Aunty Sandra's earlier comments. I could see Daphne go to make some sort of remark only to have her mum catch her attention and shake her head. This looks to have gotten the message across to her, and she stayed her tongue and followed the conversation with the rest of us.

"Are those outcomes acceptable to you?" Dave asked them both.

"They are." Mr Davis replied closely followed by Mr Greengrass who also added his agreement.

"Ok, let us begin then," Dave stated with a smile on his face.

Just like at the burrow when he made the talismans he requested that each of the married couples pluck a hair from the head of their partner. Then starting with the Greengrass family, Dave wove the strands together and then tied them in a complicated looking knot. Placing this knot in their ring where the stone would usually be, he then requested that they each prick their finger and put a drop of blood into the ring. When that had been done Dave held the ring in one hand and covered the cavity where the focus stone would be with two fingers on his other hand. He then concentrated on his hands, and we could all see a glow escaping from underneath his fingers.

About a minute later he removed his fingers to display a brilliant green coloured jewel. There were several gasps in the room.

"Is that…" Mr Greengrass began to ask.

"Yes, it is a green diamond." Dave replied showing a bit of relief while he rested from the effort involved, "It is also flawless and would be classified as 'fancy intense' by any qualified jeweller. It should also be the same carat of what was in the ring before." He added as the ring was handed back to Mr Greengrass who was looking at it in wonder. Knowing the importance of Head of House rings and how they tie into family magic I fully understood the tears of joy that were flowing down the cheeks of Mr Greengrass and his wife. The small flash of magic as he put the ring on his finger confirmed that his family magic had accepted the ring. After the flash, I could see the Greengrass family crest begin to appear on the focus stone in the ring…

The process was repeated with the family ring for the Davis family. Instead of a green diamond, their ring had a blue diamond. Mr Davis and his wife had a similar reaction to the restoration of the ring as the Greengrass family. As with Mr Greengrass, when Mr Davis put on his ring, it also gave a brief flash signifying the acceptance of his family magic. Once more after the burst of magic, the Davis family crest began to appear on the blue diamond in the ring. After a few moments, both sets of parents got up and warmly embraced Dave and thanked him for his work.

Then both Mr Davis and Mr Greengrass pledged their full support (and that of their allies) to Kingsley for his goals in reforming the British wizarding world. Kingsley gratefully accepted, he was strangely unsurprised in their offer. The next proposal did catch everyone by surprise, however. As both Mr Greengrass and Davis offered formal familial alliances with Uncle Ivan and the Webb family. Uncle Ivan gratefully accepted but deferred the official swearing until he had a chance to talk with them in private. Both Mr Davis and Greengrass willingly agreed to this.

Dave then advised them that it would take a period of time for the rings to fully recharge. During this time, they should be careful not to tax the rings too heavily. I was a little confused by these remarks, and I could see Hermione bursting to ask about them as well. But Mr Davis and Mr Greengrass quickly replied that they understood what Dave was referring to and the subject was changed before any other questions could be asked.

We were all then filled in on the activities of Mr Greengrass and Davis during the recent war. While neither of them was a 'true' supporter of Tom Riddle, they had both been blackmailed and threatened to comply with his requests. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, they began working against Tom Riddle and his followers. At first on their own and then later they teamed up with Percy, but they didn't know who he was at that time. Then when Percy later joined up with Jimmy and his team (later Dave's team) they also willingly signed on board.

Efforts were made to rescue their families, but with Nott Manner being under the Fidelius charm they could not locate it. It was only after the girls were moved to various other facilities that they could be extracted. Once they knew that their families were safe, both Mr Davis and Mr Greengrass really threw themselves into their work. They provided information to Percy to help him locate people and facilities. But they also provided information directly to Dave and his team. Not only about people but also about other operations being run by the Death Eaters. This included information on the financial activities of the Death Eaters. It was in the area of the Death Eaters finances that both Mr Davis and Mr Greengrass had been most active. That's not to say that they didn't provide assistance in other areas as well, as we soon learned.

"Do you wish to know the numbers of people that you assisted with your work? Uncle Ivan asked the two of them. They looked at each other for a few moments before nodding. Uncle Ivan then brought out his mirror phone and read out the following.

"Directly both of you combined have assisted in the rescue of 1,859 people. The information you provided to Percy or 'Mr P' enabled another 1,500 people to be rescued. You also assisted in the capture of Death Eater assets and funds to the tune of 15.6 Million Galleons."

Both Mr Davis and Greengrass were stunned. Their wives looked to be immensely proud of them and their daughters also. Even the Ice Queen had a smile on her face.

"I can also advise you now that the healers who have been looking after you for the last month have given you the ok to re-join your family at the safe house in France." Uncle Ivan told them. There were smiles all round at this news. "The proviso is that you take it easy for the next month and then when you are given the all clear we will take you back to your own homes and do the detailed ward survey we mentioned previously, and if all is as it should be you will be free to move back in." Even more, smiles accompanied this news.

"To give you fair warning, I need to advise you that your wives are both listed in your medical records as being on the panel of healers that will be pronouncing you fit and healthy." Uncle Ivan advised them, "So DON'T try to fool them." He added with a smile at them and a wink at their wives. Both Mrs Davis and Greengrass fixed their husbands with looks that explicitly stated that they wouldn't be allowing them any shortcuts.

"To make things more comfortable for you all, you will have the use of the building that my team and I have been using in the safe house." Dave offered, "We are going back to Australia tonight on leave for a bit. Then when we return, we will be based in Magical Britain." He advised them.

The parents were excited, and the girls looked to be happy as well. Only Daphne had an odd expression on her face, but it was fleeting, then her face was once more composed. I had a nagging feeling that she might be trouble in the future unless things changed.

"Thank you, David." Mrs Greengrass said warmly, "Being able to live again as a family will go a long way towards helping my family fully heal. I'm sure the Davis's will feel the same." She added as Mrs Davis and her family nodded in agreement. Dave only smiled and acknowledged her thanks before she continued.

"Not to sound over eager but when could we move in?" Mrs Davis asked with a hopeful look.

"Our equipment is being packed up as I speak. We only need to collect a few personal items." He advised while closely watching her face. "But if my team is agreeable I could ask the caretaker group to pack them for us and place them in the main office for us to collect after our operation this morning." He suggested.

The smiles on Mrs Greengrass and Mrs Davis were like the new-risen sun. Their husbands also looked eager for some family time as well. Still smiling Mrs Greengrass turned to Dave and asked, "What is your operation this morning? If I may ask."

Dave glanced at his father and then Kingsley, both of whom nodded in return. "We are going to arrest the entire Wizengamot." He explained with a frightening grin on his face.

All the members of the Davis and Greengrass families looked at him with Disbelief.


End file.
